Amazon Suspends Black Lives Matter From Its Charity Platform
This week, Amazon has suspended the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation from its charity platform. The company cites that the reason for the decision was the foundation’s failure to disclose how over $50 million in donations received after the racial injustice protests in 2020 have been spent.
The platform, AmazonSmile, was designed to make purchases, with a portion of the sales going towards different charities. According to the New York Post, the company plans to hold any funds accumulated for the foundation until they are back in compliance.
“States have rules for nonprofits, and organizations participating in AmazonSmile need to meet those rules,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, this organization fell out of compliance with the rules in several states, so we’ve had to temporarily suspend them from the program until they come into compliance.”
Daily Mail reports that while the organization is officially listed as a charity, they have not provided their latest tax returns, and their 2019 return were filed with a non-existent. The organization is also facing legal threats from California and Washington over failure to failure to disclose how funding has been disbursed.
This is not the first time the organization has faced scrutiny over disbursed funding. In May 2021, co-founder and executive director, Patrisse Cullors resigned amid scrutiny of her growing million property empire
