Ten years ago, Amazon launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favourite charities. Once signed up to with AmazonSmile Amazon made a donation to your favourite charity at no extra cost to you every time you made an eligible purchase. Now the programme is to end with Amazon announcing they would close AmazonSmile charity donations by the 20th of February.
The reason Amazon give is that AmazonSmile charity donations are a small percentage of the charitable giving Amazon makes each year and is dwarfed by the other programmes they have in place. The harsh reality is it probably costs to much to run and administer AmazonSmile charity donations in comparison to the funds raised.
Since launch, the programme has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped.
AmazonSmile represents a very small portion of the total charitable contributions made through our other programmes, which we estimate at more than £100 million in 2021.
– Amazon
Amazon say that they recognise that these are difficult times for everyone, including charities, so will be providing an additional one-time donation to participating charities equivalent to six months of what they earned through the programme in 2022
Charities will 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 their own wish lists.
Amazon were keen to point out the non AmazonSmile charity donations they make including:
- Increasing our support for a charity coalition led by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown that has donated essential products to more than 50,000 families in need.
- A new partnership with Comic Relief that began with our support for the Comic Relief Cost of Living Appeal, which supports families across the UK and alleviates pressures caused by rising costs.
- Amazon’s product donation programmes continue to help people and families in need, providing more than 15 million essential goods in the last year alone. These include In Kind Direct, a partnership that supports more than 2,000 charities with donations that help more than 250,000 people every single week.
- A new Amazon for Charities store which allows charities to raise money by selling products on Amazon and collecting 100% of profits. Today the store features Macmillan Cancer Support, Royal British Legion, the Natural History Museum, Marie Curie and we are adding more charities all of the time.
On top of this work, Amazon say that they will continue to invest in their capabilities to support communities in the UK and abroad every day and in times of crisis. So far, for example, Amazon have partnered with Magic Breakfast to deliver more than 6.6 million free breakfasts to thousands of children across the country, and they delivered more than 7 million COVID-19 test kits across the UK during the pandemic. Amazon have also been using our logistics capabilities to help people affected by the war in Ukraine. Globally, Amazon have provided more than $75 million in support including millions of critical relief items – from medical supplies to blankets, food, books and devices for refugees, working closely with charities such as Save The Children.
