ERA 1: THE eBay CHARITY AUCTION PIONEERS 2001–2003
2001
2003

Before social media, before smartphones, Matchfire was already reinventing what charity looked like online.

2001–2003

The First Auctions

Matchfire begins running high-profile celebrity charity auctions on eBay before it was something anyone else was doing. One of the first: a Harley-Davidson motorcycle signed by Jay Leno's celebrity guests—Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Ellen DeGeneres, and more—raising $500,000 for 9/11 Red Cross relief. It was proof of concept for a model that would define the next two decades.

2001–2003

Auction for America

After 9/11, eBay launched "Auction for America," raising $10 million to benefit organizations supporting families affected by the tragedy. Matchfire was a primary partner, bringing its existing celebrity network and auction expertise to the campaign. The outpouring of support laid the groundwork for what would officially become eBay for Charity in 2003.

2001–2003

GRAMMY Goes Charitable

Matchfire begins its partnership with GRAMMY Foundation®, MusiCares®, and GRAMMY Museum®—a relationship that has since raised over $5 million for the Recording Academy's charities. What started as a single auction campaign grew into one of Matchfire's longest-running and most impactful nonprofit relationships, spanning more than two decades of music-driven philanthropy.

2001–2003

eBay for Charity Launches

eBay officially launches eBay for Charity, and Matchfire becomes one of its earliest and most active charity auction partners. The relationship built in the years prior positioned Matchfire as a go-to operator for celebrity-driven giving on the platform, a role the agency continues to hold to this day.

ERA 2: THE MYSPACE & EARLY SOCIAL MEDIA YEARS 2004–2008
2004
2008

While brands were still figuring out what a "website" was, Matchfire was running impact campaigns on the platforms that defined a generation.

2004–2008

MySpace Impact Channel

At the peak of MySpace's dominance—115 million monthly visitors at its height—Matchfire oversees the MySpace "Impact Channel," one of the platform's social cause hubs. The channel connected nonprofits, celebrities, and millions of young users around issues that mattered, making Matchfire one of the first agencies to treat social media as a serious vehicle for cause marketing.

2004–2008

Make Yourself Foundation

Matchfire begins its long-running partnership with the Make Yourself Foundation—the charitable arm of the band Incubus—raising $2 million since 2006. The partnership included hosting and auctioning off meet-and-greets and special access experiences at every stop on their U.S. and European tours, turning fan passion directly into philanthropic fuel.

2004–2008

Priceless Moments for South Africa

Matchfire runs a Mastercard-funded experience auction raising awareness and funds around inequality in South Africa. Prizes included a private train ride with Charlize Theron and a meet-and-greet with Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton. The bar was set high and the campaign established Matchfire's ability to deliver once-in-a-lifetime experiences as a fundraising mechanism.

2004–2008

Colbert Campaign & Tiki Barber Campaign

Matchfire runs cause marketing campaigns with cultural lightning rods—comedian Stephen Colbert and NFL star Tiki Barber—extending the agency's reach into entertainment and sports philanthropy. These campaigns demonstrated Matchfire's ability to match brand-right talent to cause-driven moments before influencer marketing had a name.

2004–2008

Pepsi Refresh / Charity SmackDown @ SXSW

Matchfire brings Gary Vaynerchuk to South by Southwest for the Pepsi Refresh program, letting live audiences vote on which local charities deserved donations. Public-powered charity at scale, years before crowdfunding was mainstream. It was one of the earliest examples of real-time audience participation driving philanthropic outcomes.

2004–2008

Weber Shandwick Facebook Era Begins

Matchfire starts managing Facebook brand pages for Weber Shandwick's portfolio including Electrolux, Frigidaire, Ragu, Hellmann's, Simple, Oscar Mayer, the Wienermobile, and more. Contests, sweepstakes, user-generated content, and cause marketing integrations defined how CPG brands used social media in its earliest days, while Matchfire wrote the rules in real time.

