The primary focus of the ISBT Foundation is to financially support educational activities relating to the practice of transfusion medicine and allied fields globally, with a special focus on developing countries with a low/medium human development index. The Standing Committee of the ISBT Academy is delegated to receive and review applications from these countries. The Standing Committee is authorised to approve applications up to €7,500 and members of the Foundation Board consider and approve funding requests in excess of this.

The Foundation is managed by the Foundation Board consisting of a minimum of five and a maximum of seven members. The current Board of Directors comprises two ISBT members who are appointed by the ISBT Board (Ravi Reddy and Masja De Haas), the Secretary General of ISBT (Gwen Clarke), the Treasurer of ISBT (Martin Smid who replaced Eric Jansen at the Foundation Board meeting in June 2024), and the Senior Vice President of ISBT (Jill Storry who replaced Lin Fung at the Foundation Board meeting in June 2024). On behalf of the Board, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Eric Jansen and Lin Fung for their participation on the Board.

In 2024/2025, the Board had one face to face meeting in Barcelona during the International ISBT Congress. There was also correspondence via e-mail when approvals were required for funding in excess of € 7,500. The Board had previously approved an amount of € 90,000, over a three year period, to the International Coalition for Safe Plasma Proteins (ICSPP) to fund educational activities related to programmes to improve to improve access to plasma derived medicinal products globally. At the Barcelona Board meeting a member of ICSPP gave feedback on the project aimed at improving the quality of plasma for fractionation. It was reported that projects in Senegal and Ethiopia have progressed well and that workshops and audits were planned. ICSPP only requested € 3,859.06 in 2024/2025 as support was also received from other funders.

Thirty four applications for funding were received and processed for financial support to hold events during the 2024/2025 financial year. Of these 23 applications were approved and 11 were declined. Three requests were received and approved for use of the ISBT logo. In addition funding was requested for three ISBT Highlight Day events, 1 of which was approved and 2 were declined. Total funding of € 167,099.52 was allocated for the approved applications in the 2024/2025 financial year (€ 154,714.46 for financial support to hold events, € 8,526 for the ISBT Highlights day event and € 3,589.06 for ICSPP).