William G. Pomeroy Foundation
By: Vanessa Petrillo
In recognition of Blood Donor Awareness in January, we’d like to introduce the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. It began in 2005 when Founder and Trustee Bill Pomeroy was fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He was matched with a donor and received a lifesaving stem cell transplant. Bill felt that since his survival was made possible because of the generosity of a matched donor, he would then pass it forward to others needing similar procedures. The idea became the core of the Foundation’s mission: to diversify the bone marrow donor registry so that anyone from any ethnic background can find a matched donor. The foundation has partnered with many other funders to advance this lifesaving work.
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation makes grants to 501(c)(3) organizations, nonprofit educational institutions, and local, state, and federal government entities to work toward improving the probability of finding appropriate donor matches or other life-saving treatments for blood cancer patients. Applications will be reviewed by the board’s trustees, with decisions on funding generally made within 6-8 weeks. There is no deadline for funding, and their funding maximum varies based on need. Next to the National Marrow Donor Program®, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation is the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world.