Oxfam was founded in 1942 in Oxford, as the "Oxford Committee for Famine Relief" it was originally formed by a group of Quakers, social activists and Oxford academics. They were one of several local committees formed in support of the 'national famine relief committee'.
Oxfam UK
Together their mission was to persuade the UK government to allow food relief through the Allied naval blockade to the starving citizens in Axis-occupied Greece.
During the war they also helped poor people throughout Europe, and when the war ended and Europe recovered, their work spread to countries further away that needed help. The 'Oxford Committee for Famine Relief' also changed their name to Oxfam in 1965 with the name 'Oxfam' being a mix of Oxford and Famine.
By 1960, Oxfam was a major international non-governmental organisation (NGO), and it was in 1963 that Oxfam Canada was founded. Today Oxfam UK and Oxfam Canada are just two of 14 affiliate Oxfam's, with other areas including America, France, Hong Kong, Mexico and Quebec. In 1995, Oxfam international was formed, in which all 14 affiliate Oxfam's work together. Two interesting facts about Oxfam are that they were the first charity to place an advert in a national paper. The other is that they have also won a BAFTA award for 'mapping our world' which is a free online teaching resource for geography.
Oxfam's vision is "A world without poverty" and the work they do can be summed up in their mission statement:
"Oxfam international is an international group of independent non-governmental organisations dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world. The Oxfam's work together internationally to achieve greater impact by their collective efforts."
Today Oxfam works in over 100 countries and with more than 3000 local partner organisation across the globe. From Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Haiti and West Africa.
Oxfam's worked can be condensed into five key areas:
In addition to these 5 key areas Oxfam international have 16 issues that their work is focused on, these are; active citizenship, agriculture, aid effectiveness, climate change, education, emergency response, gender justice, health, HIV and AIDS, indigenous and minority rights, natural resources, peace and security, youth outreach, private sector and trade.
Oxfams funding is primarily made up from voluntary donations, however finding a financial report for Oxfam international is not possible as each affiliate Oxfam is responsible for their own finances so there is no 'one big report' with all the information. In saying this Oxfam internationals website does say how much money is spent where, but it does not say where the money came from or any other details about their income, or their total expenditure.
Oxfam UK's income, for 2009, however was £308,300,000 of this £133.9 million was from voluntary donations, £88.4 million was from charitable activities and £79.3 million was from trading. Their expenditure for the same year was £318,600,000 with £19.8 million spent on generating funds, £62.9 million on trading and £234.4 million on charitable activities. Oxfam claim on their website that for every £1 donated only 10p goes to admin.
Oxfam have several ways to raise money, the main way being from regular donations, legacies and emergency appeals. They also have a program called Oxfam unwrapped, this is a gift that can be bought for example as someone's birthday present, where the gift is a donation of resources that can be chosen, the recipient then receives a card showing how their gift is helping. Oxfam also run 'trailwalker' events, these are runs or walks of 100kms and are team events that take place in 8 different countries, where people are sponsored to raise money for Oxfam by completing the trail. They also have an annual music event called 'Oxjam' these music events are set up by members of the public with the proceeds going to Oxfam.
Lastly, they have the well known Oxfam shops, the first shop was set up in 1948 in oxford, today they have 730 shops across the UK selling not only donated items but also fair-trade items made in developing countries. These shops make an annual profit of around £20 million.