Ebay calls for government funding to help charities innovate during pandemic
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Ebay’s UK arm has put pressure on the government to do more to help charities during the coronavirus pandemic by establishing an innovation fund to support online retail and services.
The e-commerce giant is part of a coalition behind the initiative, which also includes Barnardo’s, the Charity Retail Association and New Philanthropy Capital.
The fund would be used to help charities develop solutions to shift towards online sales without diverting vital cash from essential frontline services, as footfall remains low during the pandemic.
Ebay said it will be providing unrestricted grants of £1.7m from its own income to 250 of the charities most affected by declines in online revenue on its platform as a result of the virus.
It will also establish a training programme for 500 UK charities, including those who do not already use Ebay’s services, to help their online sales be more effective.
“Charities up and down the country can embrace online retail as a way to raise vital funds to keep operating during and after the pandemic. This is particularly important now, when so many traditional forms of fundraising remain unavailable,” said Ebay UK vice president Rob Hattrell.
“Covid-19 has accelerated the need for services and fundraising to have a strong digital presence and the sector is in danger of critical shortfalls without it. That is why we hope the chancellor will take the opportunity in his forthcoming July Financial Statement to invest more in providing the digital step-change the SME and charity sector needs.”
The announcement follows a similar initiative launched by rival Amazon earlier this week to support British small businesses and startups with the transition to digitalisation and remote working.
The Amazon Small Business Accelerator will operate a free online training programme for 200,000 businesses, as well as a week-long bootcamp for up to 1,000 mostly offline businesses to help them expand digitally and trade online.
Ebay’s charity upskilling programme will begin on 7 July.