eBay Give.Good.Green launches this week, the first eBay promotion to link all five of the company’s social good initiatives (eBay Foundation, eBay Giving Works, MicroPlace, WorldofGood.com and the eBay Green Team) with all eBay users to make a difference through a number of different activities on eBay. I managed to sit down with Jennifer Ibarra to talk a little more about it. I apologize in advance for the shaky camera work – I filmed it early in the morning on my third cup of coffee and I think I had a tough time keeping the camera straight! (Need to invest in a stand maybe?). Regardless, here you go…
Anyone interested in participating and learning more can go to the campaign website: www.ebaygivegoodgreen.com. For every person that uploads their photo to the Give.Good.Green community page, the eBay Foundation will donate a dollar to one of three charities (Hands On Network, Oxfam America, and the Environmental Defense Fund).
I also figured it would be nice to get a “5 Minutes With…” Jennifer so included that below too.
Cheers!
RBH
Full Name: Jennifer Ibarra
Nickname: Jen
Official Title: Head of Marketing Programs and Promotions, Global Citizenship (I know… it’s mouthful!)
What You Really Do: Run fun promotions for our Global Citizenship sites and oversee the social media activity for them.
Your First Day at eBay: 12/1/2003
Education/Schooling: Santa Clara University (undergrad), NYU (grad)
Interests: Running, cooking, reading, fiction writing
Favorite Quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Ghandi)
Most memorable eBay experience: When Meg announced at eBay Live! 2007 that the eBay Community had raised over $100M for nonprofits through charity listings on the site.
Most recent eBay purchase/sale: Last sale: a set of workout DVDs (which sold for $60—not bad!); Last purchase: a computer mouse (for $5 – free shipping!). My most memorable purchase ever was a toy Star Wars lightsaber, which I got as an adult (probably my 3rd or 4th purchase ever on eBay) – this was to make up for the toy lightsaber I lost as a kid when we moved from Germany to the Philippines. I pined away for it years until I came upon something similar on eBay!
Favorite Albums: Wicked Original Broadway Cast Album (big Broadway geek)
Favorite Movies: Star Wars (original trilogy only – yes, I’m one of those Star Wars snobs)
What You Wanted to Be Growing Up: a novelist (and I do work on my novel when I’m not at my “day job”)
Fill in the blanks:
I should have skipped the second chocolate chip cookie after lunch yesterday.
I wish that I could publish a best-selling novel.
The first thing I do when I get to work is check emails (boring but true!).
UPDATED 9/2/2009:
I also wanted to link to the press release announcing the initiative. The release included the following fast facts of interest:
* More than $2,000 worth of goods are traded every second on eBay
* Every 18 seconds, someone makes a difference on eBay
* Since inception, eBay Foundation has invested more than $19 million in nonprofit organizations
* The eBay community has raised more than $165 million for charity to date
* WorldofGood.com by eBay empowers impoverished artisans in over 85 countries around the world
* More than 30,000 microloans have been funded by investments through MicroPlace since its inception
* In the last three years, buying pre-owned handbags on eBay had the same effect as planting more than two million trees