AmazonSmile Donates Part of your Purchase to Charity

Miratel is a company that strongly believes in its CSR business values and we like to highlight other companies who share those values. The advent of these CSR business initiatives has birthed the socially conscious consumer who I recently wrote about in my post about the launch of TOMS Marketplace. The socially conscious consumer is someone that supports companies who share their values or that gives back to causes they believe in. As we are approaching the season of giving and shopping increases, it makes sense that these customers are more apt to spend their hard-earned money at companies that in turn pay it forward. For businesses to remain competitive, it’s in their best interest to cater to these consumers and Amazon is doing just that with the launch of AmazonSmile.

“AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets you enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the eligible charitable organization of your choice.”

Amazon maintains that through the AmazonSmile site “you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com.” Also, you can use your existing Amazon account along with Wish Lists, gift registries and other services but Amazon recommends you bookmark the AmazonSmile so your purchases are eligible. Basically, you get the same Amazon you know and love except you have the added bonus of being able to give back to your favourite cause. Pretty amazing.

You get to choose to donate to almost any charity you like. AmazonSmile allows you to connect to nearly “one million eligible 501(c)(3) public charitable organizations.” This means you can customize the cause for every order you make, which makes the purchase even more personal. You can even support organizations your gift recipient supports which will add to the meaning of the gift. You can easily change the charity of choice though AmazonSmile will remember your original selection if you want to stay with the same organization.

Although not all items are eligible for the program there are millions available made known by the “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” in the product details. Keep in mind that “recurring Subscribe-and-Save purchases and subscription renewals are not currently eligible.”

As mentioned previously, AmazonSmile will give 0.5% of the purchase price of the item to the designated charity. The purchase price is what you pay minus any rebates and it does not include additional fees like “shipping & handling, gift-wrapping fees, taxes, or service charges.” You can check out the FAQ’s for more information.

AmazonSmile is leading the way with a new retail CSR business trend to appeal to the socially conscious consumer. Having a company like Amazon get involved on this level really raises the profile for giving programs and cements their importance to both businesses and consumers alike.

This is just one of many options consumers have at their disposal for giving gifts that will make an impact far beyond the holidays. I’ll continue with more give-back shopping options next week.

___________________________________________________________________________________

For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Pinterest or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.