Celebrating Minority Organ and Tissue Donors

August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month. This collaborative effort aims create a positive culture of organ, eye and tissue donation across diverse communities.

More than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list. Members of racial and ethnic minorities make up 60 percent of those waiting. Every day, an average of 13 people die waiting for a transplant.

The need for donation and transplant is greater in minority communities where disproportionately higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease contribute to organ failure, especially kidney failure.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), Black Americans are more than four times more likely to develop end-stage kidney disease than White Americans. The prevalence of end-stage kidney disease among Asian Americans is 1.6 times more likely, and among Hispanic/Latino Americans and Native Americans is two times as likely as among White Americans. These healthcare disparities underscore the need for education and outreach during National Minority Donor Awareness Month to help heal and save lives in our communities.

Detail from a Donate Life America Infographic at https://donatelife.net/wp-content/uploads/NMDAM_2025_Infographic_Flyer-1.pdf

National Minority Donor Awareness Month encourages everyone to elevate the need for more organ, eye and tissue donors within multicultural communities, provide donation education, encourage donor registration, and promote healthy living and disease prevention to decrease the need for transplantation. People age 16 and older can join the New York State Donate Life Registry at www.kfwny.org/register.

Thanks to the generosity of donors and donor families, and the dedication of donation and transplantation professionals, a record number of 48,000 people — including 23,000 from racial and ethnic minorities — received a lifesaving organ transplant in 2024.

National Minority Donor Awareness Month grew from National Minority Donor Awareness Week, founded in 1996 by the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program and Clive Callender, M.D., to bring heightened awareness to health disparities, and organ donation and transplantation’s impact in minority communities.

For resources and more information on National Minority Donor Awareness Month, visit DonateLife.net and nmag1.org. Donation infographic handouts, printable flyers, web banners, and social media graphics are available in both English and Spanish.