An occasional writer's journal

PayPal has teamed up with Oxfam UK to support the Haiti earthquake appeal.

The launch of Oxfam’s new PayPal facility has been brought forward to handle Haiti aid donations and the charity is now negotiating a reduction in PayPal’s handling charges.

In the UK, more than £10m in public donations was raised within 24 hours of the media launch of a Haiti relief appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee, a consortium of 13 humanitarian aid charities including Oxfam and Save The Children.

Separately, PayPal offered to raise the profile of Oxfam’s response in Haiti by e-mailing its own customers, not just existing Oxfam supporters.

In response to a query by the writer, Tom Chidlaw, handling supporter relations for Oxfam UK, said, “As the launch of this partnership was brought forward, there are still some things that need to be finalised, but what we can say is that donations via PayPal are currently being processed through an established PayPal account with the standard charge per transaction of 1.4% plus 20p. However, as PayPal have shown that they are committed to supporting our work, we hope to negotiate a lower fee for these transactions.

“I am pleased to be able to reassure you that Oxfam will treat donations to our Haiti appeal via PayPal in exactly the same way as any donation to the appeal: they will be processed securely and the funds will be restricted for use only in our emergency response in Haiti.”

Oxfam is distributing clean water to thousands of people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

• £10 will buy a hygiene kit for one family;
• £25 will buy ten 14-litre buckets;
• £50 will buy two basic latrines to serve forty people.

Check out the many ways you can donate directly and securely to support Oxfam’s Haiti earthquake response.