Global Blood Fund

“PART III, Lines 2 and 3 Global Blood Fund's (GBF) activity remained mission-centric during 2014, but broadened and deepened in terms of transaction count, geographic regions supported and partners engaged. Whilst still focused on grass-roots interventions supporting blood collectors, GBF initiated a collaborative industry response to the West African Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) crisis; specifically, establishing a center of excellence in apheresis practice in Ghana. Whilst primarily focused on enabling the collection of convalescent plasma as a treatment for EVD, this initiative, GERRI (Ghanaian Ebola Readiness and Resilience Initiative), has a number of spin-off benefits; for example, enabling therapeutic treatments. This project provides a broader range of charitable benefits than has in the past been the case, impacting on patient, not just donor welfare. A core service capability, EqXchange, was impacted by supplier issues during 2014. EqXchange is a cloud-based platform enabling blood services worldwide to list (usually surplus) equipment available for donation. In addition to viewing and responding to offers, the system offers blood services in low-income countries the ability to list their specific requirements, which may be equipment oriented or focused on seeking the donation of skills or expertise from more developed organizations. The contract development and hosting organization liquidated this aspect of their business operation in the final quarter of 2014, necessitating that GBF identify and contract with a new supplier and develop a new portal. This was not achieved by the year end, although a temporary solution provided basic functionality to users whilst new programing was commissioned, which is expected to be delivered in Quarter 2 of 2015.”

“Part iv, line 14a the global blood fund established a uk based office in london where the contract executive director is located. Activities in the london office include grant writing, administration, and development of infrastructure to facilitate the transfer of equipment to developing countries. To support the u.k. Office the company established a banking account to receive donations and pay operating expenses.”

“Part v, line 4a to support the u.k. Office the company established a banking account to receive donations and pay operating expenses. All transactions into and from the account are controlled by board members of the organization from the united states.”

“Part vi, lines 6 and 7a obi holding company is the sole member of gbf. The organization anticipates establishing independence from obi. Gbf's bylaws provide for a single member obi holding company and the single member has the authority to appoint board members. It is anticipated that this provision will be changing in the future.”

“PART VI, LINE 12C Global Blood Fund has a conflict of interest policy that establishes guidelines and procedures applicable to transactions or arrangements that might benefit the private interest of an officer or trustee of the organization. Individuals considering a transaction shall appoint a disinterested person to investigate alternative to the proposed transaction. If a more advantageous transaction or arrangement is not reasonably attainable under the circumstances that would not give rise to a conflict of interest, the board or committee shall determine, by a majority vote of the disinterested trustees, whether the transaction or arrangement is in the best interest of the organization and whether the transaction is fair to the organization. Each trustee, officer, and member of a committee with board delegated powers shall annually sign a statement which affirms that such a person has received a copy of the conflicts of interest policy, has read and understands the policy, has agreed to comply with the policy, and understands that the organization is a charitable organization and that in order to maintain its federal tax exemption, it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes. If the board or the committee has reasonable cause to believe that an interested person has failed to disclose a conflict of interest as required by this policy, the board or committee shall inquire, investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action, as neccessary.”

“Part vi, line 19 the governing documents are made available upon request.”

“PART III, LINE 4D Much of GBF's activity relates to its ability to galvanize networks in the U.S. and Europe (national and regional blood services, industry suppliers, regulatory bodies, etc.) to assist developing blood collection organizations. Working both directly and through pan-national and professional associations, GBF is able to pull together multi-agency collaborations, with objectives and configurations differing by project. In early 2014, GBF signed a formal partnership agreement with AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks, arguably the world's pre-eminent professional organization in this field). In addition to enhanced credibility, this provides GBF with access to expertise and resource to help further its mission. Other partnerships developed in 2014 assist different aspects of GBF's charitable operations: for example, a relationship with National Bus Sales saw GBF offered discounted bloodmobiles for purchase and placement in poorly resourced blood services.”