Life According to Seinfeld

People always think that work at a Foundation simply involves writing checks all day long. This is far from the truth and a myth I constantly strive to debunk. Oddly enough, today I found myself spending a good amount of time signing checks. I suddenly had a flashback to a Seinfeld episode where Jerry starts to get a cramp in his hand from endorsing royalty checks. (Funny how there is always a Seinfeld episode for various moments in life). Our local conference room also looked like an assembly line as plaques, letters & checks were being hand-packed for mailing by the dedicated Foundation staff. This scene is not typical of the everyday goings on at the Foundation.

To be exact, I found myself signing my name almost 200 times today on grant letters and checks. What was the occasion? The conclusion of our latest round of the eBay Foundation Champion A Charity program, one of the several programs we have to support the charitable interests of eBay employees. Through Champion A Charity, eBay employees can recommend a grant up to $2,500 to their favorite charity. A review committee comprised of eBay employees from all over the globe read the proposals and make funding recommendations.

Since we started the program back in 2003, we have made over 200+ grants to employee recommended charities! More importantly, over 329 eBay employees (unfortunately, not all submissions get funding) have taken the time to write proposals to help charities get funding. We think this is absolutely terrific and a great example of the giving spirit of our employees (Above, pictured at a Foundation lunch are some employee champions talking about their charity to eBay's champion CEO, Meg Whitman).

We’re so proud to have funded a variety of organizations through this program from a group that helps land mine victim’s families in Vietnam to a local hospice that needed baby monitors for its patients. We think the program is a great way to support community needs (especially those that fall outside our grants focus of microenterprise), and to support the charitable interest of eBay employees—a win-win for all.

If you are an eBay employee, we would love to hear your thoughts about the program, which we currently offer 2x a year, and will shortly offer 4x a year. Non-eBay employees, we would also love to hear what you think about the program. Does your company sponsor something similar? Any ideas we can borrow to provide greater support for the charitable interests of employees? If I think hard enough, there may be a Seinfeld episode that has some insights. But until I remember one, drop us a line or post a comment to give us some feedback.

Meet an eBay Foundation Techquity Recipient...

This is Freddy pictured on the right. Freddy, owner of Borges Fine Arts, used his Techquity grant to purchase a digital camera to take photos of his work and post better quality images on his website.

Hard to imagine that the images on his site can get any more beautiful. See for yourself, the vases, dishes and other great finds at Freddy's site http://www.borgesfinearts.com/ are absolutely amazing!

Somer Gardiner, pictured on the left, is the owner of Soul Spun Yarn and Art. Somer used her eBay Foundation Techquity grant to acquire the EffortlessE.com POS system, Broderbund Print Shop 21 Pro, Microsoft Works 8.0 and a Monitor. Somer says she has seen a 33% increase in business revenue and a 10% increase in customers since acquiring her new technology products. The technology created an opportunity for her to grow her business on the internet. Somer now has the capability to broadcast messages (e.g., coupons, flyers, et al) to customers about sales and other events, resulting in some immediate response from customers. We're thrilled for Somer. Keep up the sales!

P.S. If you are ever in Utah, check out Somer's Store located at 2343 East 3300 South #5, Salt Lake City, UT 84109+1 (801) 746-5094. Or visit the store online at http://www.soulspunyarn.com/

So what exactly is eBay Foundation?

A bit about our history...
The first transaction of its kind, eBay Foundation was established in 1998 when 107,250 of pre-IPO stock valued at approximately $1 million was donated by eBay, Inc.. Now with assets at approximately $33 million, eBay Foundation is governed by a six person board of directors, including eBay and non-eBay employees.

The Foundation has contributed more that $11 million to charitable organizations since inception, including $2.2 million in 2005 alone. The Foundation has been recognized as a top corporate philanthropist by the SF Business Times and the SJ Business Journal, and has been cited for having numerous field best practices.

Our Mission...
The mission of eBay Foundation is to make investments that improve the social and economic well-being of our communities. The Foundation accomplishes this mission by 1) funding innovative programs at non-profit organizations 2) Supporting and encouraging employee involvement and 3) creating charitable opportunities that involve eBay community members

A Few of our Major Initiatives...
eBay Foundation has numerous programs that are benefitting society and getting folks excited about community invovlement. One major initiative is the eBay Foundation Techquity Program. Our strategic partner in this progam is the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, a group that does an immense amount of work to support small businesses and the organizations that serve them. Through the program, low to moderate income entrepreneurs are given cash awards up to $1,600 to purchase technology equipment that will help improve their businesses. Local non-profit partners who award the funds to entrepreneurs also receive a grant to support technology training and their own technology needs which in turn help them to better serve their clients.

Our first Techquity award went out in December of 2005 and since that time, we've helped over 150 small business owners purchase new technology equipment! Based on our success to date, we decided to expand the program and expect to help 340 small business owners with their technology needs in 2007. We were pleased that the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) was equally impressed with our progress and committed $80K to help support the program in their region! Thanks to Ray Daffner, Entrepreneurship Initiative Manager at ARC, for his support and belief in the program.

Welcome Readers!

Welcome to News From eBay Foundation. We created this blog to keep folks updated on the goings on at the eBay Foundation. We know we are unable to personally meet with everybody to provide an update on our work so we hope this blog will serve as a way to give strategic partners, eBay employees, foundation colleagues, grantees, directors, vendors and others an easy way to find out the latest about our programs and general thoughts. We also hope that this blog serves to demystify what goes on at a Foundation and provides insight into the decisions the Foundation makes.

We are a small (but mighty) staff and will do our best to keep this blog updated with updates at least once every several weeks. Stay tuned for more posts and information!