2004–2008

Warren Buffett Power Lunch

Matchfire took over management of one of the most famous charity auctions in the world—the annual Power Lunch with Warren Buffett benefiting the GLIDE Foundation. Over 18 years, the campaign has raised more than $52 million to support San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents, including the highest-priced charity item ever sold on eBay at $19 million. Across several years, the auction consistently generated between $3 million and $5 million annually.

ERA 3: THE SOCIAL MEDIA INVENTION YEARS 2009–2011
2009
2011

The years when "social media strategy" wasn't a job title yet, Matchfire was already writing the playbook.

2009–2011

Twestival

Matchfire gets behind Twestival, the Twitter-powered global charity movement. In February 2009, 202 cities worldwide hosted simultaneous events to benefit charity:water. And that was just the beginning. Across five years and 250+ cities worldwide, Twestival raised $1.84 million for 312 nonprofits. Matchfire's role helped facilitate the local chapter, running the digital and social side to connect communities and digital audiences well before Twitter became a household name.

2009–2011

TwitChange

Matchfire invents an entirely new category: the celebrity Twitter auction. The first-ever celebrity tweet auction had fans bidding on 150+ celebrities for a 90-day Twitter follow, a mention, and a retweet, with all proceeds going to Haiti earthquake relief. TwitChange.com received 22 million views in its first two weeks, raised over $500,000 to build a school for Haitian children with special needs, and topped bids from Eva Longoria, Dana White, Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian, and Joe Jonas. It won a Shorty Award and a Mashable Award.

2009–2011

Check-In For Charity @ SXSW

With PayPal and Microsoft, Matchfire runs the world's first geolocation charity campaign. Powered by geotargeted badge technology, every Foursquare check-in anywhere in Austin, Texas equaled 75¢ to Haiti earthquake relief. This was years before "location-based marketing" was a conference track, let alone a standard agency offering.

2009–2011

TwitChange x CARE

Matchfire's TwitChange returns for International Women's Day with the CARE organization. By this point, TwitChange campaigns have received over 45 million hits and several million tweets, cementing the platform as one of the most successful celebrity-driven digital charity concepts ever created.

ERA 4: THE 360° CAMPAIGN YEARS 2012–2018
2012
2018

Matchfire stops just running social campaigns and starts building entire ecosystems—microsites and real-world activations.

2012–2018

The Celebrity Artifact Era

Matchfire auctions off some of the most memorable objects in charity auction history, proving that the story behind an item is worth as much as the item itself:

  • Elton John's red piano — Auctioned for charity
  • Justin Bieber's lock of hair — Cut live on Ellen DeGeneres' show, preserved in plexiglass, raised ~$40,000
  • Britney Spears' paparazzi's sock — Tire track intact, mounted on a mannequin foot, raised ~$25k (best story-to-dollars ratio in agency history)
  • KISS Mini Coopers — Four custom Minis, each built around one band member's personality
2012–2018

Electrolux + Frigidaire Cause Campaigns

Among the first dollar-per-interaction Facebook and Twitter campaigns ever run, Kelly Ripa raises money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation via Electrolux; Jennifer Garner raises money for Save the Children via Frigidaire. Every share, tag, and post equals a brand dollar to charity, generating millions of interactions and setting a template the industry would follow for years.

2012–2018

ESPY Day Campaign

Matchfire launches the ESPY Day auction partnership with the V Foundation for Cancer Research, raising over $4 million since 2014. The annual campaign ties into one of sports television's biggest nights, connecting celebrity athletes and fans around the fight against cancer through exclusive auction experiences.

2012–2018

UNICEF Trick or Treat

One of the first branded Instagram filter campaigns—turning user-generated Halloween costumes into a donation engine. Each post triggered brand contributions, amplified by matched giving, reaching millions before filters became mainstream.

2012–2018

Stand Up 2 Cancer

Matchfire runs a full 360° integrated campaign for Stand Up 2 Cancer, connecting social media, web, eBay auctions, and broadcast tie-ins into a single, unified giving experience. It was one of the agency's clearest demonstrations that cause marketing works best when every channel is talking to each other.

