I've just discovered this and thought I'd share.
If you use Amazon, try going to smile.amazon.co.uk instead of www. Any purchases you then make starting from this URL, Amazon will donate a small percentage of the payment to a charity of your choice - at no extra cost to you. They suggest a few options but you can search for local charities, I was pleasantly surprised to find over a dozen local charities in my home town listed including one I've done fundraising sponsorship for in the past.
Amazon are deliberately not advertising this service as they say they want it to spread via word of mouth (and me being cynical perhaps, it'd cost them a lot more). I'm not immediately seeing any downsides to it as a consumer so, well, here you go.
Also,
I'm told that if you use the mobile app, you can load up your basket as normal then switch to a web browser to complete the purchase.
[EDIT: Apparently you can turn on Smile on the phone apps. Menu >> Settings >> Amazonsmile and then turn on for the device. I think it's "coming soon" for iOS though.]
Yup...use that frequently and donate to JDRF...if it helps find a cure or means to prevent diabetes then it is money well donated.
Yeah our kid school is associated with it but I always forget.
I encountered that maybe a year ago. I wondered if that was somehow TAX related to Amazon's benefit, still unsure. I read that the amounts raised by it are tiny & barely worth the hassle to the receiving charities but make Amazon look good.
If you go into your Amazon smile profile it shows how much was donated
All charities £2,382,268.78 as of November 2019
UN Women National Committee UK is the one I picked, £12,672.52 as of November 2019
Better than giving **** all
Ha! Never one that cougar.
Cheers. Seems no down side to it so I'm in.👍
I read that the amounts raised by it are tiny & barely worth the hassle to the receiving charities
The person who made me aware of it was a recipient charity. They described the funds as a "steady trickle."
To my mind, it's the sort of thing that might benefit smaller oft-overlooked charities. The one I've nominated is the Lancashire Women's Centre, it's a local affair which provides support for women in trouble - so, homeless, domestic abuse survivors, recovering addicts, that sort of thing. They offer support, debt management, safe places, general advice, a load of other stuff. I did a sponsored run for them a couple of years back, raised a couple of hundred quid for them (with support from the lovely generous people of STW at the time) and when I gave them the money they reacted like I'd just given them a cheque for half a million quid. They enthused at me about exactly what they could use it for and how it would make a massive difference, I think that's a far more useful application than a big national charity where anything less than tens of thousands will be a drop in the ocean.
https://lancashirewomen.org/how-you-can-help/donations
I used smile for a while but I switched to using EasyFundRaising.org.uk
They have Amazon as well as many many other retailers (eBay, Debenhams, Argos, booking.com, John Lewis, M&S, ASDA, ao.com etc)
I use it to support my local Scout Troop:
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/wylamcb/?invite=DRJNT7&referral-campaign=s2s (if you fancied supporting them 😊)
I used smile for a while but I switched to using EasyFundRaising.org.uk
That's literally just been mentioned where I cross-posted this on Facebook. Looks good.
Can you use both?
Hmm, that's nice. Conflicts with my Amazon embargo. They're not not stupid those Amazon clowns, are they.
I'm gonna nominate HMRC.
"benevolence washing"
You can set your app to just use smile. I’d like to donate to an organisation that funds research into Amazon Shopaholicism.
Can you use both?
Don’t think so. Not that I have found anyway. If you find a way then shout!
I have a plugin for Chrome that prompts me to "got to this page at smile.amazon.co.uk instead..." but I can't find it in my list of Extensions...
I don't use amazon any more though (no much anyway) and I'm happy with the direct debit method of donating to charity instead 👍
I have a plugin for Chrome that prompts me to “got to this page at smile.amazon.co.uk instead…” but I can’t find it in my list of Extensions…
Mine has done this for a while, I wasn't aware I even had a plugin for it, I just get prompted to go to the smile page instead if I forget.
Brilliant
Rather they paid a "decent" amount of tax
My bloodsuckingsquidmonsterofdeath embargo will still apply
Ta