2024 annual report
a message from our leadership
In 2024, UNRWA USA supported UNRWA’s life-saving programs across its five areas of operation: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip.
These programs provide essential assistance and protection to Palestine refugees. Thanks to your support, we granted more than $44 million to UNRWA in 2024—our largest funding year ever.
How UNRWA USA funds were allocated throughout the year.
How grants sent to UNRWA were distributed across our four key program pillars: emergency response, protection, education and health.
The pie charts below show:
*** “Grants to UNRWA” reflect the funds UNRWA USA sent directly to UNRWA
who we are
UNRWA USA’s board and staff are a passionate team, united by a shared commitment to uplift the voices and experiences of Palestine refugees and standing in solidarity with their plight.
In 2024, we were thrilled to grow our team to expand our capacity and allow us to better meet the moment. We welcomed four new team members: Megan McCarthy as Director of Administration and Operations, Zeenie Malik as Communications Manager, Sharday El-Assar as Associate Director of Major Gifts, and Kayla Thayer as Programs and Operations Assistant. We also bid farewell to Diala Ghneim, who served as UNRWA USA’s Communications Manager for two years.
UNRWA USA’s Gaza Through My Lens tour with globally prominent Palestinian photographer and photojournalist, Motaz Azaiza, reached six US cities and raised over $1.4 million for Gaza relief.
We also celebrated Senior Director of Philanthropy Hani Almadhoun’s five years of extraordinary service at UNRWA USA!
With the addition of our new colleagues, our organization has grown stronger—infused with fresh perspectives and renewed energy for our mission.
We invite you to get to know the people behind our work—their passions, stories, and what drives them to make a difference every day.
2024 updates + highlights
2024 impact
In 2024, UNRWA USA continued funding projects under our four technical pillars:
1) education and training
2) health
3) protection
4) emergency response
Through your generosity, we were able to grant more than $44 million to UNRWA,
the UN agency, in 2024 – our largest funding year ever.
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![An UNRWA classroom with young students seated at desks, some looking at the teacher and others with hands clasped. The teacher, a woman wearing a hijab, stands holding a sheet with a cartoon drawing, with posters and classroom materials on the walls.]()
Education + Training
Thanks to the success of our largest ever NYC Gaza 5K and our brand new Dallas Gaza 5K, we were able to provide UNRWA mental health services to over 89,000 conflict-affected children in Gaza.
Plus, we sustained support for over 100 university students across UNRWA’s fields of operation, including Gaza, where some 80% of our students continued their studies online in spite of their universities being destroyed, bombs falling constantly, and man made famine lurking around every corner. -
![Two children, a boy and a girl, sitting on an UNRWA aid box inside a refugee tent. They are smiling, with sandy ground beneath them, and some clothes hanging on the tent.]()
Emergency Response
Funds from UNRWA USA supporters provided UNRWA food parcels to over 237,000 people in Gaza – more than 10% of the population.
As war expanded into Lebanon and Syria, we supported UNRWA’s cash assistance operations in both countries. In Lebanon, this assistance served over 8,500 families in Lebanon, as well as more than 27,000 children who needed emergency shelter. In Syria, we supported another 1,000 families who had either been displaced from Lebanon, or from within Syria due to the sudden regime change.
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![A modern UNRWA building with white and blue exterior walls, multiple windows, and flags, surrounded by a concrete wall with orange and blue decorative accents, in an urban area with unfinished buildings and a cloudy sky.]()
Health
With your support in 2024, UNRWA USA was able to provide essential medications to over 45,000 people in the Gaza Strip, as well as help pay salaries for the UNRWA nurses who are still working ceaselessly to care for their fellow Palestinians.
In Syria, we provided the necessary funds to furnish and reopen the renovated Ein El Tal Health Centre just outside Aleppo.
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![A group of children and two women sitting on the floor inside a room with concrete walls, metal barred gate at the back, and scattered mattresses stored in an open space. One child is raising her hand, and the women appear to be engaging with the children in conversation.]()
Protection
In 2024, thanks to your help, we dramatically expanded our rights protection work, with a major focus on those displaced by military and settler violence in the northern West Bank.
Working through UNRWA’s Crisis Intervention Unit, your support enabled shelter repair and emergency rental assistance subsidies, as well as provided essential non-food items. Funds were also granted to continue services to women and children impacted by violence, and to enable a community-based organization serving people with disabilities to relocate and continue operating.Meanwhile in Syria, we provided shelter repair funds for families returning to Yarmouk camp in Damascus. And in Gaza, we provided livelihood assistance for the women artisans who have been the backbone of the Sulafa Embroidery Centre for many years.
Spotlight on Our Supporters
“As a Palestinian, I recognize the importance of UNRWA and the essential services it provides to millions of Palestinian refugees who have been displaced for generations. UNRWA helps uphold our community's dignity and resilience, offering a lifeline in the most difficult circumstances. Its work fosters hope and stability, ensuring that Palestinian refugees can access basic rights and opportunities despite ongoing challenges.”
—Ihan Atta
“Growing up in a refugee camp in Gaza, UNRWA was a crucial part of my life. My mother received her prenatal care at the local UNRWA clinic. As a student I went to UN run schools for my elementary and middle schools. I still carry the scars of the good old immunization shots on my upper arms and shoulders.
UNRWA symbolizes the dream of Palestinian refugees—to stay steadfast while keeping the right of return alive. UNRWA USA is an umbilical cord for UNRWA, keeping the support going.”
—Abe Ajrami
Narrative Transformation
With increasing misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda against UNRWA and Palestine refugees, UNRWA USA’s strategic communications and narrative transformation work became more important than ever.
