Amazon Suspends Black Lives Matter From Charity Platform After Group Fails To Disclose Where $60 Million In Donations Has Gone
Amazon has suspended Black Lives Matter from their charity platform AmazonSmile due to the organizations’ failure to prove where up to $60 million in donations was spent.
According to Daily Mail, Amazon suspended the BLM organization on Tuesday due to their inability to disclose where the millions of dollars donated to their cause had gone. While this is hardly the first time the social justice organization has been scrutinized in regard to their financial transparency, they will reportedly be without funds raised by AmazonSmile “until they’re back in compliance,” a spokesperson for the charity platform recently revealed.
The suspension also reportedly comes following an incident in which auditors for the Amazon charity became alarmed after the social justice organization was hesitant to disclose who was handling their finances. BLM was also reportedly hesitant to hand over their financial records to the AmazonSmile auditors.
“People have to know we didn't go out and solicit the money,” Patrisse Cullors, the BLM co-founder who resigned in May, said last week regarding the missing millions. “This is money that came from white guilt, white corporation guilt, and they just poured money in.”
But the financial scrutiny BLM is currently under from AmazonSmile is just the least of the group’s problems, because in early February they were reportedly issued legal threats from both California and Washington in connection to the millions and millions of dollars the organization received in donations in 2020.
“Charitable organizations must meet the requirements outlined in our participation agreement to be eligible for AmazonSmile,” an Amazon representative recently revealed following BLM’s suspension.
“Among other eligibility requirements, organizations are required to be in good standing in their state of incorporation and in the states and territories where they are authorized to do business,” the spokesperson continued. “Organizations that don't meet the requirements listed in the agreement may have its eligibility suspended or revoked. Charities can request to be reinstated once they are back in good standing.”
Due to California and Washington’s legal threats, the social justice group has reportedly been deemed not “in good standing” in either state, leading AmazonSmile no choice but to suspend the organization until they legally and properly disclose who is currently in charge of their finances, and where the $60 million in donations went to.