How much do UK charities receive from Amazon Smile?
Howard Lake | 29 June 2020 | News
Amazon Smile is part of Amazon’s charitable giving activity, where it donates a small percentage (0.5%) of each eligible purchase made to the buyer’s selected charity.
UK Fundraising covered its launch in November 2017, and its expansion to benefit any UK charity in February 2018.
Given the scale of Amazon and its use by consumers in the UK, especially given the past three months of lockdown in response to coronavirus, what income does this service generate for UK charities?
SEE ALSO: How to add your charity’s Amazon Wish List to your web site (3 February 2006)
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Amazon has today been reporting back to consumers who use the service, highlighting how much their selected charity has received in the past quarter, and the total amount raised to date to UK charities. So we asked charities and donors how much their charity had received.
Why use Amazon Smile?
Here is Amazon’s explanation of how it works (as of July 2020):
How much have charities received in the past quarter?
Remember, this quarter has been the period of lockdown in the UK. A time of financial worry for many, but also a time in which online shopping has increased substantially, if only because most non-essential shops were closed. So, the below figures are possibly unusual, given this context.
Here are charities’ and individuals’ responses.
UN Women National Committee UK
£1,611.59 in the past quarter
£16,040.09 to date.
British Red Cross
£8,365.63 in the past quarter
£68,861.50 to date
The Macular Society
£115.22 in the past quarter
£582.38 to date
Scottish SPCA
£1,087.07 in the past quarter
£5,963.59 to date
Little People UK
£29.64 in the past quarter
£123.56 to date
Ellen Macarthur Cancer Trust
£29.20 in the past quarter
£224.75 to date
Other charities report very low totals too:
Individual supporters
Individuals have shared how much they have raised for their chosen charity.
Beth Granter’s 37 orders had raised £8.71 to date for her local RSPCA branch.
Kelly Hewson-Fisher has generated £42 so far to Lincolnshire Rural Help.
How to raise funds via Amazon Smile?
To be clear, only purchases made through smile.amazon.co.uk will generate a donation for charity under the Amazon Smile programme.
You can find out how much you have raised for your charity. (This standard link works for anyone – it takes you to your AmazonSmile Impact page, once you have logged in to Amazon).
There are other ways of using Amazon to raise funds for charity, including the Amazon Wish List in which you list items on sale on Amazon that your charity needs. Supporters can then buy them and have them shipped to the charity. Here is Marwell Zoo’s wish list, and here is Over The Wall’s list.
Amazon Smile goes mobile
Amazon Smile is now available on iPhone and Android devices via the Google Shopping app. CLIC Sargent have reminded us to update that app and switch on the AmazonSmile option.
More AmazonSmile fundraising news
- How much do UK charities receive from AmazonSmile? (29 June 2020)
- Amazon to double AmazonSmile donations this Prime Day (7 July 2022)
- 2000 UK charities now live on AmazonSmile (15 March 2018)
- AmazonSmile lets UK shoppers donate to charity as they shop (10 November 2017)
More Amazon fundraising news
- Amazon founders launches Bezos Earth Fund (18 February 2020)
- Amazon Alexa users can donate $40 to US charities by voice (9 April 2018)
- How to generate income by selling Kindle books as an Amazon Associate (6 June 2011)
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.