Amazon’s Alexa has been around for quite some time now and it has gained huge popularity. The main reason for the positive response has been the ability for developers to build new skills for Alexa. And, one such useful skill is Alexa Donations. It is a recent addition to Alexa’s skillset by the company. It allows a user to make a donation to any of the listed charities (more than 40 at the moment). And as per the company, this number is only going to increase in the future.
The Skill:
Amazon’s Alexa has been pretty useful and famous for doing tasks such as playing music, making a phone call, and others just by the use of voice. Now, it is capable of making donations too. Integration of Alexa Donations skill with Amazon Pay makes this possible. A user has to just say, “Alexa, donate $20 to XYZ foundation“, XYZ being any foundation or charity. The charity should be from the list of the foundations supported by the skill. Alternatively, you can also say, “Alexa, make a donation“, and then follow through the process to select the charity and donation amount. A 4 digit voice code is used to secure the payment. This helps prevent an unsuspected transaction to occur while you are not at home (wink).
According to Amazon demographics, more than a million users have already made donations with the help of Amazon Pay. The company hopes to increase this number with Alexa Donations. Use of voice makes it easier and more natural for people to make donations. Through Alexa Donations, the recipient will get the doner’s name, email, and address. There will be no sharing of the credit card info. Thus, the system seems to be safe for the moment. This seems to be the first step in Amazon’s policy of introducing funds transfer through the use of Alexa.
