eBay for Charity sees record donations for 2019

• Date: 01 May 2020
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30757

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR MAY 2020

6© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Industry News

eBay for Charity sees record donations for 2019

eBay for Charity logged a record-breaking year

of fundraising for the second year in a row, with

the company’s buyers and sellers raising more than

$112 million for charity organizations globally last

year—an increase of 10% compared to the year prior.

In 2019, more than 19 million items were listed

on the online auction site to benet charities—and

more than $214 was raised every minute, the company

said. The funds helped support a wide variety of

nonprots, such as Glide, MusiCares, The V Foun-

dation, Homes for Our Troops, the British Heart

Foundation, The Prince’s Trust and thousands more.

Transaction fees are waived for sales made through

eBay for Charity, so 100% of the funds go back to

the intended nonprots.

The number of charities tapping into the market-

place to help with their fundraising efforts also saw

a sizable increase. Last year, $101 million was raised

globally by charities selling directly on eBay—up

to 22%—from more than 8.5 million listings, the

company said.

For more information, visit https://www.

ebayforcharity.org. ■

Colleges, universities need to revamp strategies

for attracting young alumni donors

If colleges and universities want to attract the

support of their young alumni, it’s critical that they

identify the areas they are passionate about and

make it easy for alumni to fund those specic areas,

according to new research from Ruffalo Noel Levitz,

a provider of higher education fundraising services.

The research—conducted jointly with the Schuler

Education Foundation—found that young alumni

are eager and able to provide both volunteer and

nancial support to their alma maters, but increas-

ingly want to focus on specic causes and organ-

izations that they care about and that can clearly

demonstrate impact.

According to the researchers, participation rates of

young alumni in fundraising and volunteer activities

have been on the decline for more than 20 years. But

this group makes up more than 30% of the current

alumni base in higher education, and increasing

their engagement will be critical to the future of

higher education philanthropy, the report said.

Thankfully, the data shows that this group has

the money and the willingness to donate to char-

ity. Some 80% of survey respondents said they

volunteer or make nancial donations with at least

one charitable cause or organization, and about a

quarter of them reported making donations totaling

$1,000 or more in 2018, demonstrating that young

alumni often make substantial gifts.

What’s keeping them from donating to their alma

maters may be a missing sense of “connection,”

according to the report.

Of those who reported donating to their alma

maters, 82% said they felt “very connected” to their

alma mater. Yet only 21% of all young alumni in

the study said they felt very connected, with 52%

reporting they were “somewhat connected” and 28%

feeling neutral or not connected to their alma mater.

And, of those that do give to their alma maters,

the things they wish to fund at those institutions

are also changing, the report said. An institution’s

annual fund—traditionally a popular choice and

one that can fund a wide variety of things on

campus—was low on the list of areas they would

like to give to, while giving to scholarship funds or

specic departments/majors ranked highest on the

priority list.

“These ndings show more than ever that colleges

and universities need to adapt their fundraising to

the expectations and aspirations of young alumni,”

said RNL President and CEO Sumit Nijhawan.

“Campuses need to identify the passions of their

recent graduates, make it easy for them to give to

the areas they care most about and show the impact

of gifts so young donors grow into lifelong givers.”

To access the report in full, visit https://bit.

ly/2QO1NJV. ■

Have a nonprot question

or story idea you would like to share?

Contact Nicholas King, Editor, at

nicholaskingllc@gmail.com