- Amazon closed its charity program AmazonSmile in February 2023.
- The firm mentioned it might proceed investing in different impression initiatives like reasonably priced housing.
- Customers who shopped noticed .5% of their Amazon orders go to a charity of their selection.
Amazon closed its charity program AmazonSmile in February 2023 after a decade in operation.
In an electronic mail to prospects in January 2023, the corporate mentioned it might proceed investing in different areas the place it will possibly make a significant impression, together with reasonably priced housing, laptop science schooling, and aiding communities affected by pure disasters.
Amazon launched AmazonSmile in 2013 to present prospects a strategy to help their favourite charities whereas purchasing on Amazon. Customers may store through the web site smile.amazon.com, and 0.5% of their purchases would go to a charity of their selection.
About one million 501(c)(3) public charitable organizations, together with the World Wildlife Fund, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital participated in AmazonSmile. However, Amazon mentioned this system hadn’t created the impression it had hoped and that with thousands and thousands of charities globally, its capacity to make an impression was unfold too skinny.
As of December 2022, AmazonSmile had donated about $449 million.
Amazon mentioned it might proceed supporting charities and communities nationwide, together with investing within the Housing Equity Fund, the Amazon Future Engineer program to fund laptop science curriculum, the Community Delivery Program to ship meals to households, and Amazon Disaster Relief.
The closing of AmazonSmile got here as Amazon confirmed indicators of economic bother. Amazon layoffs in late 2022 by spring 2023 slashed tens of hundreds of tech jobs and had been the biggest within the firm’s historical past.
AmazonSmile formally ceased operations on February 20, 2023.
