1978
UPA was established in the State of New York by a group of Palestinian-Americans from the business and professional communities who shared the objective of creating an efficient and professionally managed charity that would assist needy Palestinians and contribute to socioeconomic and cultural development in Palestine.


1980
UPA was granted tax-exempt status under Section 501 (c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. UPA’s federal tax-exemption I.D. number is 11-2494808.


1985
UPA became the first Palestinian-American charity to be registered with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a Private and Voluntary Organization (PVO).*

UPA began funding the construction of a $2.4 million nursing college on the Mount of Olives affiliated with Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Hospital.

Thanks to a $1.1 million grant from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and his brother Prince Salman, UPA was also able to greatly expand its assistance programs in the areas of health care, education, children's services, community development, and emergency relief.


1986
UPA initiated its Child Sponsorship Program.


1987
In the last three years, UPA sent nearly $450,000 in emergency medicines and supplies to Palestinian refugees in Southern Lebanon. With the outbreak of the first Intifada at the end of 1987, UPA shifted its funding priorities to emergency medical relief for Intifada-related injuries.


1989
UPA became the first Palestinian-American charity accepted by the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), the national organization allowing for charitable solicitation of federal government employees.


1990
The UPA/Al-Makassed Nursing College in East Jerusalem was completed, the first modern, four-year nursing college in Palestine offering training to meet the increasing health care demands of the Palestinian population.


1991
UPA was accepted as a participating member agency by the Independent Charities of America (ICA), a nationwide consortium of approved charities soliciting state, federal and local public employees.


1994
In the wake of the Oslo agreement, UPA refocused its grant making on programs aimed at the long-term socioeconomic recovery and development of Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza.


2000
From 2000 onwards, UPA responded to the second Intifada by giving priority to emergency medical relief programs.


2001
UPA's support of humanitarian programs in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and refugee camps of Lebanon totaled $679,018. St. John's Opthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem received a grant from UPA for its Mobile Outreach Training Program serving 5,000 additional patients in towns and villages not reached by its Jerusalem and Gaza facilities.

The Anabta branch of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) received a grant from UPA for the expansion of the primary and specialized programs in its clinic. Construction of a new wing of the clinic—including a maternity ward, an ambulance and emergency section, and x-ray and medical labs—were completed, thus greatly improving health services for the Anabta community of 25,000.


2002
UPA was awarded a $2.7 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a job creation and infrastructure development program throughout the West Bank and Gaza in cooperation with the Welfare Association in East Jerusalem. The program represented an emergency response to devastating economic collapse, including an unemployment rate of over 60 percent.


2003
UPA’s support of humanitarian programs in the West Bank and Gaza totaled $2,588,140 for the year. As well as continuing with the USAID-funded job creation program that began in 2002, UPA expanded its child sponsorship program from just over 600 children in 2002 to 855 in 2003, helping a widening circle of poor families provide for their children.

In response to closures and plummeting income levels, UPA gave priority to alleviating two of the most pressing problems facing Palestinians: shortages of medicine and lack of jobs. To ease shortages, we stepped up our in-kind donation program, shipping over $424,000 worth of medicines and supplies to West Bank hospitals and clinics.


2004
UPA's support of humanitarian programs in the West Bank and Gaza totaled $2,745,499 for the year. UPA awarded grants in the areas of education, health, community development, child sponsorships, and family relief.


2005
UPA’s support of humanitarian programs in the West Bank and Gaza totaled $779,630 for the year. Thanks to the repeated contributions of committed donors over twenty-seven years, UPA has been able to invest over $15 million in Palestinian health care, community development, and education.


2007
Working with the US-based Sabre Foundation, UPA sent more than $600,000 worth of academic textbooks to the West Bank. The more than 8,000 books -- covering topics in science, technology, and medicine -- were selected by Palestinian educators at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. The shipment came as Palestinian universities and their students face tightening budgets and ever-scarcer resources.

Through a $225,000 grant from United Palestinian Appeal, the Welfare Association provided 1,000 children in 13 kindergartens in the Gaza Strip with daily hot meals for six months. The project has the dual benefit of providing basic food aid to the neediest in Gaza while also benefiting a starving economy. Food is purchased from local Palestinian producers and suppliers and distributed in the community.


2008
Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator, informed UPA at the beginning of March that it had awarded four out of a possible four stars to UPA. In earning Charity Navigator's highest four star rating, UPA has demonstrated exceptional financial health, outperforming most of its peers in its efforts to manage and grow its finances in the most fiscally responsible way possible.


*Registration does not imply endorsement.