$70K in expenses

Non-equipment based support forms a major component of GBF's overall package of charitable activity. GBF worked with a new partner in ghana - village of hope - to equip a new blood bank in their hospital facility. All equipment needed and a supply of consumables were procured on their behalf. Enriching the narrative around the power of blood to save and change lives is an effective way to engage the public and increase participation in blood donation activity. To this end, GBF ran two 'story contests' over the period, in nigeria and namibia. Building on earlier successes, the approach has evolved from soliciting written testimonials to excouraging audio and video contributions, which are mope easily shared and impactful on social media platforms. Through agreement with hema-quebec in canada, a version of their video '130-for-1' was recaptioned and donated for use in namibia. Scoping took place of a program to excourage c-suite staff in us-based blood organizations to visit africa to better understand global dispartities and become more engaged and empowered to effect change. The program did not launch but is under review for future introduction.

$44K in expenses

RE-HOMING OF DISPLACED EQUIPMENT RETAINED ITS STATUS AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PROGRAMS. GBF OWNS AND MANAGES 'EqXCHANGE', A CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM ENABLING BLOOD SERVICES WORLDWIDE TO LIST EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE FOR DONATION. THIS TYPICALLY BECOMES AVAILABLE WHERE ITEMS ARE DISPLACED AS A CONSEQUENCE OF ROUTINE UPGRADE PROGRAMS, LEAVING STILL-SERVICEABLE EQUIPMENT SURPLUS TO LOCAL REQUIREMENTS. ONCE A MATCH IS MADE BETWEEN DONOR AND RECIPIENT, GBF MANAGES AND RESOURCES THE LOGISTICS OF RE-HOMING. DONATIONS MOSTLY COME FROM THE US AND EUROPE. RECIPIENTS ARE TYPICALLY BLOOD SERVICES IN AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA, AND ASIA. AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED, WORK WAS COMPLETED ON BUILDING NEW FUNCTIONALITY INTO THE PLATFORM IN ORDER TO BETTER ENGAGE WITH LARGER, MORE COMPLEX ENTITTIES. EXAMPLES OF 2024/25 ACTIVITY INCLUDE 118 HF400 BLOOD MIXURES SENT TO EL SALVADOR, CENTRIFUGES AND DONOR BEDS TO MEXICO AND A CONTAINER OF 13,000 'BLOOD DONOR'-BRANDED GARMENTS SENT TO GHANA.

$35K in expenses

The mentoring program launched last year is designed to leverage the knowledge and skills of seasoned blood banking professionals in the us and europe, to help professional counterparts in low-hdi settings. The pilot had some success but ran up against the issue of limited c-suite support for something seen as non-core by the employing organizations of potential mentors. A variation was adopted whereby the target mentors were retired or soon-to-be-retired personnel. These individuals are felt more likely to have the time and also motivation not to let their liftime of skills and knowledge atrophy. Importantly, employers should welcome the duty-of-care opportunity to assist members of their team exiting the organization to prepare for retirement. The contract with 'together' - a commercial platform - was allowed to lapse as it was perceived to add limited value. GBF continues to promote its online training course focused on donor recruitment, retention and management. This remote learning initiative offers six hours/12 modules of free video content. Several hundred enrollees have now completed the program and it continues to attract significant interest and engagement and widespread approbation from the international blood banking community.

$17K in expenses

MUCH OF GBF'S ACTIVITY RELATES TO ITS ABILITY TO CREATE AND GALVANIZE NETWORKS IN THE US, EUROPE, AND AUSTRALASIA (NATIONAL AND REGIONAL BLOOD SERVICES, INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS, REGULATORY BODIES ETC.) TO ASSIST DEVELOPING-WORLD BLOOD COLLECTION ORGANIZATIONS. WORKING BOTH DIRECTLY AND THROUGH PAN-NATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS, GBF IS ABLE TO ASSEMBLE MULTI-AGENCY COLLABORATIONS, WITH OBJECTIVES AND CONFIGURATIONS DIFFERING BY PROJECT. OVER THE PERIOD, CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS WERE NURTURED WITH AfSBT (AFRICA SOCIETY FOR BLOOD TRANSFUSION), ISBT (INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR BLOOD TRANSFUSION), COBA (COALITION OF BLOOD FOR AFRICA), AABB (ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF BLOOD AND BIOTHERAPIES), ADRP (ASSOCIATION OF BLOOD DONOR PROFESSIONALS), GCIAMT (GRUPO COOPERATIVO IBEROAMERICANO DE MEDICINA TRANSFUSIONAL), ETC. IN MARCH 2024 AN MOU WAS SIGNED WITH AABB, FORMALLY EXTENDING AND RECOMMITTING TO THE EXISTING PARTNERSHIP. IN FEBRUARY 2025 THE GBF BOARD WAS STRENGTHENED THROUGH THE ADDITION OF A DIRECTOR REPRESENTING TERUMO BCT, A MAJOR INDUSTRY SUPPLIER. THIS ILLUSTRATES THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO CREATE A VALUE-ADDING CONFLUENCE OF PARTNERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE AND IS AN APPROACH UPON WHICH THE CHARITY WILL TRY TO BUILD IN THE FUTURE.

$9K in expenses

A traditional mainstay of GBF's fundraising approach has been the "open arms" program, which gives blood centers across the u.s. And in other parts of the world an opportunity to offer their blood donors a charitable alternative to the usual recognition items of printed t-shirts, etc. This program creates a virtuous circle of activity such as improving donor choice, motivating collection staff, saving blood centers money, providing a diversity platform to encourage blood donation from minority communities and providing resources for international development work in an area of interest to all parties. However, participation has waned as blood center become more self-directed in their use of charitable funding. This has increased reliance on external donations, primarily from organizations involved in the blood banking ecosystem. The launch last year of 'friends of global blood fund' was designed. Through forward commitment, to bring more certainty to this income stream. But there is seemingly a reluctance - sometimes following legal advice - to commit to such future donations, and so the challenge of accurate budgeting in such circumstances remains. A number of applications were made for grants to fund scoped projects, but none were successful. The text-to-give service, long used by GBF, closed during the period, depriving the charity of future revenues through this channel. GBF engaged in two rounds of crowdfunding to resource its commitments to village of hope and to manage the logistics of getting the garment donation to ghana. This was successful and will become a more routine part of the fundraising mix in the future. GBF is the designated beneficiary of a percentage of revenues from other initiatives; namely revivr, donable and mission market. Funding from these streams is modest at present, but will grow as and when these projects become more established. GBF held a t-shirt design contest, with the winning design being used on a garment that was then offered for sale. This raised modest additional funds.