[OMS_MANAGERS] Did you know that Amazon through their customers help support Non-profit Organizations! Donate to any organization of your choice

[Lizzy Caston]

I don't mean to be the contrarian of the group - and every Main Street is
different so this might work great for some. However, I've had three
professional fundraising companies advise not to use Amazon Smile for our
main street. Here's why and just something for other main streets to weigh
and consider on what's best for them before diving in:

1. 1/2 of one penny as payment might not be worth the additional staff
time, marketing efforts, admin work and that takes away from larger
fundraising, community engagement efforts. And less than 2500 nonprofits in
the US make over $1000 a year with it, not including staff time to promote,
manage it, etc.
2. Donations are not tax deductible to those shopping with it. (see below
articles)
3. It diverts larger community donations - people think they are already
"supporting" your main street with AmazonSmiles so are not apt to donate a
larger amount directly
4. It dilutes main street direct donor relationship building, donor
nurturing, appreciation away from the Main Street and onto an impersonal,
large, multinational corporation. As we know in direct fundraising,
relationships are everything.
5. Very competitive with other AmazonSmiles charities. There's a lot of
charities playing this game, and the competition is fierce.
6. Very low rate of return. The numbers didn't add up to make this a good
deal for our main street - it benefits Amazon more than us, it's a low
conversion rate, and at the end it's just such a tiny amount of money.
(please tell me if your mainstreet sees otherwise!). Example calculation:
Let's say our mailing list is 20,000 people. A high conversion rate would
be 1% taking action on Amazon. So 200 members of our mailing list might
spend an average of $100 on amazonsmile for us. So of the $20k sales that
benefits Amazon, our main street would only receive $100.
7. Could harm our ability to receive funding /sponsorships for buy local
and other local small business programs. Not sure, but perhaps a funder
sees we are doing AmazonSmiles and thinks, great, they have Amazon, they
aren't promoting local and they don't need us.
8. The need to promote local shopping, local businesses as the ethos for
our community. Promoting and funneling sales to Amazon instead of say, our
main street's retailers, our local sponsors such as the locally owned
hardware and outdoor camping store goes against our emphasis on supporting
main street and local businesses and our shop local campaigns. It would be
a bad message, marketing, PR for us to funnel business away from our local
main street and other local businesses.

Like I said, every main street is different. No judgement on those using
it, but before Main Streets commit, please weight the actual cost/benefit,
and other issues.

Here's some articles from nonprofit experts critical of AmazonSmiles:

This article weighs the pros and cons, and has a really good breakdown of
the actual $ amounts charities received from Amazon Smile
https://connectforimpact.com/amazonsmile/

This article looks at both the benefits, but also the risk of negative ROI
and it is pretty comprehensive:
 https://johnkenyon.org/why-amazonsmile-doesnt-turn-my-frown-upside-down/

This nonprofit funding expert is not a fan:
https://medium.com/@digitalculturenyc/why-nonprofits-need-to-stop-falling-for-the-amazon-smile-scam-f68d389c801c

Thanks!




On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 12:58 PM Dallas Downtown Association <
m.fisher.dda at gmail.com> wrote:

> Did you know that when shopping online at Amazon you can choose the
> non-profit organization that you want to help fund. To do this now: Enter "
> smile.amazon.com
> <http://smile.amazon.com/?fbclid=IwAR3E9y0Ment9tKUDd9oHMCzAf3gEtNXB54wy2YSWB2fHxk2zqY6ghikeQoY>"
> in your browser address bar, Choose which organization you would like to
> help fund in the drop down box in the left upper hand corner, Shop & place
> your order and Amazon donates to the organization of your choice.
> Go to smile.amazon.com
> <https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fsmile.amazon.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2QAcVdSlbZ6U4FGnrno3ZDrDfk6P9S2K0KUYj8nOfHpofwHLzY6nT9wH8&h=AT1z2nQtUrvPUMBtqUW-PGyF8PPeMS77psbL5wVlY6pXzKGq8dy8_ZpEz8WpPYR-JurJM7jpvkvW7DF7U40gVESjoWjRSL14LrkXx03_ZD7RvcjPYCNRWdOvtyLUY8_KjR4TImK-EZv85kHdERHO&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT254vFZ3tBIjVQs6jxeYRj6RGU-L43wKtYEm-kaejinDZEOLOfuSRFCOtLeNF06bygd69gu0c97hwBKB1cmBW7GO2Ec0q1FrrUfgQBq6sNlzO-U9WeNYGI7MFTQrg>
> if you want to support Dallas Downtown Association.
> Now available in the Amazon Shopping app Learn more
> <https://smile.amazon.com/b/ref=sma_se_smaf_llm_lm?_encoding=UTF8&node=15576745011>
>
> Dallas Downtown Association Change
> <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/change/ref=smi_se_uspo_change_cycsc> Location:
> Dallas, OR
> Mission: To Encourage And Inspire Restoration, Economic Vitality, The
> Arts And Community Spirit In The Historic (Dallas) Downtown District.
> About AmazonSmile
> <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_uspo_laas_aas>
> Generated by you as of February 08, 2021 *$0.00*
> All others
>
> US charities have received $217,644,976.48 as of November 2020 Your
> AmazonSmile impact
> <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/dashboard/ref=smi_se_uspo_lyi_dshb>.
>
> To support charity, always shop at smile.amazon.com Try these 2 easy ways
> to start with a smile. Learn about AmazonSmile
> <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_dshb_aas_saas?ie=UTF8&ref_=nav_cs_smile_6bcf8c32076843839cc2339237272a26>
> Bookmark AmazonSmile now by pressing Control B on your keyboard.
> 1. Create a bookmark Drag this box to your bookmarks or favorites bar to
> create a shortcut to smile.amazon.com on your desktop computer or mobile
> web browser.
> 2. Install the Amazon Assistant Get easy access to Product Comparisons,
> Deal of the Day, and time-saving shortcuts, which all link to
> smile.amazon.com. <http://smile.amazon.com> Learn more
> <https://smile.amazon.com/gp/BIT/theamazonapp/ref=smi_se_dshb_icr_blp?ie=UTF8&bitCampaignCode=v1_us_d141001_s110&bitMode=smile>
>
>
> *Melanie Fisher, *Executive Director
> *Dallas Downtown Association*
> *Office:* 971-701-1880*  | Direct: *971-707-2335
> PO Box 903 | Dallas, OR. 97338
>
> Email <M.Fisher.dda at gmail.com> | Website
> <https://www.dallasdowntownassociation.org/> | Facebook
> <https://www.facebook.com/Dallasdowntownassociation.org> | Instagram
> <https://www.instagram.com/dallasdowntownassociation/>
>
>
>
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