The FINANCIAL -- In July, the eBay Giving Works program, which allows sellers to support their favorite non-profits and charitable causes, reached a major milestone as it surpassed the $200 million mark for cumulative funds raised.

"That figure—reached through both micro-fundraising and larger contributions—was up 12 percent year-over-year, and, notably, more than $100 million of the total funds were raised in the last two year, eBay reported.

‘We’re fortunate to have generous buyers and sellers using eBay,” said Robert Chatwani, Director of eBay’s Global Citizenship effort. “The reality is that consumers are more conscious about their spending and giving these days. But we decided early on that rather than asking eBay users to give more, we’d create simple ways for more users to give through their activity on eBay. It’s very powerful to combine shopping and giving into a single transaction.”

Chatwani added that the milestone “demonstrates the scale and social impact of eBay’s global community.” MissionFish.org, an organization that works with eBay to advance Giving Works, noted several milestones in 2010 alone:

Earlier this year, the eBay community raised nearly $3 million for Haiti relief efforts through eBay Giving Works, mostly by making $1 donations.

In June, Warren Buffett’s annual eBay charity auction raised $2.63 million for the Glide Foundation, making the lunch with Buffett the most expensive eBay charity item ever.

And most recently, in May, eBay Giving Works won a Cause Marketing Halo Award for best campaign that generates donations via consumer activity.

eBay and MissionFish continue to work hard to make donating through eBay Giving Works even easier: having reduced the minimum donation amount to $1 last fall to make it more affordable for eBay users. And as of this May, the new ”Who’s Your Favorite?” tool allows eBay users to designate the nonprofits they want to support every time they complete eBay purchases using PayPal.

MissionFish executive director Sean Milliken said, "As we celebrate the MissionFish 10th anniversary throughout 2010, this has really become a banner year for the passion and generosity of the eBay community. We can’t wait to show the community what we’re working on next!”

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