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International aid agency Oxfam launched a new, unique alliance for corporate donors, Aviva and Vodafone, to fund its initial response operations which will enable it to deal immediately with disasters whenever and wherever they occur.

Oxfam is aiming to raise £7.9m per year through the fund, which is called the Oxfam 365 Alliance and already boasts Aviva and Vodafone as its first corporate partners.

Oxfam’s director Barbara Stocking said: “The Oxfam 365 Alliance is a pioneering new approach to corporate collaboration that establishes a long-term relationship with Oxfam, enabling us to be prepared when disasters strike."

The Oxfam 365 Alliance’s £7.9 million annual spend will comprise £6.5 million revolving fund to cover Oxfam’s immediate response to humanitarian emergencies; £1.1 million for Oxfam’s 90-strong global rapid response team of water engineers, project managers and experts in logistics, public health and nutrition; and £330,000 to run Oxfam’s emergencies warehouse and immediately dispatch goods to a disaster area. Oxfam’s aid workers will be able to access the funds immediately in the vital first few days of an emergency, as well as later on when a situation has dropped off the media agenda but when people are still suffering.

When emergencies strike Oxfam is uniquely placed to help. Its warehouse, based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, is stocked with £1.7m of emergency equipment which is used together with locally purchased supplies and expertise.

Oxfam’s emergency stocks include enough water tanks to hold 4.4m litres (equivalent to almost two Olympic swimming pools), 14,000 buckets and two-and-a-half miles of piping. It also has 30 laptops and £30,000 of communications equipment and keeps track of 130 satellite phones.