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Race and Organ Donation

Gift of Life is committed to providing knowledge and resources to community members to make sure everyone is informed about correct organ and tissue donation information.

Join us throughout the month of August in celebrating National Minority Donor Awareness Month.

Learn more below on what you need to know about race and organ donation.

Gift of Life Donor Program and rapper Freeway promote organ donor awareness with radio partner Power 99.
Closing the Donation Gap

Although organs are not matched according to race/ethnicity, and people of different races frequently match one another, all individuals waiting for an organ transplant will have a better chance of receiving one if there are large numbers of donors from their racial/ethnic background. This is because compatible blood types and tissue markers—critical qualities for donor/recipient matching—are more likely to be found among members of the same ethnicity. A greater diversity of donors may potentially increase access to transplantation for everyone.

Patients from communities of color make up more than half – 60% – of the national waiting list for a life-saving transplant.

Organ Donation among African Americans
  • 28% of people currently on the national transplant waiting list are African American.
  • In 2021, more than 15% of the organ donors in Gift of Life’s region were African American.
  • In the 25-44 year-old age group, the rate of African Americans who have kidney failure caused by high blood pressure is 20 times higher than Caucasians.
  • African Americans are three to four times more likely to progress to end stage renal disease for chronic kidney disease than Caucasians.
Organ Donation among Asian/Pacific Islander population
  • Roughly 10,000 of those on the national waiting list are Asian/Pacific Islander
  • In 2021, there were more than 2,500 Asian/Pacific Islander organ transplant recipients nationally
  • In 2021, there were 665 deceased and living Asian/Pacific Islander donors nationally
Organ Donation among Hispanics
  • In 2021, 12% of the organ donors in Gift of Life’s region were Hispanic/Latino.
  • More than 22,000 of those on the national waiting list are Hispanic/Latino
  • In 2021, there were nearly 8,000 Hispanic/Latino organ transplant recipients nationally
Related Content

  • National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP)

    National MOTTEP's mission is to reduce the rate and number of ethnic minority Americans needing organ and tissue transplants and was the first program of its kind to include a two-fold strategy: 1) increase the number of persons becoming organ/tissue donors and 2) increase awareness of the diseases and behaviors that lead to the need for transplantation in the first place.

  • Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT)

    The Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation was created with the hope of saving more lives by increasing organ and tissue donation among multicultural communities. For more than 20 years, it has served the needs of multicultural professionals working in the field of transplantation.

  • Division of Transplantation (DoT)

    The Division of Transplantation is within the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration's Healthcare Systems Bureau. It is the primary federal entity responsible for oversight of the organ transplant systems in the U.S. and for initiatives to increase organ donor registration and donation in this country.