QUILLBLOG

Amazon: stingy greedheads?

Slate has done a little investigation into the philanthropic efforts of Amazon, and discovered, basically, that the retail giant doesn’t really do philanthropy.

Recent Amazon.com SEC filings and annual reports make no mention of grants, charitable donations, local arts support, or any other civic-minded efforts by the online giant. By contrast, their rival Barnes & Noble actually notes community relations in its annual reports and maintains a Sponsorships and Charitable Donations page complete with application instructions. For that matter, most multibillion-dollar corporations pay at least some lip service to doing good – especially when the company itself is doing great.

Puzzled, I e-mailed Patty Smith, Amazon.com’s director of corporate communications. Yes, she said, she’d like to hear Slate‘s questions. But when asked specifically about the extent of Amazon.com’s charitable contributions – indeed, for any comment at all on a corporate policy regarding philanthropy – the company’s response was silence. Repeated calls and e-mails have since gone unreturned.