Since 2001, eBay has called upon the generosity of its broad online community to raise funds for nonprofit organizations. In November 2019, eBay for Charity reached a major milestone: $1 billion in total funds raised for charities. And to date, eBay for Charity works with more than 83,500 registered global charities, enabling $211 every minute in charity funding by eBay buyers and sellers. While other major eCommerce players function more and more like shopping utilities, eBay continues to be a platform built on trust, making it a powerful tool for fundraising. Whether you’re a charity or a major corporation, aligning your brand with eBay demonstrates a dedication to the spirit of giving this holiday season.
Values-Driven Shopping
The connection between brands and the personal lives of their consumers has become more intertwined. As a result, consumers are growing more concerned with the values represented by the companies they support. According to Forbes, “millennials have the highest expectations for brands to take a stand on values.” In fact, their latest Consumer Technographics report confirms nearly seven in 10 US Millennials consider company values when making a purchase. And it’s not just millennials that want to support ethical brands. Generation Xers (those born between 1960 and 1980) explicitly evaluated company values during a purchase. As we move into the winter holidays, media campaigns can highlight their core values both in the creative they produce and the platforms they advertise on.
eBay for Charity: A Brief Case Study
Integrated into eBay’s regular buying and selling platform, eBay for Charity makes it easy for people to support important causes. It enables sellers to donate a portion of their sales and buyers to shop while supporting their favorite charities — all the while giving nonprofits an opportunity to engage new supporters.
With a large community of compassionate shoppers in the mindset to donate during the holiday season, eBay is a natural fit for any charity looking to ramp up fundraising in Q4. For instance, during the 2018 holiday season, eBay partnered with a major non-profit organization to help them achieve their holiday fundraising goals.
With a 180 million active buyers (Source: eBay Fast Facts; 3/31/2019), the two-month campaign on eBay leveraged custom, first-party audience targeting and high impact, textual targeting leading into the holiday season.
On and Off eBay Audiences Targeted included:
- Charitable Audiences
- Compassionate Shoppers
- Shop-Alike Audiences
Tactics Included:
- Checkout placements
- Homepage targeting
- Giving Tuesday takeover
eBay Compassionate Shoppers were 5x more likely to be a donor than the average eBay shopper. Return on ad spend on the Compassionate Shopper was 3x higher than the overall ROAS goal. Ultimately the campaign was a success raising more than $100k.
Non-profits aren’t the only ones leading fundraising efforts. Celebrities like Miranda Lambert are using the platform to auction off items like clothing and home goods to raise money for organizations they love. As Giving Tuesday approaches, eBay is proud of the over $1 billion raised and continues its commitment to growing that figure in the years to come.
Ready to build your next values-driven or fundraising campaign? Activate your purpose at scale and contact our ad sales team.
Photo: Brenda Halkias, General Manager, eBay for Charity © 2019 CAREY WAGNER