AmazonSmile is Ending: Here's What Nonprofits Should Do Now

Recently, Amazon announced they’re ending their AmazonSmile program. As a nonprofit leader, this news may sound devastating to you, so I want to help you make a plan for how to move forward.

First of all, Amazonsmile was never that great.

Before we talk about how to move forward, I want to share why I’ve had mixed feelings about AmazonSmile from the beginning:

  1. It’s difficult to use. They have to remember to go to smile.amazon.com instead of going to amazon.com for their shopping, and Amazon’s mobile app has never allowed shoppers to use AmazonSmile.

  2. It’s competitive. Most (if not all) nonprofit supporters care about more than one cause, and their donations reflect this fact. I hate when nonprofit leaders think fundraising is competitive because various research sources suggest, on average, individual donors donate to between 2-5 nonprofits each year. Unfortunately, though, AmazonSmile does make fundraising competitive because supporters can only choose one nonprofit their purchases can benefit.

  3. Amazon kind of sucks. I’ll admit in full transparency that I do shop with Amazon when I need a product delivered in a hurry. But as a person who values livable wages and ethical working conditions, I hate that nonprofits help promote Amazon by promoting AmazonSmile to their supporters.

All of that said, I understand the positive power of AmazonSmile. I know that thousands of nonprofits are about to lose a significant chunk of funding from this revenue stream, and I feel deep empathy for you if your nonprofit is one of them.

So how do we move forward? I have a few ideas.

1. Tell your supporters that amazonsmile is closing

Every nonprofit, including yours, needs to craft a message to tell your supporters (including donors, volunteers, board members, social media followers, and newsletter subscribers) that AmazonSmile is shutting down. In this message, explain clearly what AmazonSmile is and how it works, just in case your supporters have never heard of it, so they understand exactly what your nonprofit is losing.

2. Explain how the amazonsmile shutdown will impact your nonprofit

If your nonprofit depended on AmazonSmile as a significant funding source, be really transparent about that. Break it down by the numbers and connect those numbers to a story about impact. Here are a couple examples:

  • Last year, we raised $9,000 through AmazonSmile donations which allowed us to feed 175 hungry students every week. Now that AmazonSmile is closing, we don’t know how we’ll be able to give dinner to these 175 children.

  • Last year, 3% of our income came from AmazonSmile. That may not seem like a lot, but it covered half the salary of one of our case workers who works directly with women escaping domestic violence. Now that AmazonSmile is closing, we have to figure out a new way to fund the rest of their salary.

Don’t be overdramatic, but do be truthful about what this loss really means to you.

3. let supporters know how to fill the gap

You could let supporters know about something like grocery store rewards, which work similarly to AmazonSmile in that these programs donate a percentage of grocery purchases to a nonprofit of the shopper’s choice.

But I challenge you to just ask donors for what you need:

  • Will you donate $52 to help us feed one of these students for a year?

  • Will you donate $20/month to help offset the loss of AmazonSmile funds?

  • Will you make a tax-deductible donation to help us meet our fundraising needs this year?

You get one chance to get this message right and make it say what you really need. Let’s make this message count.