With little effort — and without extra costs — you can support Catholic University when you shop at Amazon. Take a minute to enroll in AmazonSmile and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the University.
About AmazonSmile
AmazonSmile is a charitable-giving program embedded in the Amazon shopping platform. By shopping with AmazonSmile, you can elect to have Amazon donate a portion of your purchase totals (0.5%) to a charity of your choice. Amazon makes the donation exclusively — you pay no additional costs; you pay the same price via Amazon.com and AmazonSmile.
Almost all physical products offered by Amazon are eligible for the AmazonSmile donation, but it is important to note that subscriptions and digital products are not currently included in the AmazonSmile donation program.
How to enroll
Enroll via your web browser and, if you use it, the Amazon Shopping app:
Web browser
Choose Catholic University as your charity and shop via smile.amazon.com.
Remember to use smile.amazon.com. Purchases via the regular Amazon.com site are not eligible.
Amazon Shopping app
Activate AmazonSmile in the app, select Catholic University of America as your charity, and shop as you normally would. Renew or re-enroll AmazonSmile in the app every six months.
Find the most up-to-date instructions online. But when this was written, you could select AmazonSmile from the app's main menu (☰). Follow the instructions to activate AmazonSmile and choose Catholic University of America as your charity.
I enrolled in AmazonSmile. Now, do I just shop as normal?
On your web browser, shop at smile.amazon.com, not Amazon.com.
In the Amazon Shopping app, make sure you've activated AmazonSmile. If so, you can shop as you normally would, but every six months, you'll need to renew or reactivate AmazonSmile. The app will provide a push notification when it's time to renew.
Do I need to renew AmazonSmile?
Yes, for the Amazon Shopping app; no, for shopping via a web browser.
If you use the Amazon Shopping app, you'll need to renew your AmazonSmile charity settings twice a year. The app will notify you of renewal deadlines via push notifications unless you've turned off the app notifications. If you miss a renewal date, you can reactivate AmazonSmile at any time by repeating the enrollment steps.
On your web browser, you don't need to renew AmazonSmile. Just remember to use smile.amazon.com instead of Amazon.com.
What's the difference between AmazonSmile and Amazon.com?
AmazonSmile offers the same products, the same prices, and the same services as Amazon.com.
By taking a moment to remember to use smile.amazon.com (or remembering to renew Amazon Smile via the app), you maintain the same shopping experience and AmazonSmile will support your designated charity.
Which products on AmazonSmile are eligible for charitable donations?
Tens of millions of products on AmazonSmile are eligible for AmazonSmile donations. You will see eligible products marked clearly marked “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” on their product detail pages. Please note that digital purchases, recurring Subscribe-and-Save purchases, and subscription renewals are not eligible for the donation.
Can I change my charity?
We hope you’ll stick with us, but if you do want to support a charity other than The Catholic University of America, you can change your AmazonSmile charity settings at any time. Eligible purchases after the change count towards your newly selected charity.
Can I receive a tax deduction for amounts donated from my purchases on AmazonSmile?
Donations are made by the AmazonSmile Foundation, and are, therefore, not tax-deductible for individual participants of the AmazonSmile program.
I have another question not answered here. Can you help?
We encourage you to refer to the About AmazonSmile page maintained by Amazon.
The answers provided were valid at the time this page was published. The AmazonSmile program is managed by Amazon and is subject to change. Please refer to AmazonSmile for current program details. AmazonSmile and the AmazonSmile logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.