Why Amazon Shut Down AmazonSmile
AmazonSmile ended in February 2023. Here is why Amazon closed it, where its charitable giving goes now, and how shoppers can still support the causes they care about.
For nearly a decade, AmazonSmile let shoppers send a small slice of their purchases to a favorite charity at no extra cost. Then, in early 2023, Amazon announced that it was closing the program. If you have read our earlier posts on how to support your favorite charity with AmazonSmile, using it in the Amazon shopping app, and donating supplies with charity lists, you may be wondering what happened and what comes next. Here is what we know.
How AmazonSmile Worked
AmazonSmile launched in 2013. Shoppers who picked a charity and started at the Smile site (or turned it on in the app) saw a portion of eligible purchases donated to that organization, at no cost to the shopper. It was a simple way to give while doing everyday shopping, and it donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charities over the years, according to CNBC's coverage of the shutdown.
Why Amazon Shut It Down
Amazon's own explanation was about impact. In its announcement, the company said that after almost a decade, AmazonSmile had not grown to create the impact it hoped for. With more than a million eligible organizations signed up, Amazon said its giving was spread too thin to make a real difference for any one cause.
The timing also matched a broader round of cost cutting at Amazon, as CNBC reported. Whatever the mix of reasons, the program closed to new donations on February 20, 2023.
What Happened to the Charities
Amazon said that charities enrolled in AmazonSmile would receive a one-time payment equal to three months of what they earned through the program in 2022, and that they could keep collecting donations until the closing date. After that, Amazon pointed charities toward asking supporters for help through their own wish lists.
What Amazon Is Doing Instead
Amazon did not announce a single replacement for AmazonSmile. Instead, it said it would put its charitable giving into a smaller number of larger programs. According to the company, those include:
- Affordable housing. Amazon's $2 billion Housing Equity Fund, which the company says has helped create more than 14,000 affordable homes, with thousands more planned.
- Computer science education. Amazon Future Engineer, which the company says has funded curriculum for more than 600,000 students in over 5,000 underserved schools.
- Disaster relief. Amazon says it has responded to more than 95 natural disasters and donated more than 20 million relief products, with a disaster relief hub in Atlanta.
- Food delivery and community giving. Amazon also points to delivering more than 23 million meals with food banks in 35 cities, along with local giving.
In other words, the money that once flowed through millions of individual shopper choices now goes to company-chosen efforts. Shoppers no longer decide where it goes.
Charity Wish Lists: The Closest Thing Left
The nearest thing to the old program is charity wish lists. Nonprofits can create lists of the items they need, such as school supplies, pantry staples, and shelter basics, and shoppers can buy those items to be shipped straight to the organization. We walked through how that works in our post on donating supplies to local charities with Amazon charity lists. It is not automatic like Smile was, but it puts your purchase directly to work.
How to Keep Giving Now
You can still turn everyday spending into support for causes you care about. A few easy options:
- Give directly. A recurring gift of a few dollars a month through a charity's own website puts the full amount in its hands.
- Buy from a charity's wish list. Local food banks, shelters, and animal rescues often post exactly what they need.
- Try a giving app. Services such as Givebacks donate a share of what you spend at participating retailers. Forbes also rounded up AmazonSmile alternatives soon after the announcement.
The Bottom Line
AmazonSmile is gone, but the idea behind it is not. Shoppers who want their spending to do some good still have plenty of ways to do it, from wish lists to direct gifts. Our earlier AmazonSmile posts remain on the site for reference, and they describe how the program worked while it was running.
Photo from Pexels.