Oxfam is an international confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief in Oxford, England, in 1942, to alleviate World War Two-related hunger and continued in the aftermath of the war. Oxfam has an international presence with operations in 79 countries and 21 members in the Oxfam Confederation in Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Since 2005, Oxfam International has been involved in a series of controversies as it expanded, especially concerning its operations in Haiti and Chad. There have been criticisms of its management of operations in the UK as well.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief by a group of Quakers, social activists, and Oxford academics in 1942, it was registered in accordance with UK law in 1943. The original committee was a group of concerned citizens, including Henry Gillett (a prominent local Quaker), Theodore Richard Milford, Gilbert Murray and his wife Mary, Cecil Jackson-Cole, and Alan Pim. The committee met in the Old Library of University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, for the first time in 1942, and its aim was to help starving citizens of occupied Greece, a famine caused by the Axis occupation of Greece and Allied naval blockades and to persuade the British government to allow food relief through the blockade. The Oxford committee was one of several local committees formed in support of the National Famine Relief Committee.Black, (1992)
The first permanent Oxfam gift shop was on Broad Street, Oxford; it opened in 1947. Oxfam's first paid employee was Joe Mitty, who began working at the Oxfam shop on Broad Street, Oxford, on 9 November 1949. Engaged to manage the accounts and distribute donated clothing, he originated the policy of selling anything people were willing to donate, and developed the shop into a national chain.
Fundraising innovations led by advertising adviser Harold Sumption, including rigorous testing of advertising campaigns, direct mail, the trading catalogue, and the first multimedia fundraising campaign the "Hunger £ Million", helped Oxfam become, for a time, the largest charity in the UK. By 1960, it was an international nongovernmental aid organization. The first overseas committee was founded in Canada in 1963, and in 1965, the organization changed its name to its telegraphic address, OXFAM. The Oxford committee became known as Oxfam GB. In 1995 Oxfam International was formed by a group of independent non-governmental organizations. Stichting Oxfam International was registered as a non-profit foundation at The Hague, Netherlands, in 1996.
Winnie Byanyima was the executive director of Oxfam International from 2013 to 2019.
Oxfam's work
Focus
Oxfam has provided relief services during various global crises, including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, North Korean famine, 2011 East Africa drought, 2012 Sahel drought, Nepal earthquake, and Yemeni crisis. The Bosfam NGO was also founded in May 1995 by women participating in an Oxfam GB psychosocial 'radionice' project to support internally displaced women during the Bosnian war. Oxfam has become a globally recognized leader in providing water sanitation to impoverished and war-torn areas the world over. In 2012, Oxfam became one of the humanitarian groups that comprise the UK's Rapid Response Facility to ensure clean water in the wake of humanitarian disasters.
A January 2014 Oxfam report claimed the 85 wealthiest individuals in the world have a combined wealth equal to that of the bottom 50% of the world's population, or about 3.5 billion people. In January 2015, Oxfam predicted the wealthiest 1% of income earners will own more than half of global wealth by 2016. An Oxfam report released in 2017 stated that eight billionaires possess the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of humanity.
The current focus of Oxfam's campaigns includes economic inequality (including tax justice), gender justice and climate change.
Past Campaigns The Make Trade Fair campaign organized by Oxfam International focuses on the elimination of trade practices, such as dumping, which occurs when highly subsidized, surplus commodities from developed countries such as rice, cotton, corn, and sugar are sold at low prices and farmers from poor countries have difficulty competing. Another practice Oxfam opposes is the setting of tariffs, where nations enforce high taxes on imported goods, restricting the sales of products from other nations, unbalanced labour rights for women, who often earn lower wages than their male counterparts, and stringent patent issues that prevent the prices of medication, software, and textbooks (e.g. gene patents, chemical patents, and software patents) from being lowered. Thus, such essential goods are often inaccessible to developing nations.
As part of its work Oxfam has also campaigned on issues regarding coffee farming. In October 2006, Oxfam accused Starbucks of asking the National Coffee Association (NCA) to block a US trademark application from Ethiopia for three of the country's coffee beans, Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. They claimed this could result in denying Ethiopian coffee farmers potential annual earnings of up to £47m. Following this Starbucks had placed pamphlets in its stores accusing Oxfam of "misleading behavior" and insisting that its "campaign need[s] to stop", while The Economist derided Oxfam's "simplistic" stance and Ethiopia's "economically illiterate" government, arguing that Starbucks' (and Illy's) standards-based approach would ultimately benefit farmers more. In June 2007, Ethiopian Government representatives and senior leaders from Starbucks Coffee Company worked out an agreement regarding distribution, marketing and licensing that recognized the importance and integrity of Ethiopia's specialty coffee designations. An Oxfam spokesman said the deal sounds like a "useful step" as long as farmers are benefiting, and a big step from a year prior when Starbucks "wasn't engaging directly (with) Ethiopians on adding value to their coffee".
