The Nippon Foundation Teams Up with Flea Market App Operator Mercari to Encourage Donations to Charity [2021/04/05]

The Nippon Foundation and flea market app operator Mercari Inc. have agreed to enter into a tie-up to develop and promote schemes for encouraging donations to charitable activities.

With approximately 18 million active monthly users, Mercari is Japan’s largest marketplace app operator that allows people to buy and sell used items online. The new partnership is designed to combine the expertise and networks of the two organizations with a view to creating society in which anyone can donate to charity easily.

Under the agreement announced on March 29, we will develop and promote campaigns and schemes for: (1) enabling Mercari traders to donate online part of the commissions they are charged; (2) encouraging offline donations utilizing Mercari’s existing educational programs such as “Mercari Classroom” and “Mercari Station”; and (3) allowing buyers and sellers to make quick donations via a special website and other means when people are hit by natural disasters. We plan to put these schemes into action in July or after.

According to a 2017 report compiled by the Japan Fundraising Association, individuals’ annual donations in Japan increased about 1.4-fold over the preceding seven years. Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, 29% of Japanese teenagers want to donate to charity, according to a survey conducted by business design company Signing last May. These figures indicate growing interest among Japanese, including youths, in making donations to help solve social issues.

With gross merchandise value totaling about 620 billion yen (about $5.6 billion), Mercari has donated a total of 47 million yen (about $427,000) to nine organizations engaged in battling COVID-19, and to philanthropic organizations, including The Nippon Foundation, and local governments. The company also operates in the United States.

Since its founding in 1962, The Nippon Foundation has provided support to public-service activities in a variety of fields across national borders, using a part of the proceeds from Japanese motorboat racing as well as donations from the public, with the latter totaling more than 2 billion yen (about $18.2 million) in fiscal 2019. Its primary areas of activity include global maritime development, elimination of leprosy worldwide, support for children, support for persons with disabilities, disaster relief, and international cooperation, with the ultimate goal of achieving a society where all people support one another.

I sincerely hope that the new partnership with Mercari, armed with online and offline assets, will help create a new culture of donation in Japan and contribute to solving social and environmental issues around the world.