Amazon to Shut Down Charity Donation Program

AmazonSmile

By Andres Tovar

Amazon said Wednesday it plans to shut down AmazonSmile, its charity donation program, by next month, as it looks for ways to cuts costs.

The program, launched in 2013, doled out a percentage of shoppers' purchases to eligible charities, donating more than $377 million globally since its inception, Amazon said. The company now plans to close AmazonSmile by Feb. 20, it said in a company blog post.

"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." https://www.cnet.com/tech/amazon-to-shut-down-charitydonation-program-amazonsmile/ Image credit: allare-here.blogspot.com https://experience.afrotech.com

Amazon went on to say it will continue to invest in areas where it can "make meaningful change," assisting communities impacted by natural disasters, building affordable housing and providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities.

The announcement is the latest sign of distress for Amazon, which over the past three years went through a huge growth spurt followed by a slowdown in revenue and a loss of $1 trillion in market value. To stem the losses, Amazon announced a workforce reduction in November that will cut more than 18,000 jobs.

In the past few months, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy halted testing on Amazon Scout, the company's robotic home-delivery initiative. He's also shuttered the Amazon Care telehealth and nursing service, as well as Fabric.com, a longtime online fabric retailer.

FOR YEARS, BLACK WOMEN have been forward-thinking entrepreneurs who have repeatedly changed the course of history. Research has now shown that Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, but the lack of resources makes their entrepreneurship challenging.

According to reports from JP Morgan, Black women own nearly 2.7 million businesses across the United States, making them the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs nationwide. Despite the impressive numbers, and the undeniable impact of Black women-owned businesses, research shows that Black women are generally underfunded when it comes to getting resources for their businesses. Between 2014 to 2019, businesses owned by Black women grew 50% between 2014 to 2019, which was the highest growth rate of any female demographic.

Exponential Growth

Although Black women are starting their own enterprises in large numbers, experts say that that could be a direct cause of the toxicity of corporate America, especially towards Black women. Tosh Ernest, Head of Business Growth at JPMorgan Chase said that the high rate of Black female entrepreneurship may be a reflection of a general dissatisfaction with traditional 9-5 work.

“High rates of Black female entrepreneurship may also reflect lack of opportunity in the traditional workforce – many start businesses to survive rather than pursuing market opportunities,” said Ernest. “Over 60% spend fewer than 40 hours per week on