Amazon Closes the Smile Philanthropic Program

Amazon announced early last January 2023 that the company is closing its philanthropic AmazonSmile program because it didn’t grow to create the impact it had initially hoped. “With so many eligible organizations—more than 1 million globally—our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin”, the corporation said in a press release.

The AmazonSmile program, launched in 2013 to make it easier for customers to support their favorite charities, will definitively close on February 20, 2023.

“We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters,” the company stated.

According to the Amazon's press release, “to help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes in February. Once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.”