Amazon has followed its 18,000-string sacking spree by shutting down a charity.

AmazonSmile is a donation program that give 0.5 per cent of the cost of eligible purchases made through the online giant to various charities.

Amazon argues the move to close the program, which launched in 2013 and has supported over one million charities around the world, was because “after almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped.”

With so many eligible organisations, the company said, “our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”

Amazon will now have a more targeted approach, investing “in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.”

The program will be closed by February 20.