2012–2018

Gwen Stefani / No Doubt

Matchfire becomes the exclusive charity auction partner for Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, raising funds on eBay through tour merch, special fan experiences, and even selling off costumes and set pieces when the tour wrapped. It was a full lifecycle approach to tour-driven philanthropy that few agencies had attempted before.

2012–2018

Tanqueray Style Sessions

Matchfire produces Tanqueray "Style Sessions"—some of the agency's first experiential marketing work, combining live fashion shows and speakeasy-style scenes across 7 pop-up locations in markets across the U.S. The campaign blended premium brand identity with live, shareable cultural moments before "experiential" was a standard line item in a media plan.

2012–2018

Malaria No More

Matchfire leads digital strategy and campaigns for Malaria No More—a global health nonprofit working to end malaria deaths worldwide. The work spanned awareness, advocacy, and donor engagement across digital channels, bringing the urgency of a global health crisis to audiences who could act on it.

2012–2018

National Geographic

Matchfire works with National Geographic on content, digital strategy, and brand campaigns—supporting one of the world's most iconic media and science brands in connecting its mission to digital audiences.

2012–2018

Additional 360° Campaigns

  • NASCAR Drafting — Social campaign tapping one of America's largest fan communities for cause engagement
  • Lenovo Campaign — Technology brand meets social purpose
  • Name Your Cause / BlogWorld — Early user-generated cause platform; letting audiences define what they cared about
  • BigCanvass — Matchfire-built homegrown digital democracy platform
  • PayPal Donate Button Campaigns — Early integration of frictionless digital giving into brand and cause campaigns
2012–2018

eBay Celebrity

Matchfire takes on full management of eBay's celebrity charity vertical—overseeing the strategy, talent relationships, and execution behind one of the platform's most visible and high-impact programs. A decade-long partnership in eBay's charity work made Matchfire the natural choice to lead it at scale.

2012–2018

Equinox

Matchfire leads digital engagement work for Equinox—connecting the premium fitness brand's identity to its audience through content and social strategy.

2012–2018

Alzheimer's Association

Matchfire created and launched 'The Longest Day' for the Alzheimer's Association, a national campaign driving awareness and fundraising. The partnership covered brand strategy, content, and digital engagement across the association's full platform. The program’s success led to a second-year engagement to evolve and expand the initiative.

2012–2018

Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA)

Matchfire leads the "Great Futures" campaign—a digital hub at GreatFutures.org that generated $1M in sponsor donation matches and 400M+ impressions. Partners included Disney, Coca-Cola, and Taco Bell; celebrity support came from Nick Cannon, Shaun White, and Jennifer Lopez.

ERA 5: AGENCY OF RECORD — THE BIG LEAGUES 2019–2025
2019
2026

Matchfire earns its seat at the table with national and global brands and nonprofits.

2019–2026

Teach.org

Matchfire delivers a full rebrand and website rebuild for Teach.org, including a custom teacher certification search tool covering all U.S. programs and a career roadmap tool that positions the site as the definitive resource for aspiring teachers. The project combined brand strategy, UX, and content into a platform built to serve a national audience at scale.

2019–2026

GRAMMY Foundation + GRAMMY Museum + MusiCares

The partnership, which began in 2002, grew to raise more than $5 million for Recording Academy charities, including the GRAMMY Foundation®, MusiCares®, and GRAMMY Museum®. Over two decades, Matchfire’s auction expertise and celebrity relationships made it a key driver of digital fundraising across both organizations.

2019–2026

MDA — Helping Families Live Unlimited

Matchfire modernized MDA’s digital presence with a full website redesign, launched the national Live Unlimited awareness campaign, and expanded engagement through innovative activations—including a 24-hour Twitch game-a-thon that raised over $200,000.

2019–2026

TIME'S UP — Golden Globes "Black Dresses" Campaign

At the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards, Matchfire runs the TIME'S UP "Black Dresses" campaign, raising $150,000 in the cultural #MeToo moment that had the entire entertainment industry paying attention. The campaign turned a red carpet statement into an impactful fundraising campaign.

