Simon Willison’s Weblog

Charity and Amazon

13th June 2002

Spotted over at FuzzyBlog: If I Was Jeff Bezos of Amazon and I wanted to do the Right Thing, Here’s What I’d Do. In a nutshell, Scott Johnson suggests that Amazon set up a free (or very low cost) system for charities to gather donations through Amazon’s payment system—a charitable version of PayPal. Why Amazon? They have a good reputation, a well implemented payment system and a massive user base. The more convenient the system the more likely people are to donate.

I think this is an excellent idea, but then like Scott Johnson I like the idea of doing the right thing. I’ve mailed my note of support to amazon@fuzzygroup.com. If this takes off in a big way it could really demonstrate the power of the humble blog.