American Friends of Magen David Adom reported $142.3 million in revenue and $105.8 million in expenses in FY2024, with 87% reaching programs. CEO Catherine Reed earned $413,156. Here's where the money for Israel's ambulances and blood banking goes.
American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) reported $142,280,773 in total revenue and $105,801,783 in total expenses for fiscal year 2024, according to its Form 990 filed with the IRS on September 18, 2025. Net assets stood at $271,824,254, and 87 percent of spending, $92.5 million, reached programs.
What Is American Friends of Magen David Adom?
American Friends of Magen David Adom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 13-1790719) founded in 1940 and tax-exempt since August 1972, headquartered in New York. It is the U.S. fundraising and advocacy arm for Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national, government-designated emergency medical, disaster-relief, and blood-services organization and the country's representative to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
AFMDA does not itself run ambulances or clinics. It raises donations in the United States and uses them to fund ambulances, medical equipment, blood-bank infrastructure, and training for MDA in Israel, according to AFMDA's own audited financial statements. MDA operates roughly 2,000 vehicles from 198 EMS stations, treats more than 600,000 sick and injured Israelis a year, and processes 97% of the blood supply used by Israeli hospitals and all of the blood used by the IDF, per MDA's public program statistics.
Catherine R. Reed has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2021 or 2022, after previously serving as Chief Development Officer. She succeeded David M. Frankel, who was CEO through 2021.
What Does AFMDA's Form 990 Show for FY2024?
AFMDA's fiscal year 2024 Form 990, filed September 18, 2025 and hosted on ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, reports $142,280,773 in revenue against $105,801,783 in expenses, a net gain of $36,478,990 for the year.
| Metric | FY2024 |
|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $142,280,773 |
| Total Expenses | $105,801,783 |
| Program Services (expense) | $92.5M (87%) |
| Management & General | $6.1M (6%) |
| Fundraising | $7.2M (7%) |
| Total Assets | $371,099,401 |
| Total Liabilities | $99,275,147 |
| Net Assets | $271,824,254 |
| Voting Board Members | 23 (all independent) |
| Charity Navigator Rating | 4 stars |
| EIN | 13-1790719 |
Source: American Friends of Magen David Adom, Form 990 filings hosted by ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, filed September 18, 2025.
Where Does AFMDA's Revenue Come From?
Contributions supplied 91.3 percent of AFMDA's FY2024 revenue, with investment income making up most of the remainder.
| Revenue Source | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Contributions | $129,887,376 | 91.3% |
| Investment Income | $15,544,200 | 10.9% |
| Sales of Assets | $487,862 | 0.3% |
| Net Fundraising | -$3,645,470 | n/a |
| Other Revenue | $6,805 | 0.0% |
Revenue fell from fiscal year 2023's $288,511,110, when contributions alone made up 99.4% of revenue amid a surge in post-October 7 emergency giving. Revenue in fiscal 2022, the last full pre-war year, was $49,099,260, so FY2024 revenue remained nearly three times pre-war levels even as the initial surge receded.
What Does AFMDA's $92.5 Million in Program Spending Fund?
AFMDA's own audited statements describe its core activity as directly funding hard assets for MDA: ambulances, mobile intensive care units, first-responder motorcycles, armored ambulances, bloodmobiles, and blood-bank infrastructure, plus medical supplies used daily by MDA's EMS division.
Notable capital projects funded by AFMDA include the completion, in 2022, of the world's first underground and shielded blood bank in Israel. Construction began in 2017, and the facility can process more than 500,000 units of blood annually, designed to protect the blood supply from a terrorist attack, war, or earthquake, according to AFMDA's Form 990 program narrative.
AFMDA typically sponsors between 75 and 100 ambulances a year. In 2023, following the October 7 attacks, it sponsored 406 ambulances, roughly four to five times the normal pace, according to AFMDA program reporting cited by The Jewish News.
What Was AFMDA's Response to October 7?
In November 2023, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged nearly $44 million to AFMDA and matched contributions raised through his own donor appeal, bringing the combined gift to approximately $88 million, the largest single gift in AFMDA's history, according to AFMDA's own announcement.
AFMDA also shipped ambulances and intensive care vehicles directly from a factory in Elkhart, Indiana, to Israel in the weeks after October 7, and has since dedicated individual ambulances in memory of MDA medics killed in the attacks, including 19-year-old paramedic Lior Levy.
How Much Do AFMDA's Top Executives Earn?
