Amazon Smiles

Like many of you, I was shocked to learn that Amazon intended to end the Smile program in February. While it isn’t a major source of revenue for my organization, it is a passive income stream that has been helpful. And, for some organizations, they have done a great job of leveraging it to fully support programs in their nonprofits.

Whether you agree or disagree with the decision made (or the reasons why Amazon said it was being cancelled), the fact remains it will soon be gone and organizations that relied on this income will be searching for other alternatives.

One resource that nonprofits may chose to more actively purse are give-back programs. Many of these programs suggest giving portfolios, that are based on a donor’s core values and their impact goals, with tax-deductible nonprofits. There is a vetting process to be listed on many of these platforms and they often provide your organization with a rating based on objective factors.

One program that my organization has been a member of for nearly three years is GlobalGiving. Once successfully navigating the onboarding process, our organization received a profile page and the opportunity to create specific projects for mission objectives we wanted to meet. While not a completely passive revenue stream, we do receive regular donations even outside of the times we are actively promoting one of our projects. To date, it has been extremely impactful to our organization and we plan to continue to using it.

Other programs are more true “giveback” formats that work similarly to Amazon Smile, like TEN10 that let’s your nonprofit earn cash for purchases your supporters make locally. Or, ETHIX, a credit card processing company that will automatically donate 10% of credit card processing fees paid to the nonprofit of their choice. There are numerous opportunities to develop passive income streams – it just takes time to vet each one to ensure they are the right fit for both your organization and your donors.

To review a list of some popular giveback programs, check out: https://www.donationmatch.com/giveback-programs.