About UPA

UPA ensures both that donations are not used to unnecessarily fund overhead and that the funds we send to Palestine go through long-established and reputable organizations with no political affiliation. Our strong partnerships help us make good on the promise of each dollar our supporters give us. UPA also complies fully with U.S. regulations as well as independently vetting all of our grant recipients. UPA is a proud member of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC #11346) and the Independent Charities of America.

None.  UPA is a strictly non-partisan, non-sectarian 501(c)(3)-registered charity in the United States.

Federal employees can donate to United Palestinian Appeal by using our Combined Federal Campaign number: 11346.

Contact us through the Contact page using the topic heading "Child Sponsorship." If you have specific preferences for the type of child you would like to sponsor (e.g., an orphaned child or a boy in Gaza), please make sure to indicate that in your email as there may or may not be any children waiting to be sponsored that fulfill that preference. As a child sponsor, you will receive a profile and a picture of your child and correspondence from your child during the year.

You may write to your child by sending a letter to UPA, which will be translated into Arabic, if needed, and forwarded to the local organization. Any letters sent directly to the local organization must be followed up with the organization and not with UPA. If your gift is under one pound, you may send the gift to UPA and we will forward it to your child. Anything over one pound, you may send directly to the local organization found on your child's profile via DHL or ARAMAX. Any gift sent directly to the child's organization should be followed up directly with the local organization.

We require a minimum $40 per month fee plus a one-time initial administrative fee of $25 per child.  This can be paid monthly, quarterly, or annually.  You are certainly permitted to send more per month; please check off “Other Amount” if you choose to donate e.g., $50 per child per month, or $150 per child per quarter, and so on.

We require a minimum one-year commitment from all sponsors, which automatically renews each year unless we hear otherwise from you.

We do not sponsor children once they reach their 18th birthday, unless they have a disability that prevents them from living independently. Once your child turns 18, we will contact to see if you would like to sponsor another child or stop sponsorship altogether. If you wish to keep in touch with your child after his or her 18th birthday, you may contact the local organization directly. They may be able to provide you with his or her contact information; UPA will no longer have access to this information.

No, but you can Adopt-A-Classroom for $15 per month.   Your donation will be pooled with other sponsors’ donations to pay for projects for the class that are chosen collaboratively by the schools on the ground in Palestine and UPA staff.  These projects will absolutely benefit all of the children in the class.  Such projects will vary, from providing closed-circuit televisions as educational aids for visually-impaired children, to hearing-aid batteries for hearing-impaired children.

Let us know through the Contact page using the topic heading "Child Sponsorship." Specify in your message that you are interested in adopting a class. The minimum fee for adopting a class is $15 per month. You are certainly permitted to send more per month; please check off “Other Amount” if you choose to donate e.g., $25 per month, or $75 per quarter, and so on. Once a year, we will send you a letter from your adopted class, which will include an update on how your donations helped them during the year.  We will also send each sponsor a photograph of his/her adopted class. Please note that we require a minimum one-year commitment from all sponsors, which automatically renews each year unless we hear otherwise from you.  This can be paid monthly, quarterly, or annually.

UPA does not fund scholarships for students studying outside of the occupied Palestinian territories. One organization that does fund scholarships for Palestinian students to study in the U.S. is the Hope Fund, based in Lexington, Virginia.

UPA grants scholarships to a limited number of students every year for study at 11 different partner universities throughout the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including Jerusalem.  You can apply online for a scholarship starting in late January/February up through April 15 for the following academic year, at UPA's website.