# Amazon.co.uk promotes online donations to British Red Cross

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/03/amazoncouk-promotes-online-donations-british-red-cross/
- Published: 2005-01-03T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

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.

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.

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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.

 * **[SCF's Tsunami appeal raises £400,000 online in one week](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/03/scf039s-tsunami-appeal-raises-400000-online-one-week/)**(
   3 January 2005)
 * **[Successes for US non-profits in online fundraising for tsunami appeal](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/05/successes-us-nonprofits-online-fundraising-tsunami-appeal/)**(
   5 January 2005)
 * **[US fundraising for Asian tsunami victims reaches $245 million](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/06/us-fundraising-asian-tsunami-victims-reaches-245-million/)**(
   6 January 2005)
