United Hatzalah has become one of the best-known names in Jewish philanthropy, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from American donors to support lifesaving work in Israel. One detail, however, has received little public attention. The person formally responsible for the U.S. operation, Michael Littenberg-Brown, resides not in the United States but in Geneva, Switzerland.
Brown is described in United Hatzalah materials as the CEO of United Hatzalah International, and he is also the officer who signs the organization’s U.S. Form 990 filings on behalf of Friends of United Hatzalah, EIN 20-5395832. That role makes him the official representative before the IRS, with legal responsibility for the accuracy of the organization’s American filings. Swiss commercial registry records list him on the executive committee of United Hatzalah Switzerland (UID: CHE-278.177.157), a Geneva-based entity where he holds individual signing authority. In Israel, the association is registered as ע"ר 580465979, its formal amuta number.
The fact of Brown’s residence abroad is not speculative. Four separate sources confirm that he lives in Switzerland, where he is formally connected to the Geneva-registered entity. This means the executive who signs U.S. filings and is tasked with oversight of the American nonprofit’s finances is based outside the country.
This arrangement is not illegal. U.S. nonprofits are permitted to have officers abroad. The question is one of efficiency and governance. How effectively can a U.S. organization be managed when its top officer resides overseas? Donors may reasonably wonder who provides daily accountability in the United States when the leadership is geographically distant.
Transparency raises further concerns. U.S. Form 990s are publicly available and Israeli filings can be accessed through the Registrar of Amutot. In Switzerland, by contrast, nonprofits are not required to disclose the same level of financial detail. That lack of public reporting invites fair questions: Is there a financial relationship between the U.S. entity and the Swiss entity? Do American donations ever pass through Geneva before reaching Israel? And more broadly, was Switzerland chosen in part because of its looser disclosure rules?
At the same time, questions already abound regarding United Hatzalah’s fundraising and potential discrepancies between reported figures in the U.S., Israel, and donor-facing campaigns. The Geneva connection adds another layer of complexity to those concerns.
No wrongdoing is alleged. The issues raised are about transparency, governance, and donor confidence. When hundreds of millions of dollars are raised from American donors each year, it is fair to ask whether the structure in place ensures that funds are managed with the highest possible clarity, and why part of the operation is headquartered in a jurisdiction where financial disclosure is limited.
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More: United Hatzalah: The Full InvestigationUH’s Swiss registration.
Try to clarify that United Hatzalah (Eli Beer) has ZERO affiliation with the Hatzalah's in the United States.
They mega fundraise in the US and confuse the donors who often think they are giving to their local branch....