I’ve written about earning virtual money for yourself from Microsoft and Google in the past. Today I’ll take a brief look at AmazonSmile, a program from Amazon that allows you to easily support your favorite charity.
Basically, AmazonSmile is a way for you to have Amazon donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to the charity of your choice. All you need to do is visit smile.amazon.com and choose your charity. After linking a charity to your account all (eligible) purchases made via smile.amazon.com will prompt Amazon to make a donation to that charity. There are almost one million charities to choose from. My favorite local charity, LifeCare Network, was there so there’s a good chance you can find one you like.
There are a few things about the program to note. First, only purchases made at smile.amazon.com count. Purchases made through the normal amazon.com site or the mobile app do not qualify (though once you’ve signed up amazon.com will remind you to visit smile.amazon.com). Also, the prices and products available through AmazonSmile are the same as you can get through amazon.com. Amazon also gives you a dashboard view of your generated donations and the total donations your charity has received. Just remember, these donations are made by Amazon and so have no impact on your tax liabilities. I couldn’t find confirmation but it appears that this program is US only. There’s a long list of FAQs available on the AmazonSmile site that covers anything you want to know about the program.
AmazonSmile is a pretty pain-free way to support your favorite non-profit organization. It would be nice if amazon.com and mobile app purchasing was supported but for now smile.amazon.com is the way to go.