Chief Executive Officer Catherine R. Reed received $413,156 in reportable compensation and $69,043 in other compensation in fiscal year 2024, according to AFMDA's Form 990.
| Executive | Reportable Compensation | Other Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Catherine R. Reed, Chief Executive Officer | $413,156 | $69,043 |
| Tamara H. Karu, Sr. Dir./National Dir. of Strategic Philanthropy | $359,787 | $54,088 |
| Lisa Marchitelli, Chief Administrative Officer | $274,910 | $36,976 |
| Sam Konig, Director of Strategic Philanthropy | $246,156 | $52,287 |
| Janet Morgan, Director of Strategic Philanthropy | $239,243 | $30,747 |
| Richard Zelin, Midwest Regional Director | $235,691 | $31,817 |
| Marilyn Emas, Director, Estate & Planned Giving | $203,230 | $13,235 |
| Jessica Nessim, Director of Major Gifts | $202,850 | $63,705 |
Board chairman Mark Lebow and the rest of AFMDA's 23-member volunteer board received no compensation. Other board officers include Vice Chairs Daniel Dobin, Gershon W. Trimpol, and Kurt Schwartz; Secretary Barry Feldman; Treasurer Neil Fox; Audit Chair Isaac Pretter; and Development Chair Robert Picow.
How Large Are AFMDA's Cash Reserves?
AFMDA's highly liquid reserves stood at approximately $329.5 million against $105.8 million in annual operating expenses, an estimated 38.6 months of operating runway. That is among the more conservative reserve postures of the major American Israel-focused charities, meaning AFMDA holds proportionally more cash relative to its yearly spending than several peer organizations.
Net assets have grown steadily through the war years: $33.1 million at the end of FY2022, $233.7 million at the end of FY2023 following the October 7 giving surge, and $271.8 million at the end of FY2024. Total liabilities were $99.3 million in FY2024, up from $88.7 million a year earlier.
Does AFMDA Have a Charity Evaluator Rating?
AFMDA holds a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. CharityWatch, a separate independent charity evaluator, does not issue AFMDA a numeric rating because of how the organization is structured: AFMDA engages in significant financial transactions with a related organization outside the U.S. (MDA in Israel), and sufficient audited financial information on a combined, U.S.-standards basis is not available. This is a structural note about disclosure format, not a finding of wrongdoing, according to CharityWatch's published methodology.
Questions for AFMDA
Olam identified these unresolved governance and disclosure questions in AFMDA's public filings and evaluator reports. AFMDA has not yet been asked these questions directly, and this section will be updated if AFMDA responds after publication.
Why aren't AFMDA's financials published on a combined basis with MDA Israel?
CharityWatch says it cannot rate AFMDA specifically because sufficient audited financial information on a combined, U.S.-GAAP-equivalent basis with MDA is not publicly available. Would AFMDA support publishing combined financials to let independent evaluators assess the full pipeline of funds?
Who sits on AFMDA's full 23-member board?
AFMDA's Form 990 names its officers, Mark Lebow, Daniel Dobin, Gershon W. Trimpol, Kurt Schwartz, Barry Feldman, Neil Fox, Isaac Pretter, and Robert Picow, plus a partial list of other directors. A complete, plainly published board roster would let donors independently verify governance and any related-party relationships.
What board process governs major capital commitments?
AFMDA's underground, shielded blood bank took five years, 2017 to 2022, to build. What approval and oversight process applies to comparably sized future capital projects funded by U.S. donor dollars?
Against what peer set is executive compensation benchmarked?
AFMDA's Form 990 states that CEO and top-official compensation is independently reviewed. AFMDA has not publicly disclosed the comparability data or peer organizations used in that review.
Related Charity Financial Audits
For comparable audit-based financial profiles of other major Israel-focused philanthropies, see Olam's UJA-Federation of New York financial profile, covering its $275.8 million in FY2025 grants, and Olam's FIDF financial profile, covering Friends of the Israel Defense Forces' $139 million in annual program grants.
Frequently Asked Questions About AFMDA
What is AFMDA?
American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 13-1790719), founded in 1940, that raises funds in the United States to support Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency medical, blood-services, and disaster-relief organization.
How much money does AFMDA raise?
In fiscal year 2024, AFMDA reported $142,280,773 in total revenue, down from $288,511,110 in fiscal year 2023, the peak post-October 7 giving year, and up from $49,099,260 in fiscal year 2022, the last full pre-war year.
How much of AFMDA's spending reaches programs?
87% of AFMDA's FY2024 expenses, or $92.5 million, were classified as program services. Management and general expenses were 6% ($6.1 million) and fundraising was 7% ($7.2 million).
Is AFMDA a legitimate charity?
Yes. AFMDA holds a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. CharityWatch does not issue it a numeric rating, citing the structural difficulty of evaluating cross-border grantmaking to a foreign affiliate, MDA in Israel, rather than any specific finding against AFMDA.
How much does AFMDA's CEO earn?
Catherine R. Reed, Chief Executive Officer, received $413,156 in reportable compensation and $69,043 in other compensation in fiscal year 2024, per AFMDA's Form 990.
What is AFMDA's EIN?
13-1790719. AFMDA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and donations are tax-deductible.
Sources
Financial figures are drawn from American Friends of Magen David Adom's Form 990 filings hosted by ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, filed September 18, 2025, and from AFMDA's audited financial statements. Background on AFMDA's history, programs, and the Bloomberg gift draws on AFMDA's own press releases, The Jewish News, The Media Line, and CharityWatch's and Charity Navigator's public evaluator profiles.