What da Fudge …. Amazon is ending AmazonSmile 😢

[HermanTX]

This is very unfortunate for TFP

In 2013, we launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favorite charities. However, 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.

We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by 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.

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.

 

[Mdragger88]

Yeah, Matt started a thread about it yesterday

What da Fudge …. Amazon is ending AmazonSmile 😢

Ok, that just makes me not Smile 😢 Feb 2023 AmazonSmile comes to an end. I guess Jeff Bezos needs more billions to spend on his phallic rockets and his girlfriend …

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[HermanTX]

I think @Leebo would be the one to best tell us all what, if any, impact this would have. My gut feeling says that the Smile probably wasn’t a huge amount of money but it probably wasn’t peanuts either. Never good to lose any kind of revenue stream …

I looked at the dropdown under Supporting TFP and it stated
All US charities have received
$400,026,236.70
as of December 2022

I assume this is from its inception. Not chump change for an organization to give to charities. I am sure Wall Street analyst influenced this change to drive profitability to bolster the stock price.

 

[Newdude]

I assume this is from its inception. Not chump change for an organization to give to charities.

The fairly current amount on my account page. Y'alls did WAY better than me.

 

[HeyEng]

I am glad to hear that it won't make a huge difference for TFP. However, I can't help but wonder about some of the bigger charities. As an example, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The have gotten over 16 MILLION dollars from the program and that's not an insignificant amount. Not only to mention some of the smaller/local (animal rescues and the like).

 

[ajw22]

Well TFP and all the charities are getting a divorce payment…

Amazon is closing its AmazonSmile charity platform

The service has raised over $377 million since it launched in 2013

www.theverge.com

Amazon said it will be making a one-time donation to participating charities “equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program.

 

[Mdragger88]

My current charity is not TFP but the one I set up for my kiddos school & while the total for Amazon smile isn’t much (about $28 since inception), every dollar certainly has an impact in a low income rural school. Fundraising is sure tough out here!
Maybe another entity will come up with a passive solution.
Kroger already has something similar that I tried to get set up but couldn’t get it working. May have to revisit it-

https://www.kroger.com/hc/help/faqs/community-rewards/general

Not sure if all the companies under the Kroger umbrella are covered by this when signing up as a charity but it looks like they each have their own portal for the shopper.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Well darn. The $4,500. TFP rec'd were surely welcomed and put to good use. I know I did my part in shopping to excess.
It was always ready to go as long as I signed in to "smile.amazon......"

 

[thefloatqueen]

I laughed so hard at the BMV just now. Folks are looking at me like I’m insane.

 

[Ignoramus]

Just got the email.

Eventually the market part of the company had to make a profit.

2022 was the first unprofitable year for Amazon since 2014. I'm pretty sure that's the reason they are dumping charities.

 

[mknauss]

The Market portion of Amazon I do not believe has ever made money (net income) or at least very little. AWS is what generates all the net income.

 

[ajw22]

The Market portion of Amazon I do not believe has ever made money (net income) or at least very little. AWS is what generates all the net income.

AWS and advertising are about 50/50. Folks don’t realize how many paid ads are on Amazon and also payment to be higher on the lists.