The UPS Foundation

Nepal / Earthquake aftermath / The arrival and off-loading of the UPS air cargo at Kathmandu airport / UNHCR / Deepesh Das Shrestha / May 2015

The UPS Foundation has been one of UNHCR's leading corporate partners since 2010, when it entered into a multi-year agreement to improve our emergency logistics. Under this formal partnership, we became one of the main beneficiaries of UPS donations for humanitarian causes.

Utilizing UPS's expertise in transportation, logistics, supply and communications, the partnership has evolved to meet needs that otherwise would be very difficult to solve.

The UPS Foundation contributes logistical expertise, funds and services to support and enhance our emergency response. This includes providing technological development and training to UNHCR staff and partners, freight services to transport critical relief supplies, and flexible funding that can be accessed quickly to provide critical charter planes aid and assistance during fast-breaking emergencies. UPS’s signature 'Relief Link' program has had a positive impact on our ability to effectively distribute supplies through last-mile tracking of food and non-food items delivered to refugees.

In 2015, we announced that UPS would serve as our emergency standby shipping partner to transport critical supplies into the hands of refugees around the world.

In 2016, the UPS Foundation will expand its partnership with UNHCR to include support for improving our global fleet management solutions via capacity building and secondment of UPS staff.

As a founding member of UNHCR's Innovation Circle, UPS is also working to enhance the agency's distribution, tracking and delivery of essential supplies to millions of refugees and displaced people, even in the most challenging environments. By improving the capacity and efficiency of UNHCR's logistical systems, services such as the delivery of life-saving necessities to refugees will be enhanced. This will also save our resources, which can be deployed to save more lives in other areas with critical needs.

Key stats and figures

2012: UPS flew 13 tons of UNHCR aid items to Mauritania for distribution to 10,000 Malians in the Mbera refugee camp.
2013: UPS supported our work during Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, providing 2,941 families with protection kits, 70 families of five with tents and 375 families with solar lanterns.
2014: UPS provided Emergency Response Toolkits and contributed to continued recovery efforts in the Philippines.
2015: The UPS Foundation supported us with charter flights and emergency response funding for core relief items to refugees and displaced persons in Greece and Nepal. The Foundation also provided winterization supplies for people displaced inside Syria.
2016: The UPS Foundation supported UNHCR with charter flights and emergency response funding for core relief items for people affected by the disaster in Ecuador. The UPS Foundation was, as UNHCR leading emergency partner, the first to respond to the crisis.