Shops Oxfam has shops all over the world, which sell many fair-trade and donated items since their first charity shop opened in 1948, although trading began in 1947. The proceeds from these are used to further Oxfam's mission and relief efforts around the globe. Much of their stock comes from public donations but as of 2012 they still sold fair trade products from developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America, including handcrafts, books, music CDs and instruments, clothing, toys, food, and ethnic creations. Objects marketed in the "Sourced by Oxfam" range are brought to the public through fair trade to help boost the quality of life of their producers and surrounding communities.Oxfam UK, Oxfam Shop: FAQS, accessed on 25 April 2026
As of 2010, Oxfam had over 1,200 shops worldwide. More than half of them were in the UK, with around 750 Oxfam GB shops, including specialist shops such as books, music, furniture, and bridal wear. Oxfam Germany has 45 shops, including specialist book shops; Oxfam France shops sell second-hand books and clothes, and Oxfam Hong Kong has two shops selling donated goods and fair-trade products. Oxfam Novib (in the Netherlands), Oxfam Australia (with over 20 fair trade shops), Oxfam Ireland and Oxfam in Belgium also raise funds from shops.
Of the Oxfam charity shops around the UK, around 100 are specialist bookshops or book and music shops. Oxfam is the largest retailer of second-hand books in Europe, selling around 12 million per year. In 2008, Oxfam GB worked with over 20,000 volunteers in shops across the UK, raising £17.1 million for Oxfam's programme work.
In the wake of the 2018 sexual abuse scandal, CEO Mark Goldring admitted closures of some Oxfam shops were likely. Allegations also appeared at this time regarding sexual harassment in Oxfam shops in Britain. Sector press later reported that Oxfam closed 26 of its shops in 2020 and that shops made an operational loss of £12.9 million in 2020, with further closures reported in local media thereafter.
Oxfam bookshops
Oxfam is the largest retailer of second-hand books in Europe, selling around 12 million per year. Most of Oxfam's 600 charity shops around the UK sell books, and around 100 are specialist bookshops or book and music shops. A typical Oxfam bookshop will have around 50 volunteers, as well as a small number of full-time staff. As of 2009, the charity makes around £1.6 million each month from book sales.
Books are donated directly to shops by the public, or through Oxfam's "book banks" in convenient locations around the country. The profits of the book sales support the work of the charity.
Following a revival in the fortunes of the new and second-hand book industry at the end of the 1990s, Oxfam began to rapidly expand its specialist bookshops. By 2003 it had 60 brightly lit and modern bookshops aiming to shake off the old 'dank and dusty' image. Modern ones typically boast professional fittings and a wide range of stock, including recent novels, specialist textbooks and out-of-print curios.
Small bookshops have complained that Oxfam receives unfair advantages in the form of favourable tax rates and cheaper waste disposal, amongst other things. In response to these criticisms, Oxfam has said that much of the damage to small book retailers has come from supermarkets and online retailers, particularly Tesco and Amazon.
Oxfam Ireland operates bookshops throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. France has two Oxfam bookshops in Paris as well as in Strasbourg, Lille, Villeurbanne and Bordeaux. In Belgium, there are Oxfam bookshops in Brussels (Ixelles and Uccle), Liège, Namur, Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven, Kortrijk and Hasselt. There is one Oxfam bookshop in Australia, in the city of Adelaide, run by about 130 volunteers.
Fundraising Oxfam has several successful fundraising channels in addition to its shops. Over half a million people in the UK make a regular financial contribution to its work. In April 2017, the Information Commissioner's Office fined Oxfam charities for breaching the Data Protection Act by misusing donors' personal data. Oxfam was fined £6,000.
Offices and affiliates
Oxfam International consists of 21 affiliates and the international secretariat in Nairobi. Additional offices were in Addis Ababa, Washington, DC, New York City, Brussels, and Geneva.
Affiliates Country/Region Established Full affiliate since Oxfam America 1970 1995 Oxfam Australia 1954 (as Food for Peace Campaign) 1995 Oxfam Belgique/ Oxfam België 1964 1995 Oxfam Brasil19582016 Oxfam Canada 1966 1995 Oxfam Colombia 2020 2021 Oxfam France 1988 2006 Oxfam Germany 1995 2003 Oxfam GB 1942 1995 Oxfam Hong Kong 1976 1995 Oxfam Denmark 1966 (as World University Service, WUS) 2015 Oxfam Italia 1976 (as Ucodep) 2012 Oxfam Intermón 1956 (as Intermón) 1997 Oxfam India 2008 2011 Oxfam Ireland 1971 (as Oxfam Northern Ireland) 1998 Oxfam Mexico 1996 2008 Oxfam New Zealand 1991 1995 Oxfam Novib 1956 (as Novib) 1995 Oxfam Québec 1973 1995 Oxfam Türkiye 1986 2019 Oxfam South Africa 2013 2016
Oxfam Japan was a member from 2003 until its closure in 2018.
Oxfam is in process of exploring additional southern affiliates in the global south, including Oxfam in the Pacific, The Philippines, Senegal, Kenya and Indonesia.
Oxfam International