Mission
The primary mission of the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood is to educate parents with accurate and balanced information about cord blood medical therapies and cord blood storage options. This web site explains the motivations for banking umbilical cord blood, and the difference between donating cord blood to a public bank versus paying privately for family storage.
The second mission of the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood is to analyse new developments in medical research or public policy which could expand the use of cord blood.
Organization
The Parent's Guide to Cord Blood started out as a website in 1998. It was intended as an informal public service project in memory of Shai, the daughter of the founder Dr. Frances Verter. In 2007 a Board of Directors was recruited, and the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood incorporated as a non-profit foundation. We have received tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the USA Internal Revenue Code. All donations to support the foundation are eligible for a tax deduction on United States tax returns.
History
- 1998 - Launch of the original website, which only covered family banks. The design was donated by Arlene E. Jacobs M.S., in memory of her son Kevin W. Jacobs
- 1999 - Created the suggested questionnaire for interviewing family banks.
- 2000 - Started tracking family cord blood banks outside the USA.
- 2001 - Registered the internet domain name, "ParentsGuideCordBlood".
- 2003 - Added descriptions of public cord blood banks within the USA.
- 2003 - Developed the first listing of diseases treated by cord blood that groups them into the categories: standard, clinical trial, and experimental.
- 2005 - Adopted a new web design created by Exusu Design of Haselberg, Germany.
- 2007 - Incorporated as a non-profit foundation.
- 2008 - Drafted our educational brochure, then spent 6 months getting the entire Sci/Med Advisory Panel to approve the content and language.
- 2010 - Modified the list of diseases treated with cord blood to clarify which ones use the patient's own cells versus cells from a donor; again the first web site to do this.
- 2011 - Adopted a new web design created by Fathom Creative of Washington, DC, USA.
