New Programs Aimed at Reaching Goal of 20 Million Organ Donors in 2012

In 2006, Donate Life American, the nonprofit group that advocates for individuals to donate their organs, set a goal to get 100 million adults to register to donate their organs (a 40 million increase from the then 60 million registered donors). In October 2011, the nonprofit group reached its goal and ended 2011 with 105 million registered donors.

Donate Life American recently released its new goal for 2012—to register 20 million new organ donors. If reached, this figure would nearly triple the average number of registered donors acquired each of the previous six years. The nonprofit group hopes that projects currently in development will help Donate Life American reach its new goal. The projects, set to begin this year, are being developed through the Center for Organ Recovery & Education and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

One of the projects, the Flaunt Your Blue and Green campaign, will seek the help of local celebrities and everyday people to emphasize the need for organ donors by wearing Donate Life’s colors (similar to the pink color associated with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure). Other programs include a serios of flash mobs around the nation and the creation of a Facebook page call 265 Stories.

For more on this story, see Sean D. Hamill, Goal of 20 Million New Organ Donors Set, Post-Gazette, Feb. 6, 2012.