eBay have helped to a charitable STEM-focused campaign to raise $58,100 (£45,189) in a bid to fund educational resources in the Bay Area, US.
The Stephen and Ayesha Curry Family Foundation and DonorsChoose.org were auctioning off a pair of custom, game-worn Moon Landing” Under Armour Curry 6 basketball shoes on eBay in a charitable campaign this January. The philanthropic campaign focused on supplying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) materials to support education in low-income schools from around the Bay Area.
“This campaign is a great example of the power of our platform – giving our community an opportunity to not only acquire a rare, one-of-a-kind piece of sneaker culture and basketball history but to make an impact.”
– Brenda Halkias, general manager of eBay for Charity
eBay say that the raised profit will go to fund local teacher requests on DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit website where teachers request the resources and experience their students need to succeed in education. Some of the funded disciplines include math and science projects in Oakland, CA on DonorsChoose.org. A total of 32 projects from across 24 schools in Oakland reached their education plans with help of the charity. These include tablets to help teach coding from Ms. Wallis and technology to explore earth and climate science from Ms. Coleman.
“We’re thrilled at how many classrooms will benefit from the auction, and we’re so grateful to the Stephen and Ayesha Curry Family Foundation for their support.”
– Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org
Business benefits
eBay again is leading a great example of balancing business and humanitarian priorities. From the business point of view, holding charitable events brings more exposure to the marketplace. It brings extra traffic and attention via other websites that are involved with a particular charitable campaign. From the consumerism perspective, holding philanthropic events help the marketplace appear as the company that ‘does good.’
There are also advantages for merchants who want to help worthy causes. Sellers that decide to give a percentage of their products sales to a charity can benefit from extra sales made as a result of greater visitations from a charity page to their product pages.
