Amazon has a new program called Amazon Smiles, and how it works is that you choose the charity that you want to donate to, and then every time that you shop, Amazon donates to that charity. Even though it is only a small percentage, it is well worth doing, in my opinion. I am shopping and spending the money anyway, and now it also helps out our local food bank when I shop, and I really like that part. Kroger Foods also has that program, and I think that probably there would be other stores that do it a well; so you just have to check and see if the stores where you shop donate or not. It is very simple to sign up to donate, you just look through the list of charities in your area ( or whatever area you want) and then choose that charity. Amazon has a directory listed and you can just choose your area, or your favorite charity.
Thanks for the tip. I have heard about Smiles before. I just never seem to remember to check it out when I'm at amazon. I think your comment has finally made it stick in my brain!
Once you take the time to sign up for Smiles, then Amazon will "remember" it for you, and anytime you go on Amazon to shop, there will be a reminder question asking if you want to stay on amazon or go to Smiles. If I am just browsing, I usually am using the Amazon app on the iPad. What i will do is find what I want to buy, put it into my "wish list" and then go to Smiles and order from there so the food bank gets the donation, too. I think they send the money quarterly, and they would just have the total amount for everyone who donates to that same charity, and then send it. I don't know if the charity ever knows which people are signed up for the donations or not; but that part really doesn't matter to me; just that it helps the food bank here is what is important to me.
I am from Canada and order from the Canadian version of Amazon. I will check to see if this is available in Canada. Sometimes we don't get the same opportunities that our American friends do. It sounds like a wonderful program and I will definitely join if I can. Thanks for the information, Yvonne.
My church has set this program up receive donations from the members when they shop on Amazon. Every little bit helps, I know one of the charities the church gives to is the local food bank.
I never knew that they had that program, thanks! I used to be signed up for a program that gave money to a local school every time I bought groceries. It didn't cost me anything extra, and it seemed like a good thing to support. This sounds the same... Time to go check Amazon Smiles and see who I can help out!
I know about Amazon Smiles and I use it, but I only regret it for one thing - the prompt which appears whenever I go to amazon's normal webpage and I'm searching for a product: "remember, go to smiles.amazon.com to yadda yadda". If you know I agreed with the charity, why don't you automatically redirect me to that site? Why would they think I would want to shop without helping the charity I have chosen?
I'm from Poland and we can't do that (sadly). I just donate money for different fundations if I have some spare money by the end of the month.