AmazonSmile is a donation program in which Amazon donates a small percentage of the purchase value of participating customers to charities selected by the customer. This charitable project will now be discontinued on February 20th. It is certainly no coincidence that the announcement comes at a time when it is known that the company will be laying off 18,000 employees worldwide, thus continuing the wave of shrinkage among American tech companies.
AmazonSmile did not serve its purpose
Amazon justifies its decision to end the program by saying that it did not have the effect it had hoped for. In the future, the group wants to be charitable in areas where important changes could actually be implemented. Apparently, from Amazon's perspective, AmazonSmile has not achieved this and the company wants to invest in charitable causes in a more focused manner in the future. The program, launched in 2016, was able to collect $100 million in 2018 and pass it on to charities. In total, over a million charitable organizations were ultimately qualified for the program.
“Unfortunately, the program did not have the impact we had hoped for.”
Amazon
Amazon makes a one-off donation at the end
The transition will be somewhat cushioned for the organizations involved. They will receive a final one-time donation to prepare them for the end of the program. This should be as high as the total donation value that the respective organization received within three months of the previous year. Donations received before the service ends on February 23rd will also be forwarded to the organizations.
Where will support be provided in the future?
Amazon already has concrete ideas about what the group's charitable activities should look like in the future.
“We will continue to direct our resources and investments to areas where we can effectively implement important changes — from access to computer science education for students to logistics assistance for communities affected by natural disasters.”
Amazon
A press release about the discontinuation of AmazonSmile names alternative projects that should be pushed forward in the future. The company wants to continue to address the immediate needs of Ukrainian refugees . Local organizations are to be supported throughout Germany and Austria. Another focus is access for young disadvantaged people to computer science lessons and other school topics. Particular emphasis is placed on our own commitment after the flood disaster in 2021. This also paved the way for future commitment based on our own strengths: provision of products and relief supplies as well as powerful logistics and appropriate networks to get everything to where it is needed .
What's next for the charitable organizations?
The end of AmazonSmile does not mean the end of charity shopping. Gooding.de, founded in 2012, can replace AmazonSmile. This means everyone can continue to do good when they shop – at no additional cost. Just like AmazonSmile, Gooding non-profit organizations or projects. There are currently over 2,100 well-known reward shops such as OTTO, eBay, Ikea or Deutsche Bahn and 15,000 non-profit organizations to choose from on the charity shopping platform. Almost eight million euros have already been donated via Gooding.de. More about this here .
Source:
Amazon, t-online , Spiegel , Gooding
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