Race and Organ Donation

How Diverse Donors Save Lives

Cascade Life Alliance is dedicated to engaging in honest and thoughtful conversations with our community, ensuring that everyone has access to accurate information and resources about organ donation.

Watch our video to learn about the powerful role diverse organ donors play in saving lives and offering hope and support to those who are waiting for a second chance at life. Please email us if you have interest in localizing this video to your service area.

Let’s Talk About It

While organs are not matched by race or ethnicity, transplant candidates have better outcomes when donors share their racial or ethnic background, due to the greater likelihood of compatible blood types and tissue markers.

Of the over 100,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, more than 60% are from multicultural communities, which often face higher risks of organ failure due to conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease—conditions influenced by long-standing healthcare inequities. On average, people of color wait longer for kidney, heart, and lung transplants, highlighting the urgent need for more donors from diverse backgrounds.

Although multiethnic communities make up 60% of the transplant waiting list, only about 30% of organ donors are from communities of color. Increasing the diversity of registered donors will improve access to lifesaving organs and ensure better matches for successful transplants.

Why do some people hesitate to register as organ donors? There are various reasons, often rooted in medical mistrust and misinformation. That’s why it’s crucial to provide accurate information while also acknowledging and validating the concerns people may have about the medical system.

The Facts

• Healthcare professionals are fully committed to saving their patient’s life, regardless of their donation decision.
• The patient’s healthcare team operates independently from the organ procurement team, so your care is never compromised.
• The organ procurement team only becomes involved after every effort has been made to save the patient’s life.
• There is no cost to the donor’s family for organ, eye, or tissue donation.
• All major religions support organ donation and consider it a final act of generosity and compassion.
• A national computer system and strict standards are in place to ensure ethical and fair distribution of organs. Organs are matched by blood and tissue typing, organ size, medical urgency, waiting time and geographic location.
• Anyone can register to be an organ donor, regardless of age, health status, physical ability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Registering your decision to be a donor is easy! You can sign up to save lives online, at the DMV when getting your license or ID card, or on your iPhone health app.

Our Commitment To You

References

Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation
Association of Organ Procurement Organizations
HRSA’s Organ Donation and Transplantation Program
National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP)
Organ Donation Statistics by Race
Organ Donor.Gov
United Network for Organ Sharing