Amazon to shut its charity donation programme ‘AmazonSmile’

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon on Thursday announced that it will shut down its charity donation programme, "AmazonSmile", as it failed to create the impact the company hoped for. The company plans to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20.

"In 2013, we launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favourite charities.

However, after almost a decade, the programme has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organisations -- more than 1 million globally -- our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin," Amazon said in a notice to customers posted to its website.

However, the company said it will continue to grow and invest in other areas where they have seen it can make a meaningful change -- from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities, and more.

The tech giant further mentioned that once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.

Meanwhile, Amazon also started notifying its employees affected by its new round of layoffs, as a part of its plan to reduce its headcount by around 18,000 people.

It however, remains unclear as to how many employees are being affected in this particular round, but the company already laid off 2,300 employees in Washington of which the majority worked in Seattle, where one of the company's headquarters is located.