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Children face unfathomable emergencies and chronic crises — from the war in Ukraine to drought in the Sahel — threatening their rights to grow up healthy, safe and hopeful. Donor support is crucial to UNICEF’s response across the globe.
From wars in Gaza and Ukraine to an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis in the Horn of Africa, the dangers facing the world's children keep coming.
UNICEF responds to hundreds of emergencies every year while helping children at every stage of their growth and development. Donor support is crucial to UNICEF's mission to create a world where every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected..
Donate to Children in Need
All children deserve to live safe and healthy lives. Your 100 percent tax-deductible donation to UNICEF USA helps uphold that right by helping to provide the most vulnerable children with the essentials every child needs — nutrition, water, protection, education, health care — to survive and thrive.
Donation options
Onetime donations
To scale ongoing program and partnership activities, UNICEF relies heavily on donor support. One-time donations are the bedrock of that support. In times of crisis, one-time donations help UNICEF reach the most vulnerable children during the acute phases of an emergency. One-time donations help UNICEF do that important work while continuing ongoing programs aimed at strengthening services and vital infrastructure children rely upon in good times and bad.
Monthly donations
When disaster strikes, children suffer the most. In some places, however, even times of relative stability can be hard on children and young people. Each day, for example, thousands of children under the age of 5 perish from preventable causes.
Safeguarding children before, during, and after a crisis requires a dependable funding source. UNICEF USA monthly donors provide just that.
Monthly donations help keep UNICEF agile and ready to respond when disaster strikes. With that steady stream of support, UNICEF can preposition supplies in areas prone to hurricanes and tropical storms. Monthly donations also fund long-term, sustainable solutions that can help countries and communities rebuild and bolster resilience to future crises.
Monthly donations also ensure UNICEF can provide equitable support to children who may be overlooked. Thanks to monthly contributions, children impacted by long-running emergencies that are no longer in the spotlight can still receive vital humanitarian aid.
Online donations
Making an online donation is a fast, easy way to support UNICEF’s work for children. Once you make an online donation, you will automatically receive email updates on the impact of your support. Though one particular emergency may have convinced you to support UNICEF, UNICEF USA’s UNICEF in Action features new stories every week about UNICEF’s work around the globe.
Mail-in donations
While online donations may be easiest for some donors, UNICEF USA gratefully accepts donations by mail. If you'd like to contribute by mail, please send a personal check to UNICEF USA, 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038.
More ways to donate to help children
Leadership Circle
Donations of any amount help make a lifesaving difference. But scaling lifesaving solutions requires significant investment.
Open to donors of $1,000 or more, UNICEF USA's Leadership Circle allows people to crowdfund innovative, life-changing projects.
The Leadership Circle has championed recent projects, such as health clinics for children impacted by humanitarian crises, cutting-edge technology for drilling wells in rural Guinea, and scholarships that save girls from early marriage.
Banding together with like-minded individuals to make a difference is a benefit for the Leadership Circle members. In recognition of their compassion and commitment, members also have access to exclusive UNICEF USA events and personal updates from the dedicated UNICEF USA Leadership Circle support team.
Donor-advised funds
Donations aren't the only way to support UNICEF. Many UNICEF USA supporters find donor-advised funds (DAFs) a flexible, tax-efficient alternative.
A DAF works like an investment account from which you can award yearly grants to IRS-approved 501(c)(3) charities. Funds accept such assets as cash, stocks, bonds and more, typically offering immediate tax deductions for those charitable contributions.
Numerous financial institutions offer DAFs, and donors can decide which organizations to support over time. In fact, clients of BNY Mellon, Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable can make DAF designations directly from UNICEF USA.
UNICEF USA Mercury Fund
Children require swift emergency assistance when wars break out, volcanoes erupt and hurricanes strike. UNICEF USA created the Mercury Fund to provide urgent lifesaving support.
The UNICEF USA Mercury Fund provides unrestricted grants for emergency preparedness. These funds allow UNICEF to scale up response efforts swiftly and efficiently. Donations to the Mercury Fund also help UNICEF invest in long-term solutions to mitigate risks and protect communities from future disasters.
How your donation helps children in need
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children's lives and defend their rights. UNICEF has helped save more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization.
However, UNICEF wants more for children than survival. Before, during and long after disaster strikes, UNICEF and partners provide programs designed to help every child fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
Children’s health
For more than 80 years, UNICEF has worked tirelessly to create a world in which no mothers, newborns, or children need die from preventable causes. UNICEF has made significant progress by collaborating with communities globally to provide ongoing essential care services, including nutrition and immunization programs for mothers and children. UNICEF also helps communities strengthen the water, sanitation, and hygiene services critical to children's health and the fight against disease.
However, when emergencies, like disease outbreaks, strike, UNICEF is there to provide humanitarian relief and treatment to children and families impacted. Long after the initial danger has passed, UNICEF continues to help children recover from the physical and mental health impacts. Strengthening the health systems they rely upon is also embedded in UNICEF's humanitarian response.
Join UNICEF USA and help even more children in need get the quality health care they need.
Children’s education
When children can't get to school, UNICEF brings education to them no matter where they are. Today, thanks to UNICEF's help, children can learn in tents in refugee camps, in schools, at home on the computer and nearly everywhere else using a parent's mobile phone.
