Amazon Discontinues Charity Donation Program, AmazonSmile

Amazon hit US charities and AmazonSmile users with bad news on Wednesday.

Amid cost-cutting efforts, Amazon announced that it plans to discontinue its charity donation program, AmazonSmile. The program was first launched in 2013 and since then, Amazon said it has donated about $500 million to charities.

In an email to users and a statement posted online, Amazon said it plans to “wind down” AmazonSmile by February, 20. “After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organizations—more than 1 million globally—our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin,” the email stated.

The company also stated, “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.”

While Amazon claimed “its ability to have an impact was often spread too thin,” many users disagreed and took to Twitter to air their grievances. Not-for-profit organization, Squirrelwood Equine Sanctuary, admitted that the AmazonSmile donations they received totaled $9,373.23 and “meant the world” to the organization.

Amazon stated that it will help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program by providing a “one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program.” Charities will also be able to collect donations through the program until it closes on February 20.

This discontinuation of AmazonSmile comes at a time of cost-cutting efforts and large layoffs for the company. CNBC shows that layoffs are expected to affect more than 18,000 people, the largest layoff in company history.