Donating Eligible Items
Surplus inventory includes usable items that are overstocked, returned, cosmetically damaged, or near expiration. Through software built by our teams, our logistics network automatically identifies inventory that can be donated, instead of sending these items to be recycled or to landfills. We identify partner organizations in our communities, including nonprofits and charities, and enable them to collect surplus inventory from Amazon facilities and distribute these products to people in need.
Donations by the Numbers
Amazon contributed more than 25 million products to our global charity partners in 2020. Together with Whole Foods Market, we donated an additional 70 million meals and 30 million ounces of hand sanitizer to Feeding America, a U.S. network of food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies.
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25 millionProductsDonated to global charity partners
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70 millionMealsDonated to Feeding America
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30 millionOunces of Hand SanitizerDonated to Feeding America
Partnering for Distribution
We distribute the majority of our surplus inventory in the U.S. through Good360, which partners with a network of local nonprofits to reach people in need. Amazon is one of the biggest suppliers of donations to Good360, helping to provide items to low-income households, foster families, individuals with special needs or disabilities, seniors, veterans, immigrants, and more.
In Europe, we partner with more than 100 charities and local organizations to distribute product donations. Amazon is a long-term partner of In Kind Direct International, a charity working across the UK, France, and Germany to broker product giving among the members of its network. Through this partnership, we donated more than 200,000 products, including toys, shoes, clothing, and household items, to 1,800 charities in 2020.
Many of our product donations are collected through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Donations, a service we launched in 2019 to automate the process for selling partners using FBA to donate their overstocked or returned items. The service requires no additional action from selling partners, allowing Amazon to easily scale product donations through our existing logistics. FBA Donations is currently available in the U.S., UK, France, and Japan, and we are working to expand the program to more locations in 2021.
“Amazon product donations are crucial in our ability to serve vulnerable communities in the U.S. The wide variety of high-quality goods we receive from Amazon allows us to get critically needed items into the hands of millions of people who really need them. These donations have been even more important in the face of the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19.”
Matt Connelly
CEO, Good360
In 2020, Whole Foods Market launched a food redistribution program called Nourishing Our Neighborhoods that provided 21 refrigerated vans to community-based food rescue organizations. Each of these vans provides recipient organizations with 20,000 pounds of rescued food from Whole Foods Market and surrounding grocers and retailers every week. This effort will provide more than 180 million meals over the next 10 years to families in need across the U.S. and Canada.
Partnerships
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City Harvest UKIn the UK, Amazon partners with City Harvest London to put surplus food to use in a sustainable way. City Harvest collects food from supermarkets, restaurants, manufacturers, and other food business, and distributes it to community programs that serve meals to vulnerable people. -
Feeding AmericaAmazon partners with Feeding America to direct our surplus inventory to communities in need. Feeding America is a U.S. network of food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies that works alongside Amazon’s vast network to strategically partner nonprofit members and Amazon facilities to maximize the impact of these donations. -
Good 360Good360 partners with socially responsible companies to source highly needed goods and distribute them through their network of diverse nonprofits that support people in need. Amazon is one of the biggest suppliers of donations to Good360, helping to provide items to low-income households, foster families, individuals with special needs or disabilities, seniors, veterans, immigrants, and more. -
In Kind DirectAmazon is a long-term partner of In Kind Direct, a charity working across the UK, France, and Germany to broker product giving among the members of its network. Through this partnership, we have donated more than 200,000 products, including toys, shoes, clothing, and household items, to 1,800 charities. -
InnaturaAmazon is a long-term partner of Innatura, a nonprofit which receives products from manufacturers and retailers in Germany and distributes them for social good. Through this partnership, Amazon has donated to more than 1,500 charities benefiting nearly 500,000 individuals and families in Germany with donations including toys, shoes, clothing, and drugstore items, among others.