Through innovation and partnership, UNICEF trains and supports teachers and provides the essentials every student needs to excell—from basics like books and learning materials to 21st-century digital tools.
In Malawi, desks and scholarships provided by the Kids In Need of Desks (K.I.ND.) Fund and UNICEF USA help students—especially girls—access opportunities many never dreamed possible. The Learning Passport, a free online, mobile and offline digital platform, ensures students worldwide learn despite crises. Developed by UNICEF, Microsoft and other partners in response to COVID-19's global education crisis, the Learning Passport now connects kids with lessons and teachers they can access anywhere.
With your support, UNICEF can continue this vital work and do even more to support every child's right to learn.
Donate to Children’s Education
Children’s protection
UNICEF collaborates with families, partners and governments to ensure that children can grow up free from fear, exploitation and abuse.
At UNICEF-supported Blue Dot centers, children living in conflict zones can play, learn and receive psychosocial support. In the chaos of war, UNICEF also helps children separated from their families reunite with their loved ones and caregivers.
Child marriage, trafficking and online predators are other dangers UNICEF works to combat. UNICEF also fights such harmful practices as female genital mutilation, a form of violence against young girls that can cause lifelong suffering.
Eradicating such practices and scaling up services in the communities where children live requires collaboration. Working with national and local governments, UNICEF spearheads global initiatives like the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI). Now rolling out in the U.S., CFCI is a partnership between UNICEF USA and local governments to make U.S. cities more just, equitable, and inclusive.
Take action for children today to give kids a safe, happy and hopeful childhood.
Donate to Children’s Protection
Respect for children
Children have the right to thrive and reach their full potential. They also have the right to be heard, considered and counted.
Upholding theserights is central to UNICEF's work to ensure respect for children and their viewpoints. UNICEF fights child labor and child marriage,violence and abuse and exclusion of children with disabilities. UNICEF also amplifies the voices of children and young people about such issues as climate change and supports their hopes, ambitions and efforts to improve their lives and secure their futures.
Join UNICEF and other children's advocates to help young people access information and opportunities to enact positive change for themselves and the world.
Donation FAQs & tax information
How do I make a donation?
Donate to UNICEF USA online or by mail. UNICEF accepts personal checks sent to 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038.
Can I specify how my donation is used?
The most efficient way to help UNICEF reach the most significant number of children is through unrestricted donations. Over eight decades, UNICEF has built networks, formed partnerships and perfected supply deliveries to get help where and when it’s needed. Flexible funding make that possible.
Unrestricted donations also ensure that UNICEF's global humanitarian warehouse is well-stocked with supplies, which can reach children in need anywhere in the world in under 72 hours.
To better understand what your donations can buy, shop the UNICEF Inspired Gifts collection. UNICEF Inspired Gifts are lifesaving supplies that UNICEF stocks and delivers to support children's survival, growth and development.
What portion of UNICEF USA's budget is spent helping children?
UNICEF USA has been awarded GuideStar's Platinum Seal of Transparency, the highest rating, in recognition of the honesty and visibility provided to supporters. UNICEF USA has also earned high marks for transparency and accountability from Charity Navigator.
UNICEF USA's program expense ratio of 89 percent means we are a highly efficient charity, as defined by independent monitors. For every dollar spent, 89 cents goes directly toward helping children; about 9 cents goes toward fundraising costs, and just under 2 cents is spent on administration. UNICEF USA's most recent tax forms are accessible online for easy viewing and downloading on our finance page.
Are my donations tax-deductible?
Yes, all donations made to UNICEF USA are 100 percent tax-deductible. You will receive a receipt for tax purposes for your records. For reference UNICEF USA's tax ID number is:
U.S. Fund for UNICEF d/b/a UNICEF USA
Our Federal Identification Number is 13-1760110.
The IRS letter confirming our 501(c)(3) status can be downloaded here in PDF format.
Can I donate goods or supplies instead of money?
UNICEF USA does not accept non-cash goods for donation due to logistical challenges. Monetary donations are the most efficient way to assist, allowing for most efficient and speedy procurement and delivery. To learn more about the supplies UNICEF delivers to children worldwide, browse UNICEF USA's Inspired Gifts collection.
How does UNICEF measure the effectiveness of its programs?
UNICEF employs rigorous monitoring and evaluation processes to assess the impact of its programs. Through data collection, assessments and engagement with the communities it serves, UNICEF ensures that interventions achieve the maximum outcomes for the most significant number of children.
How can I get involved beyond making a financial donation?
Making financial contributions isn't the only way to support UNICEF's work. Educating yourself about child rights is another way to make a difference and inspire others to do the same.
Working in your community is an excellent place to start. Advocate for children's rights by raising awareness of the challenges facing children worldwide. UNICEF USA's Action Center is an easy-to-use vehicle for voicing opinions to lawmakers and supporting child-friendly legislation.
Joining UNICEF Clubs can connect you with like-minded individuals and amplify your impact. Consider fundraising by participating in UNICEF USA events or organizing your charity initiatives.
To explore a career, job or internship, check out the internship or employment opportunities with UNICEF USA.
How can I get in touch with UNICEF USA if I have further questions or concerns?
If you have further questions or concerns, contact UNICEF USA via email, by calling 1-800-FOR-KIDS (1-800-367-5437), or by contacting us at 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038. Our donor support team can assist and help provide information regarding UNICEF programs, donations or other inquiries.