Friends of Vaughan have recently teamed up with Amazon Smile to offer parents the chance to earn free money for the school every time you shop for any of the millions of eligible products on Amazon. This is part of Amazon's charitable programme and costs you nothing.  It also has the benefit of being incredibly easy to set up - you only have to set it up on your Amazon account once and Amazon will remember your chosen charity for you and make a donation each time you shop. The donation is paid for by Amazon not you. Every penny raised by Friends of Vaughan is used for the benefit of the school and the children at Vaughan to support their education.  COVID has had a significant impact on the school's finances so please help us to support the school when buying your Christmas presents this year and going forwards into 2021.

How do I set up Amazon Smile?

You can set up Amazon Smile in less than 2 minutes.  If you usually access your Amazon account using your internet browser, simply visit smile.amazon.co.uk and follow the set up instructions.  If you usually shop on Amazon using the Amazon Shopping app, select Amazon Smile in the settings menu of your app and follow the instructions.  In each case, you will be guided through the simple set up process and when prompted, please select "Vaughan School pta" as your chosen charity.

How do I then shop using Amazon Smile?

Using Amazon Smile in the Amazon Shopping app is very easy.  Once you have completed the set up process (see above), your app will automatically default to Amazon Smile for all purchases without you needing to do anything further.  Just shop as usual in the app and Amazon will make the donation each time you have completed a purchase.  You will simply need to renew the election twice a year and Amazon will notify you when you need to do this.   Once you have activated AmazonSmile, you will see the “AmazonSmile” logo displayed in your app each time you open it. 

When shopping in your Internet browser simply go to smile.amazon.co.uk each time you shop instead of www.amazon.co.uk.  On your first visit to smile.amazon.co.uk the website will prompt you to select the charity you wish to donate to but after this it will remember this selection and apply the donation automatically.   You may want to add a bookmark in your browser to smile.amazon.co.uk to make it even easier to return each time to shop with AmazonSmile.

Whether you are shopping in the app or on smile.amazon.co.uk, you will find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as amazon.co.uk, with the added bonus that AmazonSmile will donate a portion of the purchase price to the Vaughan School PTA as your selected charity.  And every penny of the money you raise will be used by the PTA to support the school and our children.

Do I need to renew AmazonSmile?

AmazonSmile renewals happen twice a year to help keep AmazonSmile enabled on your mobile app. AmazonSmile will notify you of these renewals via push notifications and through in-app notifications. If you miss a renewal, you can reactivate at any time by repeating the steps to ‘turn on’ AmazonSmile on your mobile device. There is no renewal period for browser shopping on AmazonSmile, which you can use any time by typing ‘smile.amazon.co.uk’ into your browser. 

Are all products I buy on AmazonSmile eligible for charitable donations?

Not all products are eligible for donations but millions of products on AmazonSmile are. You will see eligible products marked “Eligible for smile.amazon.co.uk donation” on their product detail pages. Recurring Subscribe-and-Save purchases and subscription renewals are not currently eligible. 

Can I use my existing Amazon.co.uk account on AmazonSmile?

Yes, you use the same account on smile.amazon.co.uk as you do when shopping on amazon.co.uk. Your shopping cart, Wish List, wedding or baby registry, and other account settings are also the same.