The United Palestinian Appeal, incorporated in 1978 and federally recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is one of the oldest Palestinian-American charitable organizations operating in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., it funds health, education, and community development programs across the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. It holds a 4-star Charity Navigator rating for more than eight consecutive years, with 98% of expenditures going directly to programs.

Who Founded UPA and Why

In 1978, a group of Palestinian-American professionals decided that institutional, sustainable support for Palestinian communities could not wait for governments or large multilateral agencies. They incorporated the United Palestinian Appeal in New York as a non-political, non-sectarian organization: a vehicle for diaspora resources to reach the occupied territories and refugee camps without political conditions attached.

The founding logic has not changed. UPA operates from the premise that Palestinian communities already contain the talent and the will to rebuild; what they need is reliable funding for health infrastructure, education access, and economic footholds. The diaspora can provide that. It has done so continuously for more than four decades.

Today UPA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., registered as a 501(c)(3) with Tax ID 11-2494808, and works across the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.

Health Programs

UPA's health work is built around its Primary Care Clinics: community clinics serving Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon at minimal or no cost. Priority goes to the most underserved camps and remote communities, with particular emphasis on maternal and child health care.

The scale of need is concrete. In Jordan, approximately 140,000 Palestinian refugees from Gaza depend on these clinics; only 17% have any private health insurance. In Lebanon, 94% of Palestinian refugees rely on UNRWA for healthcare, with just 5.5% holding private coverage.

Beyond primary care, UPA runs a Cleft Lip and Palate Program providing comprehensive surgical and rehabilitative care for Palestinians born with craniofacial conditions, work rooted in the Craniofacial Surgery Center in the West Bank. The organization also maintains an Audiology and Speech Disorder Center at Birzeit University and funds a Children's Fund that addresses psychological trauma in young Palestinians living through prolonged displacement and instability.

Emergency and humanitarian response covers food, medicine, and basic relief, rounding out the health portfolio alongside these long-term programs.

Education Programs

The anchor of UPA's education work is the Mahmoud Darwish Scholarship Fund. Renamed in 2018 to honor the Palestinian poet on the thirtieth anniversary of the program, it has supported 3,000 Palestinian students in pursuing university degrees. Scholarships cover a substantial portion of tuition at leading universities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jordan, including Bethlehem University, Al Azhar University in Gaza, An-Najah University, and Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem.

Recipients are nominated by partner universities and selected on the basis of academic excellence, financial need, and commitment to contributing to their community after graduation. The scholarship program is supported in part by Iqraa, a Washington, D.C.-based running group that has directed fundraising toward UPA's education work for years.

UPA also funds vocational training, continuing education for adults and professionals, and an Arts and Culture initiative dedicated to the preservation of Palestinian history, literature, and collective memory through art and music. Palestinian symbols in clothing carry that same spirit of cultural continuity; it is its own kind of inheritance.

Community and Economic Development

UPA's community development work addresses the structural conditions that make health and education precarious in the first place: restricted movement, limited capital access, and damaged infrastructure.

The Small Business Development Program targets unemployed Palestinian youth and adults, with specific emphasis on female heads of household. Participants receive business training, startup support, and the practical scaffolding to build financially independent livelihoods. In Gaza, where the economy has been compressed for years, this kind of individual-level economic anchoring carries outsized weight.

UPA's Agriculture Program promotes sustainable farming practices designed to increase food security and financial independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Much like the olive tree as a Palestinian symbol of roots and resilience, these agricultural programs are about endurance as much as sustenance. Through its Construction and Renovation Program, UPA funds the building and refurbishment of health, educational, and recreational facilities, including a nursing college on the Mount of Olives constructed between 1985 and 1990, one of the organization's earliest major infrastructure investments.

Taken together, these programs represent something specific: not relief alone, but the infrastructure of a functioning society. Clinics, schools, businesses, farms, buildings, built and sustained from within the diaspora.

How FALASTIN's 100% Profits Connect to UPA

Every order placed through Palestinian Clothing collection contributes directly to UPA's programs. This is not a percentage, not a seasonal pledge, not a promotional campaign. The FALASTIN donation model routes 100% of profits to the United Palestinian Appeal, the same organization that has been running primary care clinics and funding university scholarships since 1978.

UPA was chosen deliberately. It is one of the few Palestinian-focused nonprofits with a track record spanning more than four decades, a near-perfect program spending ratio, and named programs operating on the ground in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, and Lebanon. The 98% program spend means that almost nothing is lost to overhead.

Buying a thobe or a t-shirt from FALASTIN is not charity in the conventional sense. It is a direct funding channel into infrastructure that has been serving Palestinian communities since before most of FALASTIN's customers were born. Products like the Key of Return carry the weight of that history; each piece connects the wearer to a living, ongoing story.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the United Palestinian Appeal a 501(c)(3)?

Yes. The United Palestinian Appeal is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, incorporated in New York and headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its Tax ID is 11-2494808. Donations to UPA are tax-deductible in the United States. UPA holds a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for more than eight consecutive years.

How can I donate to UPA directly?

Donations can be made directly through UPA's website at helpupa.org. UPA accepts one-time and recurring gifts, and donors can designate contributions to specific program areas: health, education, or community and economic development.

What does UPA fund?

UPA funds three primary program areas. In health: Primary Care Clinics across Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon; a Cleft Lip and Palate Program; trauma support for children; and emergency food and medicine distribution. In education: the Mahmoud Darwish Scholarship Fund, which has supported 3,000 Palestinian university students; vocational training; and an Arts and Culture preservation initiative. In community development: the Small Business Development Program, agricultural sustainability initiatives, and construction or renovation of Palestinian infrastructure.

How much of FALASTIN's sales go to UPA?

100% of profits from FALASTIN are donated to the United Palestinian Appeal. This is not a matching program or a limited-time offer. Every order placed through the FALASTIN store contributes to UPA's health, education, and community development programs in Palestine and in Palestinian refugee camps across the region.

At FALASTIN, we aim to keep that heritage alive through our Palestinian Clothing collection, garments rooted in the symbols, land, and memory of Palestine, made for people who already know what they carry.

100% of profits from FALASTIN are donated to the United Palestinian Appeal.