Amazon announce closure of Amazon Smile

Amazon have announced that it will close its charity donations scheme, Amazon Smile, by 20th February 2023.

Amazon Smile was launched in 2003. When customers shopped through the website smile.amazon.co.uk, Amazon donated a small percentage of the value of sales to a charity chosen by the customer.

Amazon announced its decision to close the scheme on 19 January 2023 in an email to Amazon Smile customers. The reason given for their decision to close the scheme was that “the programme has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped”.

Once the scheme closes Amazon will make a one-off donation to participating charities, equivalent to 6 months of what they earned through the programme in 2022.

In order to support charities going forward, Amazon are encouraging charities to use wish lists on their website, and they have created a new section of their website where charitable organisations can open their own store fronts and keep all of the profits earned on sales. Charities already using these ‘stores’ include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, the Natural History Museum and the Royal British Legion.

However, many small charities, particularly those who do not have a retail division, will feel the blow of the closure of Amazon Smile. Although Amazon believed the scheme was not having a great impact, charities would be happy with any amount of donation, over none at all.

If you would like to discuss the impact this may have on your charity, please do not hesitate to contact Johnston Smillie.