Global Blood Fund

There are huge inequalities in the availability and safety of blood between rich world and poor, leading to widespread illness and loss of life in countries where the blood supply is not managed effectively.

With a focus on low-income countries, Global Blood Fund (GBF) works to reduce these inequalities so that the highest levels of blood safety and sufficiency are enjoyed by all of the world's citizens. After all, blood is given by others in the community and so – unlike many other resources, where availability correlates strongly with wealth – blood need not be in short supply simply because a country is relatively poor.

GBF does this by:

1. Encouraging a shift from (unsafe) paid and replacement donation to blood services accepting blood only from voluntary, non-remunerated donors. It is widely recognized that ensuring an adequate pool of voluntary, non-remunerated donors is the most effective and cost-efficient way to improve a nation’s blood supply

2. Ensuring that blood collection staff are adequately and appropriately trained, especially in issues relating to customer service and donor management

3. Providing necessary tools and equipment, especially items that facilitate collection and improve the donation experience.

4. Enabling blood donor communications and management; helping with recruitment, retention and donation frequency.

Collecting human blood for transfusion is a global activity. Every country has a blood collection organization serving the needs of its hospitals/patients and the activities of each service are 80% the same.

This makes it possible to harness the intellectual and financial resources of the leading players of the international blood banking community – as well as the millions of regular blood donors in the US and Europe - to help those lacking the necessary tools and expertize and where citizens are not, historically, culturally engaged with voluntary donation.

Specifically, GBF activity aims to:

1. Create an engaged and supportive global blood donor community

GBF communicates to donors, In particular in the US and Europe, the perilous state of blood collection services in low income countries. Support is harnessed primarily through GBF’s “Open Arms” program. Open Arms allows blood collectors to incorporate GBF support as part of their donor recognition strategy: the donor chooses – instead of taking, say, the more traditional T-shirt – that the center makes a small financial donation to GBF on their behalf. GBF then uses this money to fund its activities.

2. Facilitate industry collaboration

GBF engages all industry players in a global effort to support struggling blood collectors. We work with professional bodies, manufacturers, blood centers and expert individuals. Collectively, we are able to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and resources.

3. Provide direct assistance

GBF provides direct support to help struggling blood collectors. Typically this is of a “grass roots” nature – usually a few hundreds or thousands of dollars – to provide, for example, computer equipment or donor recruitment resources. In order to ensure cost-effective support, this is usually offered remotely, with validation of need and post-donation assurance being provided by local partners.

4. Provide indirect support

Industry collaboration needs to be channelled and GBF provides a conduit that enables this. For example our EqXchange portal allows blood services worldwide to list surplus equipment and for this to be viewed by blood banks in Africa, Latin America etc. These organizations can also list their requirements for consideration.

As well as equipment, the portal allows individuals and organizations to offer and request technical support from expert practitioners; delivered in-country or hosting delegation in the US or Europe.

Capabilities are several-fold:

GBF is unique in that it is a charitable entity with an exclusive focus on blood banking issues in all low (and occasionally middle) income countries, and relies not on governmental agencies and international aid programs but enlists industry and donor support. The “proposition” is therefore unique.

The Board and Executive are seasoned blood banking professionals, with – variously – clinical, donor management, administrative and international development expertise.

GBF has an extensive network of contacts throughout the international blood banking community; with both for-profits and not-for-profits. It is able to leverage these relationships for the common good.

From modest progress to as recently as 2012, GBF engaged new leadership and re-invigorated its strategy and operations. As a consequence, we are gradually building a financial base – and pipeline of support – that will enable us, we believe, to become a significant global charity within 5 years.

GBF has grown several-fold in the past 18 months and made progress against all its KPIs.

1. Sustainability

GBF now has c.12 Open Arms partners, with others set to join in the near future. The majority of these have yet to operationalize their involvement, indicating a healthy future revenue stream and a trajectory of significant growth.

However, this has to be read in context against the enormity of the global problem the charity is dedicated to resolve. Current resources are grossly inadequate. That said, the United States – with c.12 million blood donors – offers significant opportunity. If GBF can, through the Open Arms program, successfully engage even a small percentage to give a few dollars a year then significant support will become available. In the meantime though – as we negotiate a transition period – the majority of GBF’s funding derives from the generosity of foundation, industry and other benefactors.

2. Charitable Support

GBF has proving a wide range of support to blood services in several continents. For example the charity funded a new-TV spot to recruit blood donors in Haiti; purchased technical manuals for blood services across Latin America; supplied two bloodmobiles to increase collections in Mexico; funded recruitment training in Eastern Europe and purchased computer equipment for a blood collector in Kenya.

The launch of the EqXchange (Equipment Exchange) portal in October 2013 has proven a considerable success, with senior representatives of many blood services registering – as donors and potential recipients – and considerable quantities of equipment (from blood services in the US, Canada and Europe) being offered. The value of such donations is generally far in excess of the cost of the transport costs involved in rehoming. For example the ratio of cost to (used) value of portable donation beds recently donated by the UK to the national blood collector in Cambodia was 1:20.

3. Engagement

GBF is growing its network of collaborators both within the blood banking industry (e.g. AABB) and outside of it (e.g. Rotary International). This enables the charity to provide significant indirect support, with its direct programs being augmented by the ability to engage the right people at the right time to address particular issues. For example, in partnership with the African Society for Blood Transfusion, GBF is to run in early 2014 a pan-Africa competition to generate donor and patient stories and images. This will help engage other partners and provide a valuable narrative resource that will help engage stakeholders and recruit more donors across that continent.

GBF staff also took the platform at a number of international blood banking forums during 2013, including events in England, Scotland, Holland and several conferences in the US. Such activity helps to increase awareness, understanding and engagement with the blood banking issues experienced by developing blood services .