2019–2026

LG Electronics — Experience Happiness

Matchfire builds LG's entire social purpose platform, "Experience Happiness", launching at the top of One World Observatory on International Day of Happiness. The platform reaches 1.8 million youth in year one, earns a Times Square billboard, deploys celebrity influencers, and spans a cross-business-unit strategy. By year five, 6 million kids have been trained in the science of happiness.

2019–2026

Ai Weiwei

Matchfire sells 2,000 limited-edition pieces by artist and activist Ai Weiwei—selling out in hours and raising $775,000 in support of humanitarian relief efforts. The campaign combined the urgency of a limited release with the cultural gravity of one of the world's most recognized contemporary artists.

2019–2026

Mars Wrigley

Matchfire is a long-standing strategic and creative partner to Mars Wrigley Premium Brands, leading creative strategy and full-funnel execution for Ethel M Chocolates and American Heritage Chocolate—from seasonal campaigns, to eCommerce, retail, and the visual design of the annual meeting of the Heritage Chocolate Society.

2019–2026

American Cinematheque

Matchfire rebuilt the American Cinematheque from the ground up—delivering an award-winning brand alongside a fully custom website and integrated POS system that powers both digital and in-theater experiences. Designed to compete with the Beverly Cinema and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the platform gives one of L.A.’s most iconic film institutions the infrastructure to match its cultural relevance.

2019–2026

Andy Warhol Foundation

Matchfire raises $4 million to date for the Andy Warhol Foundation—advancing the visual arts through a series of high-profile auction campaigns that match the foundation's cultural weight with Matchfire's auction expertise. The partnership is one of the agency's most prestigious ongoing relationships in the arts space.

ERA 6: LOCAL ROOTS, REAL IMPACT
SLO
WORK

Matchfire never forgot where it came from—San Luis Obispo is not just a home base, it's a proving ground.

SLO WORK

Meathead Movers

Matchfire partnered with Meathead Movers to transform its mission-driven, student-athlete model into a scalable growth platform—delivering a fully custom website, a proprietary quote wizard, and a robust SEO and digital marketing strategy to drive acquisition.

SLO WORK

City of SLO / TBID—Tourism & Destination Marketing

For nearly six years, Matchfire served as the destination marketing partner for the City of San Luis Obispo and the San Luis Obispo Tourism Business Improvement District—building and activating integrated campaigns, content, and digital strategy to grow awareness, drive visitation, and position SLO as a must-visit destination.

SLO WORK

SLO Chamber of Commerce

Matchfire partners with Imagine SLO, a strategic initiative of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, to shape brand and messaging—aligning business, community, and civic stakeholders around a shared vision for economic growth.

SLO WORK

San Luis Obispo Coastal Fund

Matchfire built a brand identity and website for the San Luis Coastal Education Fund—a nonprofit raising funds for classroom innovation and technology.

SLO WORK

Foundation for the Performing Arts

For the Foundation for the Performing Arts San Luis Obispo's 25th anniversary, Matchfire created the Find Your Center campaign—brought to life across digital, social, billboards, and print. The campaign earned a Silver Indigo Award in 2021.

SLO WORK

French Hospital — Beyond Health Campaign

Matchfire built the capital campaign platform to support the transformation of French Hospital Medical Center—covering multi-channel fundraising, awareness, and brand identity. The work helped position a beloved local institution for its next chapter, connecting the community to a cause that hits close to home.

SLO WORK

Cal Poly

For more than a decade, Matchfire has supported departments across California Polytechnic State University—from ASI to University Advancement—through website redesigns, brand launches, and campaign microsites that bring greater cohesion to the university’s digital presence.

SLO WORK

REACH Central Coast

Matchfire led a full brand transformation for REACH—including naming, identity, messaging, and website—and continues to support the organization’s work uniting regional leaders around inclusive economic growth. The work earned a Gold Indigo Award.

SLO WORK

SLO Museum of Art

Matchfire delivers cultural institution brand work for the SLO Museum of Art—helping a community anchor find the language and visual identity to grow its audience and deepen its impact.

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