Cord Blood Council Earns 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Status, Opening Public Donations to Strengthen the Nation’s Public Cord Blood Banks
Public support will help expand education, advocacy, collaboration, and innovation across the U.S. public cord blood banking system
The Cord Blood Council (CBC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the nation’s public cord blood banking infrastructure, today announced that it has officially received federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, marking an important milestone in its mission to improve access to life-saving stem cell therapies. The designation enables the organization to accept tax-deductible charitable contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporate supporters across the United States.
With its new nonprofit status, the Council is now inviting the public to become active partners in advancing cord blood banking and transplantation by making tax-deductible donations through its website at cbcouncil.org/donate.
The announcement represents more than a legal designation—it creates new opportunities for patients, families, healthcare professionals, researchers, and advocates to help sustain one of the country’s most important yet often overlooked healthcare resources: public cord blood banks.
Public cord blood banks collect, process, preserve, and distribute donated umbilical cord blood for patients in need of stem cell transplants. These stem cells have become an essential treatment option for thousands of individuals diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers, inherited immune disorders, bone marrow failure syndromes, and other serious diseases. In recent years, cord blood has also become a critical source of cells for groundbreaking research into regenerative medicine, cell therapy, and gene therapy, expanding its potential to treat an even broader range of diseases in the future.
As demand for advanced cellular therapies continues to grow, the Cord Blood Council believes that a stronger, more coordinated public cord blood banking system is essential to ensuring patients have timely access to high-quality stem cell products.
“Receiving our 501(c)(3) status is a meaningful milestone, but its real significance is what it makes possible,” said Christina Melief, Ph.D., philanthropist, cord blood advocate, and Co-Founder, President, and CEO of the Cord Blood Council. “It allows everyone who believes in the promise of cord blood to become part of this mission. Every contribution—large or small—helps strengthen our nation’s public cord blood banks and expands access to life-saving therapies for patients who need them most.”
Unlike organizations that operate individual cord blood banks, the Cord Blood Council serves as a national capacity-building organization focused on supporting the entire public cord blood banking community. By bringing together expertise from across the field, the Council develops shared resources, promotes collaboration, advocates for sustainable policies, and helps improve operational efficiency throughout the public banking network.
The organization works closely with National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI)-funded, FDA-licensed public cord blood banks, along with transplant physicians, scientists, healthcare providers, researchers, and patient advocates. Its goal is to strengthen the infrastructure that enables these organizations to deliver safe, high-quality stem cell products to patients across the United States and around the world.
As a federally recognized nonprofit, the Council can now expand its programs through philanthropic support while continuing to serve as a collaborative resource for the cord blood community.
Donations will directly support initiatives designed to improve education, strengthen collaboration, increase public awareness, and advance innovation throughout the field.
One of the Council’s primary priorities is expanding education and professional development for healthcare providers, laboratory professionals, transplant centers, and cord blood banking specialists. By providing educational resources, best-practice guidance, and training opportunities, the organization aims to help ensure the highest standards of quality and patient care across the public cord blood banking system.
The Council also seeks to increase public understanding of cord blood donation. Although umbilical cord blood is typically discarded after birth, it contains valuable blood-forming stem cells that can be donated to public banks and potentially save the life of a patient who requires a stem cell transplant. Increasing awareness among expectant parents, healthcare providers, and hospitals can help expand the diversity and availability of publicly donated cord blood units, improving transplant options for patients from all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Advocacy represents another central focus of the organization’s mission. The Council works to educate policymakers, healthcare leaders, and stakeholders about the importance of maintaining a strong national cord blood inventory and ensuring sustainable support for public banking programs. By serving as a unified voice for the public cord blood community, the organization seeks to promote policies that improve patient access while strengthening the long-term future of public cord blood banking.
The Council also supports research, data sharing, and forecasting initiatives that help public banks better understand changing clinical demand, emerging technologies, and future workforce needs. Improved data collaboration enables participating organizations to make more informed decisions regarding inventory management, quality improvement, and resource allocation, ultimately benefiting patients awaiting transplantation.
Operational efficiency is another key area of focus. Public cord blood banks often face similar administrative and technical challenges. By developing shared tools, standardized resources, and collaborative workflows, the Council helps reduce unnecessary duplication of effort, allowing participating organizations to dedicate more time and resources to patient care, scientific advancement, and collection activities.
Collectively, these initiatives strengthen the resilience and effectiveness of the nation’s public cord blood banking network while helping prepare the field for continued advances in regenerative medicine and cellular therapies.
The Council’s expanded fundraising efforts come at a time of significant scientific momentum within regenerative medicine. Researchers continue to explore new ways to use cord blood-derived cells in treatments for neurological disorders, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular conditions, and other serious illnesses. At the same time, cord blood is playing an increasingly important role in the development of next-generation cell and gene therapies that may transform how many diseases are treated in the years ahead.
These scientific advances underscore the importance of maintaining a robust public cord blood banking infrastructure capable of supporting both current clinical needs and future medical innovation.
To further educate the public about these opportunities, the Cord Blood Council will celebrate National Cord Blood Awareness Month throughout July with a comprehensive month-long educational campaign designed to increase understanding of cord blood donation and its impact on patients.
Each week of the campaign will focus on a different aspect of cord blood science and transplantation.
The series will begin by introducing the fundamentals of cord blood, explaining how it is collected, why it is medically valuable, and how donated cord blood is used in transplantation today. Additional programming will examine the FDA-approved clinical applications currently available to patients and highlight the growing body of research exploring new therapeutic possibilities.
The campaign will also feature patient-centered stories demonstrating the real-world impact of cord blood transplantation, illustrating how donated stem cells have helped individuals facing life-threatening diseases receive potentially life-saving treatment.
Finally, the Council will explore the future of public cord blood banking, discussing the challenges, opportunities, and collaborative efforts needed to ensure this vital healthcare resource remains available for generations to come.
Throughout National Cord Blood Awareness Month, the organization encourages healthcare professionals, researchers, patient advocates, transplant centers, public cord blood banks, expectant families, and supporters to participate by sharing educational resources, engaging with campaign content, and helping raise awareness about the importance of public cord blood donation.
By receiving federal 501(c)(3) recognition, the Cord Blood Council enters a new chapter as both a collaborative leader and a charitable organization dedicated to strengthening the nation’s public cord blood banking system. The Council believes that meaningful progress in stem cell medicine depends not only on scientific discovery but also on sustained collaboration, public engagement, and long-term investment in the infrastructure that makes these therapies possible.
Every donation helps support programs that improve education, expand awareness, foster collaboration, strengthen public cord blood banks, and ultimately increase patient access to life-saving stem cell therapies.
Individuals and organizations interested in supporting the mission of the Cord Blood Council can make tax-deductible contributions through the Council’s online donation portal. Through the collective support of donors, healthcare professionals, researchers, and public cord blood banks, the organization aims to build a stronger future for cord blood transplantation and ensure that more patients have access to the therapies they need today—and the innovations that will shape medicine tomorrow.
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