(COVINGTON, La) — AmazonSmile is a simple, automatic way for online customers to support their beloved charitable organizations while shopping online. In 2014, St. Paul’s School became a registered AmazonSmile organization, enabling online shoppers to automatically support St. Paul’s as they complete online purchases. Operated by Amazon, AmazonSmile allows customers to enjoy the same wide selection of products, convenient shopping features, and low prices that Amazon.com upholds.

“It’s just like shopping on Amazon,” President Bro. Ray Bulliard, FSC, said. “It’s the exact same process. You’re not paying any more and you’re not accumulating any extra fees. So, if you’re going to buy something on Amazon, why not buy it on AmazonSmile and help benefit St. Paul’s?”

With each purchase of an eligible product, the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the order’s purchase price towards the customer’s selected charity. Specifically, this “purchase price” consists of the amount paid for an item, excluding rebates, shipping & handling fees, gift-wrapping fees, service charges, and taxes. Customers can use their existing Amazon.com account on AmazonSmile, eliminating the time-consuming complications of creating a new account while ensuring ease of operation between sites. Amazon members retain their shopping carts, wish lists, wedding directories, baby registries, and other account settings on AmazonSmile.

There are no additional costs involved with using AmazonSmile. The shopping experience of AmazonSmile is identical to Amazon.com, with the added benefit that the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate money to the charitable organization selected by the customer. Furthermore, the AmazonSmile Foundation does not take portions of donations to fund its operations. Rather, Amazon directly funds the operations of the AmazonSmile Foundation.

Millions of Amazon’s products are eligible for charitable donation on AmazonSmile. On their product detail pages, eligible products are marked as “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation,” easily notifying shoppers of donation availability. Recurring Subscribe-and-Save purchases, as well as subscription renewals, are not currently eligible for AmazonSmile donation, but a large percentage of purchases are applicable.

“I know a lot of people shop online,” Bulliard said. “To me, it’s a win-win situation. The customer still gets the convenience of online shopping, and St. Paul’s gets a portion of the proceeds to help us run the school.”

To shop at AmazonSmile, go to smile.amazon.com via the web browser on your computer, phone, or other mobile device. Then, to choose St. Paul’s as your benefiting charity, simply search “The Saint Pauls School Foundation” in the search bar under the “select a charity” section at the right-hand bottom of your screen. From here, select “The Saint Pauls School Foundation” located in Covington, La.

Since St. Paul’s registration with AmazonSmile nearly two years ago, the St. Paul’s AmazonSmile activity has been relatively small considering the likely amount of Amazon purchases made by students, parents, and alumni.

“We’ve gotten a total of about $500 over the course of almost two years,” Bulliard said. “We don’t have a specific project in mind, but this money helps fund all the things St. Paul’s is already doing.”

During this busy Christmas season, the school urges the community to consider supporting St. Paul’s through the use of AmazonSmile for their online purchases. Once setup, users can continue to automatically give to St. Paul’s with future Amazon purchases by simply going to smile.amazon.com (instead of Amazon.com) with each visit.