Amazon Smile going away....

[Baz]

WTF?

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.

[masraum]

I just got the same email 3 mins ago. That sucks.

[jhynesrockmtn]

I've worked in a few organizations that received Amazon Smile donations. It never amounted to more than a few hundred quarterly.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by masraum

I just got the same email 3 mins ago. That sucks.

Very poor optics.

If you want to give to additional causes - do it.

Don't take OUR causes away.

Mine was for the Humane Society.

Talk about an "underserved communities"....if there ever was one.....animal welfare is it.....

[A930Rocket]

I’ve never heard of the Amazon smile. Maybe Jeff can make up the difference.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by Baz

Very poor optics.

If you want to give to additional causes - do it.

Don't take OUR causes away.

Mine was for the Humane Society.

Talk about an "underserved communities"....if there ever was one.....animal welfare is it.....

Mine was for the Humane Society, too.

[E38Driver]

Mine was the Gary Sinise foundation.

That really sucks. I have many connections on LinkedIn and a lot of folks I am connected to have gotten the axe.

Dave

[70SATMan]

Does suck. We were set up for an independent animal shelter/foster.

I can understand wanting to trim down what is essentially two different operational systems for accounts and ordering but, it could have been as simple as checking a donation box when ordering under the main system.

Plus, I think they could have marketed the concept better.

[masraum]

Yep, Houston Humane Society, here.

[Deschodt]

It's been renamed Bezos smile, all those contributions now go back to him to turn his james bond villain frown upside down.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

It's been renamed Bezos smile, all those contributions now go back to him to turn his james bond villain frown upside down.

His new bachelor pad

[red-beard]

I have them donating to the NRA

[Pazuzu]

Wait wait wait...

Not but a few months ago I suggested...nay, COMMANDED that you all send your Amazon Smile donations to my work:

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

If you can't think of a charity, then you can send it to my employer, who is a 501c3 non-profit which is on the list:
Transmit Receive Labs Inc

Are you telling me that none of you listened???

[70SATMan]

Obviously we all were able to think of a charity..

You did say if we couldn’t then,,,,

[SiberianDVM]

Mine was Carolina Border Collie Rescue, and I order from Amazon Smile a LOT. But I still send cash to CBCR every monrh.

This sucks.

[fintstone]

If I understand correctly, the program was designed to allow customers to pick which charities Amazon donated .5% of each purchase to (and annually it amounted an average of just over $200 each). With Amazon currently laying off tens of thousands, I imagine the cost of the program (funds sent to charities and administration of the program) is just not worth it (regardless of how they "sell" it. Reportedly, Amazon is spending billions on affordable housing near their distribution centers/offices...and it appears that perhaps we are heading into a recession.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by SiberianDVM

Mine was Carolina Border Collie Rescue, and I order from Amazon Smile a LOT. But I still send cash to CBCR every monrh.

This sucks.

Thanks for this!

I used to support an Australian Cattle Dog rescue org in South Carolina but they dissolved so now just support the local shelter.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by fintstone

With Amazon currently laying off tens of thousands

Google 12,000 Microsoft 10,000