Oxfam America Advocacy Fund

Oxfam America Action Fund (Oxfam Action) is the lobbying and political advocacy arm of Oxfam America, which pushes for more stringent environmental regulations, increased foreign aid and higher taxes, among other issues.¹ It ramped up some of those efforts after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, criticizing his administration’s relatively hostile stance to the refugee resettlement program.²

Critics have argued Oxfam Action reports are misleading and some of the group’s arguments are unfounded. ³

News

Resolutions to Share Covid-19 Vaccination Information

In 2022, Oxfam has issued resolutions to major pharmaceutical companies responsible for developing vaccines to Covid-19; Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson; demanding said companies to share their vaccine information between one another and with other WHO-affiliated manufacturers to better distribute vaccines to lower-income areas. ⁴

Controversial Activities

“Heroes for Hope” Controversy

In 1985, Marvel Comics published the comic book Heroes for Hope to raise money for East African famine relief, and initially intended to give the proceeds to Oxfam America. However, Oxfam America demanded to review the book before accepting the donation and rejected the publication, saying the book “was unbelievably offensive and that we, the people of Marvel Comics, were racist, sexist, and reprehensible,” former Marvel Comics senior editor Jim Shooter wrote on his blog.⁵

A representative of Oxfam America visited Marvel Comics, Shooter wrote, and urged the company not to publish the comic, and bragged about how Oxfam American and other charitable groups were helping to spotlight the famine in Africa. “This Oxfam America fellow, let’s call him Midas, just plain gushed about how good for business the East African famine was, how donations were rolling in at record levels. He talked about the millions dying as if it were a great marketing opportunity,” Shooter wrote. Marvel Comics eventually donated more than $500,000 to the Quaker-affiliated American Friends Service Committee from the proceeds of the comic book.⁵

Inequality Reports

Oxfam releases annual reports condemning international wealth inequality. Critics have found serious methodological problems with these reports, making them highly misleading. Money, for example, said Oxfam’s metric wasn’t a very “instructive way to view global inequality,” largely because Americans who spend a lot rank below those in other countries who don’t earn much. The publication pointed out that the U.S. has more residents in the bottom 10 percent than China does, due in part to the negative household savings rate of 2 percent for American adults under the age of 35. ⁶

Further illustrating that point, Fraser Nelson noted in The Spectator the annual poverty report would rank a penniless Chinese peasant above a just-graduated Harvard law student. Nelson argued the truth that global capitalism is lifting people out of poverty at the fastest rate in human history didn’t fit Oxfam’s anti-capitalist agenda so it focused on the richest people and tax havens instead. ⁷

Criticism of the Trump Administration

Oxfam was among the most vocal critics of President Trump in the wake of his response to the extensive damage in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico after it was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The group dubbed the American government’s response to its island territory’s plight as “slow and inadequate.”⁸

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the military officer named to oversee the hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, pushed back against the criticism of the administration. He said the U.S. military worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the governor of Puerto Rico to assess the needs. “This is not a dictatorship. We’ve got great teamwork going on with them. When they say they need more help with distribution, we’re able to respond and make it happen.”⁹

People

Kitt Sawitsky is the chairman of the Board of Directors for Oxfam America Action Fund. He is also the Director of law firm Goulston & Storrs, previously serving as its former managing director. He is also a co-founder of community organization Boston Employment Service and sits on the board of Strategies for Children. ¹⁰

Gina C. Cummings is the president of Oxfam America Action Fund as well as the Vice President of Advocacy, Alliances & Policy for Oxfam America. She joined Oxfam America in 2006 where she started as the Organizing and Alliances Manager. Prior to Oxfam, Cummings served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for medical NGO Physicians for Human Rights. ¹⁰

Funding

Oxfam America Action Fund’s IRS Form 990 for 2016 shows revenue of $430,997 and expenses of $368,303. ¹¹ Those expenses included $36,051 spent on lobbying and advocacy on food aid reform and the Global Food Security Act, as well as $82,323 for “constituency building.” Online supporters were engaged on Oxfam issues that included such topics as support for Syrian refugees and asking that Congress support President Barack Obama’s request of $500 million for the Green Climate Fund. ¹² Oxfam reported giving grants of $4,000 to the American Values Network and $3,780 to the Foods Resource Bank. ¹³

According to its 2022 990 form, the reported revenue for that fiscal year was $785,636, its expenses were listed as $691,365, and total assets at $686,027. ¹⁴