eBay Has Acquired MissionFish to Bolster Its Charity Programs

eBay has been on a buying spree lately and it's continuing with the acquisition of MissionFish, a nonprofit it has been collaborating with for eight years already. The plan is to integrate the team and technology, but continue to operate eBay charity program as it has so far.

"MissionFish has been acquired by eBay from the Points of Light Institute. This is a big step in the evolution of MissionFish, and one that everyone involved — eBay, Points of Light and the MissionFish team — is excited to take," MissionFish announced in a blog post.

"We have powered eBay Giving Works for the past eight years, breaking new ground in philanthropy and raising almost $250 million for U.S. and UK nonprofits," it added.

MissionFish has been handling charity operations for eBay in the US and the UK, eBay's Giving Works since 2003 in the US and eBay for Charity since 2005 in the UK.

The programs enable sellers to donate products or proceeds to charities of their choice. Buyers are also able to donate to those charities. MissionFish collects the funds and distributes them to the nonprofits involved.

"Going forward, count on us to keep doing what we've always done: power eBay Giving Works, and launch new ideas that drive resources to organizations everywhere," MissionFish explained.

For now, Points of Light will handle Giving Works like it currently does, but the plan is to transition to a new nonprofit based on MissionFish which will take over.

So far, MissionFish has raised $241 million in the US and the UK. $54.8 million were raised for charities and nonprofits through eBay last year alone and $91 are donated every minute. The sums are on the rise as well, 2010 was a seven percent increase over the previous year.