Physical Health Netherlands Project #59579

Give Patients with Blood Cancer a Second Chance!

by World Marrow Donor Association

Project Report | Sep 4, 2026
(Y)our impact in 2025

By Rhian Voskamp | Community Relations Manager

(Y)our Impact in 2025

Every year, thousands of patients around the world rely on an unrelated voluntary blood stem cell donor for a potentially life-saving stem cell transplant. Making these transplants possible requires a global network built on trust, quality standards, shared data, and international collaboration.

Thanks to your support, WMDA is at the heart of this global network. Your generosity enables us to connect the global transplant community, improve donor safety, strengthen quality standards, and help more patients access the treatment they need. We are pleased to share a snapshot of the impact you helped create in 2025.

Together with our members and your support, we:

Supported patients and donors across 57 countries
Strengthened a network of more than 44.3 million registered volunteer stem cell donors
Welcomed 1.9 million new unrelated donors
Increased the proportion of donors under 35 by 2%
Hosted 21,000 new cord blood units and 368 cryopreserved adult donor units
Enabled international access, with 49% of unrelated transplants using an international donor
Reached 66% high-resolution donor typing
Ensured quality with 90% of donors being registered with WMDA-certified organisations
Reduced disparities with 7 WMDA grants gifted to healthcare professionals in Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Tunisia.

With your help, we also advanced important innovations across the global transplant community. We further developed and tested Match-Connect ahead of its worldwide rollout in 2026, expanded guidance on donation and genetic testing and launched a global Courier Company Certification Programme to strengthen the safe transport of lifesaving stem cell products.

Most importantly, your support meant that 35,000 patients received the stem cells needed to make a transplant possible and gave hope to their family and friends.

We are deeply grateful for your support. Thank you for giving more patients the chance of a future with their families.

Read more about (Y)our Impact in 2025 on our website.

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Jun 10, 2026
Turning Shared Data into Lifesaving Insight

By Rhian Voskamp | Community Relations Manager

International Exchange Saving Lives

WMDA's Global Trends Report

Thanks to your support, something very powerful is happening behind the scenes of stem cell donation worldwide. Every day, WMDA members, registries and cord blood banks across the globe, carefully collect and share data about their work. It might sound technical, but this shared effort is one of the most important ways we improve the chances of patients finding a lifesaving match.

For nearly 30 years, this collaboration has made it possible to produce WMDA's Global Trends Report, the world’s most comprehensive overview of unrelated stem cell donor activity. First launched in 1997, the report brings together information from across the globe to show how donation and transplantation are evolving, where improvements are needed, and how we can better serve patients everywhere.

A truly global effort

The latest report (2025) includes data from 103 organizations in 61 countries, an incredible example of international cooperation. Even beyond WMDA members, organizations choose to take part, with a 94% response rate, showing just how valuable this shared knowledge has become.

Behind these numbers are dedicated teams investing time and expertise to ensure their data is accurate and meaningful. WMDA also dedicates significant effort to analyzing and bringing all this information together into one clear global picture.

Why this matters?

While the report itself doesn’t directly treat patients, its impact reaches them in very real ways.

By combining and analyzing global data, WMDA and its members can:

Improve donor availability and speed, helping patients receive transplants faster
Identify challenges early, so solutions can be developed before they affect outcomes
Strengthen quality and safety, ensuring the donation process remains safe for donors and effective for patients
Support smarter strategies, from recruiting donors to improving transplant procedures
Highlight global inequalities, helping the community work toward better access in underrepresented regions

The report also plays a key role in setting global performance standards (KPIs) and supporting research, policy decisions, and international collaboration.

Built together, used worldwide

What makes the Global Trends Report so special is that it is created by the community, for the community. Every participating registry contributes a piece of the puzzle. Together, those pieces form a powerful tool that helps improve the entire global donor system.

This means your support is not just helping one patient or one country. It is helping to strengthen the entire worldwide network that connects donors and patients.

Your impact

As a financial contributor to our cause, you are enabling this essential work to continue. You are helping ensure that:

Data can be collected, analysed, and shared globally
Registries can learn from each other and improve
The system becomes faster, fairer, and more effective

Ultimately, you are helping to increase the chances that every patient, no matter where they live, can find the match they need.

And for those considering a donation: your contribution supports something bigger than any single program. It helps power a global collaboration that continuously improves how stem cell transplants save lives.

Together, through shared knowledge and collective effort, we are making the world of stem cell donation stronger, one insight at a time.

Links:

Global Trends Report 2025 Summary Slides

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Mar 30, 2026
Because of You: Second Chances Around the World

By Rhian Voskamp | Community Relations Manager

WMDA Committees working on new solutions

At WMDA, our vision is clear: a world where every patient has access to life-saving cellular therapies, and where every donor’s rights, safety, and wellbeing are fully protected. Achieving this vision requires global collaboration and your support makes it possible.

Through your generous contributions via GlobalGiving, you are directly powering a worldwide network of experts, volunteers, and innovators. Last week, our global community came together in Madrid to strengthen our shared commitment and accelerate progress towards faster, safer, and more equitable transplants.

The following key initiatives are making a real impact and continue to grow thanks to your support:

1. Global Search & Match Service

Your support sustains and advances WMDA’s global database of voluntary stem cell donors and cord blood units. This critical platform allows transplant centers worldwide to identify the best possible match for patients, within seconds.

By investing in cutting-edge science and technology, you help ensure that:

Searches are faster and more precise
Patients have a higher chance of finding a suitable donor

2. Match-Connect: Transforming Global Coordination

Finding a donor is only the first step. Coordinating across borders has historically been slow and complex.

Thanks to your funding, Match-Connect is:

Replacing outdated paperwork with streamlined digital systems
Standardising international processes
Dramatically reducing the time from donor selection to transplant

This innovation is revolutionising how the global transplant community works together.

3. Donor Recruitment & Retention

A strong and diverse donor pool is essential. Your contributions help:

Share global best practices between countries at different stages of development
Support recruitment strategies tailored to local communities
Encourage donors to remain committed and more likely to say "Yes" when selected

This ensures more patients can find a suitable donor that says Yes when it really matters!

4. Donor Care & Protection

Donors are at the heart of everything we do. Your support enables:

Long-term follow-up (up to 10 years) to monitor donor health
Development of international donor safety guidelines
Protection of both physical and mental wellbeing

Without healthy, supported donors, there are no second chances for patients. Your funding safeguards this vital foundation.

5. Regional Initiatives: Addressing Local Needs

Global solutions must reflect local realities. Your donations help us:

Address cultural, economic, and linguistic barriers
Facilitate region-specific collaboration and knowledge sharing

At our recent international meeting, a dedicated focus on Latin America brought regional leaders together to discuss challenges and opportunities in their own language, strengthening impact where it is needed most.

6. Cord Blood: Expanding Treatment Possibilities

Cord blood is a powerful and rapidly accessible source of stem cells.

With your support, we:

Advance its use in both transplants and emerging therapies
Enable rapid delivery for patients in urgent need

This life-saving resource continues to open new doors for treatment and recovery.

Your generosity does more than fund projects, it transforms lives!

Because of you:

Patients find matches faster
Transplants happen sooner
Donors are protected and supported
Global systems become more equitable and efficient

It truly takes a world to make this happen and you are an essential part of it.

On behalf of the global WMDA community, the patients we serve, and the donors we protect:
Thank you for your continued trust, commitment, and support.

WMDA Volunteers learning together

WMDA Volunteers sharing best practices

Receiving awards for donor recruitment

Our WMDA office team

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