Amazon.co.uk promotes online donations to British Red Cross
Howard Lake | 3 January 2005 | News
Amazon.co.uk has for the first time donated part of its front page to promote a charitable appeal.
The online bookseller is emulating the online fundraising campaign set up by its US parent site Amazon.com. Amazon.co.uk is encouraging donations to the British Red Cross in response to the Asian Tsunami disaster of 26 December 2004.
Amazon.co.uk is handling online donations for the charity itself. Like its US parent, Amazon.co.uk says that 100% of money donated via its site will be passed to the British Red Cross.
Advertisement
As of midday, 6,685 donations had been made online, totalling $330,580.48. The average gift is therefore $49.45. Twelve hours later this had risen to 7,377 donations worth $372,699.66, yielding an average of $50.52.
The actual payment is handled in US dollars, not pounds sterling, on the Amazon.com site. Donations are converted to pounds “at the exchange rate set by your credit card company”, according to Amazon.com.
Although handled in the USA, the donation form does include a Gift Aid statement, enabling the British Red Cross to benefit from tax-efficient gifts where possible.
The donations, like those made via Amazon.com to the American Red Cross, are handled using the Amazon Honor System, a method of online payment that allows Web site owners, not just charities, to encourage and accept donations and contributions.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.