EBay, an Internet-based company located in San Jose California, is the world’s largest and most popular marketplace. Since its inception in September 1995, the company has, in all aspects, increased exponentially – in revenues as well as its worldwide Web community of buyers and sellers. As a truly global marketplace, eBay has a foothold in 150 countries around the world. EBay’s presence has found its way to philanthropy – by devising ways on how to address the world’s foremost problem: poverty.

Its founder, Pierre Omidyar, reflected on how to expand philanthropy to a higher level. He noticed that with traditional charitable giving, once you write your check to international nonprofits such as Red Cross or United Way, you do not know how your donation makes a difference because you have no idea what particular service it will achieve.

The Omidyar Network, the philanthropic firm of eBay, operates much the same way bids and auctions are transacted at ebay.com. There is a transparent system in place that enables donors to monitor who benefits from their donations. The concept started out of a nonprofit site called GlobalGiving, which allows anyone to post funding anywhere. A group of schoolteachers from India requested funding for a toilet because the dropout rate among puberty-aged girls in the school increased due to absence of private facilities to serve their needs. They posted an ad which read: “New Toilet Block for School. $5,000.” In less than three months, donors poured in and a separate toilet was built for the girls. The retention rate after that was high.

The Omidyar Network’s brand of philanthropy is two-pronged. First, the firm gives donations to nonprofit companies advancing social development and change. Second, it invests in companies focused on social change.

Omidyar’s philanthropic efforts focus on poverty mitigation and education. The firm recently donated $100 million for a program at the Tufts University that will generate millions of tiny loans, to finance small businesses to impoverished residents in India, Bangladesh, and other countries. It donated millions of dollars for the benefit of the Grameen Foundation USA, which financed the small businesses of over 1,152 women in Uganda. With this income, they were able to build their own homes and send their children to school. Its donations also gave capital to Indian women to augment their income.

Omidyar has also supported Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances the use of the Internet to check on government accountability and transparency. It also funds Endeavor, a nonprofit that hands out small loans to entrepreneurs in several developing countries.

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