[The Next Web] Amazon unveils AmazonSmile, will now donate a percentage of select orders to a charity of your choice

Amazon is looking to prove its credentials as a philanthropic organization through AmazonSmile, a new scheme which means it will make a fresh donation to charity every time one of its customers submits an eligible order.

When you visit the AmazonSmile website, you’ll be asked to select your favored charity from “almost a million” eligible organizations. Subsequently, Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of the purchase price from what it describes as “eligible purchases”. There’s no limit on the total amount that Amazon can donate; so the higher the total at the checkout, the more the company will give to a charitable cause.

Once you’ve chosen a charity, you’ll be sent back to the Amazon home page. The branding in the top left-hand corner of the screen will now show the AmazonSmile logo, as well as your chosen charity along the top of the page.

Eligible products will be marked with the wording ‘Eligible for AmazonSmile donation’ in their product detail page. Amazon says “tens of millions of products” are eligible for donation, so hopefully the majority of orders will be supported by the scheme.

At the moment, AmazonSmile only appears to be linked with Amazon.com. If you’re a customer outside the United States, it looks like you’re ineligible to use the service for the time being.

➤AmazonSmile

Image Credit: David McNew/Getty Images