AmazonSmile was the tech giant’s charity program, but it closed due to limited impact, the company claimed
Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/picture alliance via Getty Images
The company said it would continue investing in other impact initiatives like affordable housing.
Customers who shopped saw .5% of their Amazon orders go to a charity of their choice.
Amazon closed its charity program AmazonSmile in February 2023 after a decade in operation.
In an email to customers in January 2023, the company said it would continue investing in other areas where it can make a meaningful impact, including affordable housing, computer science education, and assisting communities affected by natural disasters.
Amazon launched AmazonSmile in 2013 to give customers a way to support their favorite charities while shopping on Amazon. Customers could shop via the website smile.amazon.com, and 0.5% of their purchases would go to a charity of their choice.
About a million 501(c)(3) public charitable organizations, including 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 said the program hadn’t created the impact it had hoped and that with millions of charities globally, its ability to make an impact was spread too thin.
As of December 2022, AmazonSmile had donated about $449 million.
Amazon said it would continue supporting charities and communities nationwide, including investing in the Housing Equity Fund, the Amazon Future Engineer program to fund computer science curriculum, the Community Delivery Program to deliver meals to families, and Amazon Disaster Relief.
The closing of AmazonSmile came as Amazon showed signs of financial trouble. Amazon layoffs in late 2022 through spring 2023 slashed tens of thousands of tech jobs and were the largest in the company’s history.
AmazonSmile officially ceased operations on February 20, 2023.