Amazon
Amazon puts an end to its AmazonSmile charity program
The program was first revealed in 2013.
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After nearly ten years and almost $500 million donated, Amazon has announced that it will shut down its AmazonSmile charity program by February 20, 2023.
With AmazonSmile, users could have a small portion (.5%) of their purchase price go to various charities. In fact, there were approximately 1 million to choose from.
And it’s that wide range of options that helped lead to the shutdown. Essentially, with so many to choose from, no single charity received an impactful amount of donations.
Amazon’s announcement helps solidify that reasoning. In it, the company notes:
“[T]he 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.”
Not all is terrible, however. The company plans to give all participating organizations a one-time donation equivalent to “three months of what they earned in 2022.”
It’s unclear if Amazon will relaunch AmazonSmile (or a similar program) in the future. If so, expect to see a much more limited range of choices.
Additionally, the company has made it clear that it will continue to support a variety of organizations, including the Housing Equity Fund, Community Delivery Program, and Amazon Disaster Relief.
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