Collaboration

All current fundraising activities of the Matchis Foundation are placed with the Matchis Stem Cell Donation Fund. The Fund is an independent foundation with its own board. All proceeds go entirely to the Matchis Foundation. 

The goal of the Matchis Stem Cell Donation Fund is to further expand the fundraising activities that have been carried out by the Matchis Foundation for several years and to increase income. The collected funds are used entirely for the recruitment activities of new stem cell donors. A wide range of resources are used to raise funds.

Sanquin is a not-for-profit organization that provides the blood supply in the Netherlands. It is able to do this thanks to the hundreds of thousands of donors who voluntarily give blood. More than 25,000 lives are saved every year with their blood! In addition, Sanquin produces medicines from plasma, makes blood group and immune reagents, conducts scientific and diagnostic research and provides education. 

We work together with Sanquin for the registration of platelet donors (thrombocyte donors) and our expertise is used to facilitate the match for this for blood bank physicians

We work closely with the eight Dutch University Hospitals that are licensed to perform a stem cell transplant with an unrelated donor.

The World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) supports the exchange of blood stem cell products for transplantation worldwide. The WMDA stimulates international cooperation and represents the interests of donors. In order to streamline international cooperation, the WMDA operates in working groups and committees that deal with medical aspects, logistics, quality, accreditation, ethics, finance and IT.

Tasks of the WMDA are:

• Publishing annual reports on the activities of all participating stem cell donor banks and umbilical cord blood banks.
• Publiceren over donorveiligheid en ethiek in de internationale vakliteratuur.
• Publishing on donor safety and ethics in international professional literature.
• Developing guidelines and forms for stem cell donor banks, for the purpose of international uniformity and quality control.
• Implementing uniform HLA terminology for communication between the various stem cell donor banks.
• Developing an accreditation program for organizations that recruit and register blood stem cell donors and accrediting such stem cell donor banks
• Organizing forums where international developments in the field of blood stem cell transplantation are discussed

Furthermore, the WMDA manages the international donor / CBU database WMDA Search and Match. This database contains all current tissue typings and other relevant data of potential stem cell donors and umbilical cord blood units anonymously registered. 

The database was started in 1988 under the name BMDW and is now consulted worldwide via the WMDA website. More than 450 transplant centers have access to the database and the other services that WMDA offers. Every day, physicians and employees of the transplant centers search the WMDA database hundreds of times for a suitable donor for their patients.

Hematon is the patient organization for patients with a hematological-oncological condition and/or people who have undergone a stem cell transplant. 

Their goal is to support them in all aspects that life with and after cancer entails. They are also there for relatives and donors of patients. Peer support, advocacy and information provision are the spearheads of the organization. Hematon combines knowledge and experience. Matchis wholeheartedly supports these objectives.