FAQs about donations

Yes you can! You can send a cheque payable to Oxfam to:

Freepost, Oxfam GB

If you received a mailing from us, you should have an enclosed Freepost envelope. Otherwise, you can send your donation form or cheque to the Freepost address above. Thank you.

You can also donate clothing to our online shop via Collect + for free. Find out more and order a free mailbag here.

Clothes and blankets are among the many items we can sell in our shops here to raise funds, but Oxfam does not send clothes and blankets overseas, however good their condition.

Often this is not cost-effective. Shipping also takes time. What people give today might not be what people need tomorrow. Wherever possible, Oxfam buys items locally or from countries in the affected region. This stimulates the local economy and has a lower environmental impact.

That's why making a cash donation is one of the most effective ways to support our emergency work.

When you donate to Oxfam, the money will be allocated to 'general funds' which allows us to focus on where the need is greatest and respond immediately to changing priorities and global situations. It is vital that we are able to spend money where it is most needed at any given time. 

However, it is possible for you to specify if you would like your donation to be spent on a particular emergency appeal.

You can also buy specific poverty-busting items and activities through the Oxfam Unwrapped virtual gift catalogue.

Please contact us to tell us of any changes to your donation.

Our Supporter Relations team is here 9am-5pm UK time. Call us on 0300 200 1300 or email us: heretohelp@oxfam.org.uk.

Please contact us to tell us of any changes to your bank details.

Our Supporter Relations team is here 9am-5pm UK time. Call us on 0300 200 1300 or email us: heretohelp@oxfam.org.uk.

Thank you for supporting Oxfam. Your donation is extremely valuable to us, so we'd be grateful of the opportunity to discuss your reasons for cancelling. If you can't maintain your current level of giving, a small amount would still be very much appreciated. Please call us on 0300 200 1300, or email heretohelp@oxfam.org.uk.

Please note, for Standing Order donations, you will need to contact your bank directly to cancel. Your bank will only take instruction from you. We would however be grateful if you could let us know you have done this, so that we can amend our records. Thank you.

Your donation qualifies for Gift Aid if you pay tax in the UK, and have signed the Gift Aid declaration. Every £1 that you donate with Gift Aid is worth £1.25 to Oxfam at no extra cost to you. Sign up for Gift Aid.

You can sign up to receive free email updates, with regular news of our work and what you can do to support it.

Thank you so much for raising money for Oxfam, we really appreciate your support! Please send us a cheque made payable to 'Oxfam GB' to:

Oxfam House,
John Smith Drive,
Cowley,
Oxford.
OX4 2JY

It would be great if you could also let us know how you raised the money (and be sure to include your name and address so that we can send you a thank you letter!)

In the 2018-19 financial year, Oxfam reached more than 12.8 million people worldwide. 9.7 million people affected by conflict and disaster were given life-saving assistance. We helped improve the lives of 3,160,000 people in the long term, through projects that addressed people's right to be heard, sustainable food, gender justice, and more. We couldn't have done it without you. You can find stories of the life-changing impact of our work here. Thanks for your support.

Thanks for thinking of Oxfam – legacies make a very important contribution to our fundraising. Visit our legacies pages for more information.

You can find all the answers in our guide to how we spend your money.

Regular giving is the best way to support Oxfam. It lets us plan our work more effectively: to help people to improve their lives through long-term development programmes; so we can respond to disasters and emergencies; and campaign to achieve lasting change. It also means we have a flexible and reliable income we can always count on. You can set up a regular donation for us to use across all of Oxfam's work, or support our emergency work in particular through the Oxfam emergency fund.

Yes. You can donate to or fundraise for individual emergency appeals and our Oxfam emergency fund, which helps fund our humanitarian response work worldwide all year round. If you want to collect money for an appeal, you'll find all you need to know on our fundraising section.

We spend money on fundraising for the sole purpose of raising more money. For every £1 that we spend on fundraising we aim to raise £5.

Find out how we spend your money.

Gift Aid is a simple way to increase the value of your gift to Oxfam – at no extra cost to you.  If you pay tax in the UK, Oxfam can reclaim the basic rate of tax you have paid on your gift, which increases the value of your donations by 25%.  So, if you donate £100, it is worth £125 to Oxfam. Sign up for Gift Aid.

In order for Oxfam to reclaim the tax you have paid on your donations, you must have paid income or capital gains tax (in the UK) for each tax year (6 April to 5 April) at least equal to the tax that all the charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs that you donate to will reclaim on your gifts for that tax year. Other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify. Sign up for Gift Aid.

The extra funds from your Gift Aided donated items, combined with the original sale amount, help Oxfam work hand-in-hand with communities worldwide, tackling the root causes of poverty and inequality. Together, we’re building a future where everyone has the tools and opportunities they need to thrive. When you Gift Aid an item that sells for £100, Oxfam can claim an additional £25, making the total £125 at zero cost to you. This extra money could make a real difference. For example, to indigenous farmers who are grappling with the challenges of climate change. It could give them training in sustainable farming practices so they can boost their harvests and secure a more stable income for their families.

The process is nice and simple – all you need to do is make a Gift Aid declaration. The easiest way is when donating online, tick the Gift Aid box on the donation form.

Another quick way to sign up to Gift Aid is by completing an online Gift Aid form.

Alternatively, contact us on 0300 200 1300 and we can set up a declaration over the phone or post a form out to you.

Yes, we can. Signing up to Gift Aid in your local shop or online means that every time you tag your bag of donations with your unique donor number, we can raise a life-changing 25% more from the government at no cost to you.

Find out more about Gift Aid in our shops

Nothing! It just ensures that if you choose to donate to Oxfam, we can claim an extra 25% back from the government. Sign up online for Gift Aid.

A Gift Aid declaration is a statement by an individual taxpayer that they want a charity to receive the tax paid on their donation back from the government.

To simplify matters for both you and Oxfam, the declaration wording normally covers present, future and past donations. We can back-claim four years and we will continue to claim until you tell us otherwise, so long as you are eligible.

To let us know if you stop paying tax or wish to cancel your declaration, please contact our Supporter Relations team at changes@oxfam.org.uk, on 0300 200 1300 or by visiting our Cancel Gift Aid form.

To claim Gift Aid on your fundraising, we must have the first name or initials, last name, full home address and postcode of each individual donor/sponsor. So please encourage them to tick the Gift Aid box on your sponsorship form when they sponsor you. Without these details we legally can't claim Gift Aid – so be strict with your supporters!