Earned Media
UNRWA USA’s Executive Director, Mara Kronenfeld, and Senior Director of Philanthropy, Hani Almadhoun, were featured in more than 40 mainstream media interviews, news articles, and op-eds, helping to dispel false narratives and highlight UNRWA’s vital work.
Storytelling
The Children of UNRWA, World Refugee Day Virtual Event
To commemorate World Refugee Day, we hosted a virtual event with four members of the UNRWA USA Refugee Advisory Council (UURAC) to share their stories of how UNRWA shaped their upbringings in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon, and continues to be a part of their lives today.
The event featured a very special performance from Sol Band - their first since being evacuated from Gaza in April 2024.
Voices of UNRWA Blog:
In July, we launched an initiative to collect stories that illustrate the importance of UNRWA and the resilience of Palestine refugees. The initiative aims to share these stories in meaningful and diverse ways in order to show the American public why UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, is so necessary and to mobilize grassroots UNRWA USA advocates into action.
Launching UNRWA USA’s Storytelling Initiative
Relaunching
Let’s Talk UNRWA
speaker series
Check out Let’s Talk UNRWA Ep. 35: An American in Gaza with Scott Anderson (August 2024).
After a brief hiatus following the onset of hostilities in October 2023, we were able to relaunch our now quarterly speaker series with then-UNRWA’s Gaza Field Director, Scott Anderson, providing a critical look into UNRWA’s work in Gaza.
With Gratitude to Our 2024 Partners
give your way
Thanks for Making It All Possible
The past two years — October 2023 through December 2025 — have been the most devastating in our history and the darkest chapter for the Palestinian people. Together, we grieve the heartbreaking loss of hundreds of our UNRWA colleagues and the family members of our staff who were tragically killed in Gaza. We honor their memories by remaining steadfast in our commitment to the mission they so deeply believed in—a mission they upheld with everything they had, even their lives.
Any achievements in 2024 were hard-won and were marked by profound loss. None of what we detailed in this report would have been possible without the extraordinary people who make up our community and stand in solidarity with UNRWA USA.
thank you, Motaz Azaiza
To our dear Motaz, thank you for using your voice, your photos, and your platform to amplify our mission. You elevated our work to a whole new level, allowing us to reach and raise millions for Palestine refugees.
We are so grateful for your safety and for your partnership.
Thank you, Macklemore, Anees, and MC Abdul
To the genius artists Macklemore, Anees, and MC Abdul: thank you for using your creative brilliance and captivating artistry to elevate and amplify our mission and dazzle our audiences across the country.
You have reminded us what true solidarity in action feels like, using your skills and talents to serve Palestine refugees. We are so grateful for each of you.
Thank you to the UNRWA USA Refugee Advisory Council
To the brilliant, dedicated members of the UNRWA USA Refugee Advisory Council, thank you for sharing your stories, time, and hearts with us. You are the children of UNRWA, and you are our best advocates, helping us to show UNRWA’s long-term impacts.
We could not do this work without your leadership and support.
Thank you, Representatives Carson, Schakowsky, Jayapal and Senator Welch
To Representatives Carson, Schakowsky, Jayapal, and Senator Welch, thank you for being our champions on the Hill and leading the charge to restore US government funding to UNRWA.
Your moral clarity and principled leadership give us hope during these difficult times.
Thank you, UNRWA USA staff and consultants
To our incredible UNRWA USA team: thank you. You’re the ones who make it all happen. You continue to show up day after day with an unshakable drive to do the work and serve Palestine refugees. Even with heavy hearts, you turn ideas into action, plans into impact, and challenges into opportunities. We want to especially acknowledge and thank our Palestinian American staff, for whom this work is deeply personal. You work through the immense grief and trauma of witnessing the destruction of your families, homes, and lands, and yet you never stop showing up for your people.
We see you, we appreciate you, and we couldn’t do this without you.
Thank you, UNRWA USA board of directors
To our UNRWA USA Board of Directors: your principled leadership has been a beacon of strength during these challenging times. Your vision, strategic guidance, and steadfast commitment to our mission have been pivotal in addressing the immense and urgent needs of Palestine refugees. We are deeply grateful for your partnership, dedication, and the trust you place in our work, which continues to inspire and empower us to persevere.
Thank you, UNRWA USA community
To our amazing UNRWA USA interns, volunteers, advocates, community partners, and influencers, thank you for showing up, sharing your energy, and amplifying our message. You are the heartbeat of this movement, proving that solidarity is action, and together, we can make change.
To our UNRWA USA Solidarity Sustainers, donors, fundraisers, and everyone who stands with us, your generosity shows Palestine refugees that Americans care. We will continue our mission together until there is a just solution to their plight.
Thank you, UNRWA
To our implementing partner, UNRWA: you put the human in humanitarian. We honor and thank the tens of thousands of frontline UNRWA workers—teachers, doctors, nurses, and counselors, most of whom are refugees—who serve their communities in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Your courage and sacrifice in the face of the unimaginable are extraordinary. We are honored to stand with you, and we will continue to do everything we can to support your life-saving work. We honor the memories of the over 380 UNRWA staff who have been killed while serving their communities. Your legacies will not be forgotten, and we honor your memory in everything we do.
Thank you to the Almadhoun family
And finally, to Chef Mahmoud Almadhoun: we honor your memory and your legacy of showing up for your community and feeding thousands of people who are being unjustly starved. As one of the last men and humanitarians standing in northern Gaza delivering food aid, Chef Mahmoud remained unwavering in his determination to offer hope and support to his community. You showed the world through your family’s initiative, the Gaza Soup Kitchen, what Palestinian sumud truly means. We mourn your loss, and that of your beloved brother, Majed Almadhoun, and his family. We stand with our dear colleague Hani Almadhoun and the Almadhoun family in their grief. Your legacy of resilience and selfless service will forever inspire us.