Amazon Gives Little Notice on End of AmazonSmile Program

“Every little bit counts” — at least that’s what Amazon touts when it shares the impact customers have made when shopping with the retailer via a program that gives a portion of purchase prices to customers' preferred charities.

But less than a decade after launching AmazonSmile, Amazon announced that the program’s days are numbered. AmazonSmile will end on Feb. 20. The announcement comes as Amazon is cutting costs, which includes laying off 18,000 employees.

Amazon donates 0.5% of each eligible AmazonSmile purchase to a customer-selected nonprofit at no cost to either the customers or nonprofits. In addition to the funds organizations earn through Feb. 20, Amazon has vowed to provide each participating nonprofit a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned via AmazonSmile in 2022. 

An Amazon spokesperson reiterated those plans to NonProfit PRO when asked why only approximately one month’s notice was given regarding the program’s closure. 

However, Amazon cited the program has not met expectations, despite donating more than $400 million to U.S. nonprofits — and approximately $450 million in total worldwide — since its inception.

“The program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” Amazon said in a letter to customers released Wednesday. “With so many eligible organizations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.” 

Eligible nonprofits have been signing up for this program since its 2013 launch by providing Amazon with key details — including an EIN number and bank account information — and accepting AmazonSmile’s participation agreement. Meanwhile, each Amazon customer has been able to select a charity to receive a small portion of purchases from more than a million organizations.

Both donors and nonprofits vented their frustrations on Twitter, often sharing screenshots of the impact Amazon shared for their nonprofits. Those impact numbers showed millions of dollars going to various charities over the span of the program to date.

Nonprofits of all sizes utilized the program. ASPCA received close to $16 million, World Wildlife Fund earned nearly $5 million and charity: water had more than $4 million in donations, according to the screenshots. The service was extremely popular among small nonprofits, which have been boasting their lifetime AmazonSmile donations online. The impact Amazon had on smaller organizations ranged from hundreds to thousands of dollars, but those nonprofits are struggling with how to replace the revenue stream.

“Amazon claims the AmazonSmile program didn’t have an impact,” SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary from Montgomery, New York, tweeted. “I can tell you as an animal not-for-profit, it made a huge difference to us. That $9,400 meant the world. That isn’t nothing to us.”

“#amazonsmile quarterly disbursements from our supporters helped cover expenses when we fell short on donations,” The Cat's Meow from Los Angeles tweeted. “We received nearly $4,000 since getting approved a few years ago. The program didn’t provide ‘meaningful change’? Our rescued kitties disagree.”

“For us, the impact is significant — every dollar counts, Global Sanctuary for Elephants, a Brentwood, Tennessee-based nonprofit that received more than $20,000 in total from AmazonSmile, tweeted. “We're upset by this inconsiderate decision.”

For Lauren Wagner, executive director of the Long Island Arts Alliance, the passive revenue stream made an impact for the membership organization based in Greenvale, New York. 

“Just got an email stating that @amazon is discontinuing its #amazonsmile program, which has had a measurable impact on my organization over the last seven years,” she tweeted. “More importantly, it has allowed patrons to support our organization in an accessible way. Disappointed, to say the least.”

NonProfit PRO asked Amazon if they had any clarification on their statement regarding their impact since so many nonprofits took offense. 

“While AmazonSmile did provide funds to many, many charities, the average donation for U.S. charities in 2022 was less than $230,” Patrick Malone, an Amazon spokesperson, told NonProfit PRO via email. “With hundreds of thousands of charities, that spread our ability to make concentrated impact too thin. 

However, Salaam Bhatti, deputy director, Virginia Poverty Law Center, saw a silver lining. Since payments were routed through the AmazonSmile Foundation, nonprofits have no idea who these donors are, so he encouraged donors to start giving directly.

“When you donate through #AmazonSmile, Facebook, etc., the nonprofit doesn't know that you donated,” he tweeted.” It just comes over as a lump sum. Donate directly so we can make a relationship with you and show you all the good your donation does.”

Amazon declined to comment on if it had any plans to share AmazonSmile donor identities with nonprofits or assist in encouraging those donors to give directly to their nonprofits of choice when the program ceased operations. 

Amazon Wish Lists will remain available to nonprofits. Amazon vowed to continue to give back via programs focused on housing, hunger and disaster relief.

“Amazon is looking to make a big impact,” Malone told NonProfit PRO when asked if smaller nonprofits that will be hurt the most with the program ending will be included in future philanthropy efforts. “As with all areas of our business, we will identify customer and community need and work backward from there, working with any partners who can move us to those high-impact goals.”

Jonathan Dughi, a former AmazonSmile senior software development manager who left the company in 2021, shared his sadness of the news in a LinkedIn post.

“The Amazon layoffs today are heartbreaking, for I’m sure I know and worked with some great people who are affected,” he said. “I also know the news of AmazonSmile being shut down is timed to be lost among the layoff news.

“Personally, this news is equally depressing,” he continued. “This post doesn’t mention the over $100 million annually being donated to charities and the impact even small donations make to those organizations. Having spent years building out this team and the product, I’m beyond sorry to see it go. It was one of the best things about Amazon.”