Be The Match Foundation

We are a community of donors, volunteers, health care professionals and researchers who deliver cures by helping patients get the life-saving marrow or cord blood transplant they need. Our passion to save lives drives us to help more patients survive each year. We continually strive to improve access to transplant, to remove barriers to treatment and strengthen our ability to meet the growing need.

A patient's likelihood of finding a matching bone marrow donor or cord blood unit on Be The Match Registry® ranges from 66% to 97%, depending on ethnic background. Adding more members who increase the ethnic diversity of the registry increases the variety of tissue types available. This helps more patients find the match they need.

Every dollar we raise helps more patients afford transplant, adds potential marrow donors to the registry and funds our life-saving research. We help patients and their families from diagnosis through survivorship. We understand the unique needs of transplant patients, and offer tailored one-on-one support, resources and a variety of services, including financial assistance.

Be The Match is the hub of a global transplant network, including partner centers throughout the U.S. and registries
in 42 countries. We lead efforts in the world-wide transplant community to improve access to care and strengthen our ability to meet the growing need.

We grow and maintain the world's largest and most diverse donor registry, with 537,000 new potential donors added last year. 50% of new registry members are racially and ethnically diverse, which increases all patients' chances of finding a match. We have 13.5 million registry members and 225,000 umbilical cord blood units on the Be The Match Registry®, and access to 27 million potential donors and 680,000 umbilical cord blood units worldwide.

With our research partners, we improve outcomes and enrich the quality of life for thousands of patients. We have published more than 800 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals since inception; 76 published last year. More than 350 transplant centers participate in our research. We have more than 390,000 patients in our research database, and are conducting more than 250 active studies. We make available for research HLA samples which are in storage – buccal swabs, frozen aliquots and filter paper. Samples from more than 22,000 donor/recipient pairs are available for use in research studies. More than 1 million stored samples are available for retrospective studies to determine transplant outcomes.

Be The Match's research improves matching and makes it easier and faster to find the best donor or cord blood unit.

Our research has also advanced the science that proves that younger donors and improved timing leads to better transplant outcomes.

Be The Match's research has also led to treatment advances that make transplant a better option for patients 51-75 years of age.

Be The Match's ongoing education on advances in transplant research, clinical practice and patient care is offered to transplant doctors throughout the world.

The need for young, diverse registry members still exists. We have recruited millions of people to the Be The Match Registry to help bridge the gap for those unable to find a match in their family, but not all people are able to find a match. Research shows that younger donors provide the best outcomes for patients, and we will continue to recruit young, diverse registry members until all patients in need find their match. Patient assistance grants have helped patients and their families with the uninsured costs of transplant, although the need far exceeds available funding. Ongoing research will continue to advance the science of transplant for years to come. We continue to raise awareness of the need for registry members, research initiatives and financial support.