Amazon ends its 'Smile' charity program 

Amazon is shutting down its charity donation program “Smile” as the company continues to cut costs, the company announced in a statement on Wednesday. 

The Smile program will no longer be operational after February 20 because the “program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” the statement said. 

For every eligible purchase made on the website, Amazon Smile donated around 0.5 percent of the sale to a charity of the shopper’s choosing. 

Since it launched in 2013, Amazon has raised around $500 million for different U.S. charities. However, that amounts to an average donation of less than $230 per charity, the company added. 

“After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” the company said. “With so many eligible organizations – more than 1 million globally – our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”

"To help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes," the company wrote in the notice.

Despite shutting down Amazon Smile, the company will continue to “pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change.” 

The decision to close Amazon Smile comes after the company announced that it would lay off around 18,000 employees from several of its departments, including Amazon Stores and human resources, among other cost-cutting measures.