1
Donate blood at a blood collection center near you.
Find one here.
2
Set a reminder on your phone of when you can donate again, or stay connected by downloading and using your local blood center’s mobile app.
3
Offer to go with a friend to support them while they donate.
4
Share information about
upcoming blood drives on your social channels.
5
Talk to your friends, family, and other connections about the
importance of volunteer blood donation.
6
Join the
NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program) Registry, which connects donors with patients.
7
Ask your employer, church, gym, college, area music festival, or sports team to host a mobile blood drive.
8
Host a virtual blood drive to encourage donation appointment sign-ups.
9
Donate plasma at a collection center near you. (Plasma donations are different than volunteer blood donations.)
10
Instead of presents for your birthday, wedding, anniversary, and other special occasions, ask friends and family to donate blood in your honor.
11
Date night idea: Donate blood together, then go out for dessert.
12
Encourage blood donation as a rite of passage when your teen turns 17 (or 16, if you can go along and provide parental consent).
13
Make a group blood donation a part of your next family reunion plans.
14
Create a blood donor brunch club where members donate (every 8 to 9 weeks is a good frequency), then share a meal together.
15
Donate plasma with a group and give your earnings to a charity organization.
16
Ask your book club, hiking group, or other hobby group to donate together.
17
Offer to babysit for friends or family members who are parents while they donate platelets — they can get about three hours of “me time” while saving lives during a national platelet shortage.
18
Share your personal reasons for donating blood through your social media channels.
19
Take your social media followers along with you as you donate. (Check with the blood center or blood drive officials for any rules or restrictions.)
20
Blog about your donation experience and ask others to comment with their experiences.
21
If you’ve benefitted from blood donation, write a thank-you note to your anonymous donor and post it on social media.
22
Tag local news reporters on social with blood supply story ideas — like when there is an urgent need for platelets.
23
Encourage your coworkers to donate — go together over a lunch break.
24
Explore the range of career options in the blood donation, biosciences, and transfusion medicine areas.
25
Help unlock the potential of blood and cells by joining our team at Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies.
Learn more about careers here.
26
If a coworker has been diagnosed with cancer, support them by planning a platelet blood drive in their honor. Platelets are critical to cancer patients.
27
Ask your local blood center when they typically have the greatest need and plan your donations for those times.
28
Learn more about the many ways whole blood, plasma, red blood cells, and platelets are used to save lives and improve quality of life, and explore the
differences among donation processes.
29
Get to know your blood type and
learn about others, too.
30
Get the details about the link between the need for blood (especially platelets) and cancer patients. About 25% of the U.S. blood supply is given to patients during cancer treatments.
32
Better understand the
eligibility requirements for blood donation and share them with your connections.
33
Ask your local blood center about opportunities to donate blood that benefits research.
34
Volunteer at a blood center to follow up with donors by phone or with handwritten thank-you notes.
35
Learn about volunteer opportunities available at blood drives — and see how many roles you can try during a year.
36
Offer to do appointment scheduling calls and texts for a blood center.
37
Be a mentor for new donors — providing confidence-boosting support at their first appointment.
38
Make learning about blood fun by downloading
our children’s coloring sheets.
39
Using age-appropriate language, teach your children that blood is essential medicine and why it’s important to donate blood when they get older.
Resources are available here.
40
Suggest that your child’s school allow blood donation as a way for seniors (or students 17 and above) to fulfill a community service requirement.
41
Offer to speak about blood donation at a local group meeting, such as a chamber of commerce or Rotary Club gathering.
42
Talk to a local fitness group, recreation center, or medical practice about hosting a health and wellness day — you could say a few words at the event and include a mobile blood drive.
43
Speak with local business owners about giving coupons to the local blood center as thank-yous for donors and volunteers. Or ask them to offer a free treat with proof of blood donation.
44
Learn key messages to say to others that can help encourage blood donation — like the average number of people helped by a single donation (it’s three).
45
Start a social media challenge — donate blood, post about it, then nominate your connections and ask them to keep the donations and nominations going.
46
Challenge yourself to donate as much as you can throughout the year, based on donation frequency guidelines.
47
Jumpstart friendly competitions between local businesses, associations, high schools, work teams, or sports teams to see whose members donate the most.
48
Create a contest with a group of friends to see who can donate the most over a set time period, based on donation frequency guidelines.
49
Talk to your favorite restaurant about hosting a trivia night focused on blood donation. (Here are
some facts and resources.)
50
Ask your local police and fire departments to host a joint blood drive; encourage them to compete with each other for the most donations.
51
Ask blood centers for promotional materials, then ask local businesses if they could display them.
52
Meet with your mayor, senators, and other representatives to ask them to learn more about the blood supply and host a blood drive.
53
Collaborate with local artists or an art school to create a mural or other public artwork to promote the message of blood donation.
54
Ask your local library to display books about transfusion medicine.
55
Write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper about the importance of blood donation.
56
If you live in an apartment building or a college dorm, find your nearest blood donation center and let others in your building know about it.
57
Create fun or motivational donation messages and ask local churches and businesses with changing outdoor signs to post.
58
Celebrate annual recognition days such as
World Blood Donor Day.
59
Talk to your child’s school about running a mobile blood drive for parents in conjunction with a school fair or festival.
60
Put a message in your HOA or community newsletter about donating blood.