Why would you cancel such a clever charity donation program?
I hope this post finds you well.
AmazonSmile, Amazon’s charity donation program is going to be shut down next month, 2023-02-20. One article indicated it’s due to some sort of growth issue. I have no idea what growth issue means, so don’t ask. While, Amazon is laying off employees. Another article suggested it’s a cost cutting measure.
The AmazonSmile program started in 2013. And as of 2023-01-18, I have generated $135.54 from my purchases. Where the average was $230, In all, US citizens generated $400,026,236.70, as of 2022-12-01. That’s 400+ million dollars. On Amazon website it states:
“After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” the company said. “With so many eligible organizations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”
What does that mean our ability to have an impact was spread too thin. It seems that Amazon is concerned the money, spread out over a million not-for-profit organizations, is somehow too thin. Maybe what they mean by this is that each organization is not getting enough. Whatever.
It turns out this was a nice program. The manufacturers volunteered to donate a percentage that is 0.5% of the sales price. This is very nice. It gets better, Amazon gave me the decision to where I think the charity donation should go. I could choose from over one million eligible 501(c)(3) public charitable organizations. Just think, I chose where it went. So, this meant a lot to me. It was a win-win for all. There was no influence by Amazon. I wish I could see a breakdown of where all the money went. This might indicate where US citizens think what charities should receive the money.
Some stats here: In the US, of the total charitable money given to not-for-profits, 2.62 trillion in 2016, 80% comes from government grants or contracts, while 10% comes from individuals and only 4% come from foundations. You can get this info at:
https://www.zippia.com/advice/nonprofit-statistics
By the way, the American Red Cross is the charity I chose. This is a description from the Amazon Website:
American Red Cross
Location: Washington, DC | Year Founded: 1905
Mission: The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.
Programs: Training Services, Supporting America’s Military Families, Disaster Relief, International Services
You can find it here on Amazon https://smile.amazon.com/gp/charity/about.html
On 2023-01-19, I received an email from Amazon. In the email this paragraph stands out and is the reason I am writing this article. You see the AmazonSmile charity donation program is a volunteer program where the manufacturer chooses to donate and I the purchaser, choose the charity that gets the money. But, eliminating the AmazonSmile program denies the charities from receiving donations. This paragraph describes what Amazon intends to do.
To help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes in February. Once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.
This is interesting. So, in order for the not-for-profit to benefit, it must be a member of Amazon, also, it will receive no money but products from a wish list. So, in my case, I would have to go to the American Red Cross wish list and purchase the products the Red Cross wished for.
I am sad to see this charity donation program taken down. It was such a clever idea.
A copy of my email from Amazon is below:
Dear customer,
In 2013, we launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favorite charities. However, after almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organizations—more than 1 million globally—our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.
We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.
To help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes in February. Once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.
As a company, we will continue supporting a wide range of other programs that help thousands of charities and communities across the U.S. For instance:
- Housing Equity Fund: We’re investing $2 billion to build and preserve affordable housing in our hometown communities. In just two years, we’ve provided funding to create more than 14,000 affordable homes—and we expect to build at least 6,000 more in the coming months. These units will host more than 18,000 moderate- to low-income families, many of them with children. In one year alone, our investments have been able to increase the affordable housing stock in communities like Bellevue, Washington and Arlington, Virginia by at least 20%.
- Amazon Future Engineer: We’ve funded computer science curriculum for more than 600,000 students across over 5,000 schools—all in underserved communities. We have plans to reach an additional 1 million students this year. We’ve also provided immediate assistance to 55,000 students in our hometown communities by giving them warm clothes for the winter, food, and school supplies.
- Community Delivery Program: We’ve partnered with food banks in 35 U.S. cities to deliver more than 23 million meals, using our logistics infrastructure to help families in need access healthy food – and we plan to deliver 12 million more meals this year alone. In addition to our delivery services, we’ve also donated 30 million meals in communities across the country.
- Amazon Disaster Relief: We’re using our logistics capabilities, inventory, and cloud technology to provide fast aid to communities affected by natural disasters. For example, we’ve created a Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta with more than 1 million relief items ready for deployment, our Disaster Relief team has responded to more than 95 natural disasters, and we’ve donated more than 20 million relief products to nonprofits assisting communities on the ground.
- Community Giving: We support hundreds of local nonprofits doing meaningful work in cities where our employees and their families live. For example, each year we donate hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations working to build stronger communities, from youth sport leagues, to local community colleges, to shelters for families experiencing homelessness.
We’ll continue working to make a difference in many ways, and our long-term commitment to our communities remains the same—we’re determined to do every day better for our customers, our employees, and the world at large.
Thank you for being an Amazon customer.
Below is the Amazon description for AmazonSmile donation program for reference:
What is AmazonSmile?
AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is available at smile.amazon.com on your web browser and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones. When you shop with AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added benefit that AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. You can choose from over one million organizations to support.
How much of my purchase does Amazon donate?
The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. The purchase price is the amount paid for the item minus any rebates and excluding shipping & handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes, or service charges. From time to time, we may offer special, limited time promotions that increase the donation amount on one or more products or services or provide for additional donations to charitable organizations. Special terms and restrictions may apply. Please see the relevant promotion for complete details.
What is the AmazonSmile Foundation?
The AmazonSmile Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation created by Amazon to administer the AmazonSmile program. All donation amounts generated by the AmazonSmile program are remitted by a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. to the AmazonSmile Foundation. In turn, the AmazonSmile Foundation donates those amounts to the charitable organizations selected by our customers. Amazon pays all expenses of the AmazonSmile Foundation; they are not deducted from the donation amounts generated by purchases on AmazonSmile.
the e-retailer donates a percentage of eligible purchases on the site to the shopper’s chosen charity organization. Amazon said it has donated roughly $500 million to charities since the program launched in 2013.