RICHMOND, VA, December 9, 2019 – Each year, Donate Life America (DLA) recognizes innovative Donate Life State Team and partner programs that increase education and donor registrations. Identifying and sharing successful programs is key to increasing donor registration and saving more lives through donation and transplantation.
Programs submitted for DLA Pinnacle Awards are evaluated for clear goals and objectives, implementation and creativity, incorporation of the Donate Life brand – the national symbol for the cause of donation, donor registration and positive cultural change results, return on investment, and replicability.
DLA is excited to share the 2019 DLA Pinnacle Award winners, recognized at the October 2019 DLA Annual Conference in Memphis, TN:
- Fundraising Program – Falmouth Road Race, New England Donor Services
- Living Donation Program – “Be a Living Donor” Web Page, Donate Life Virginia
- Media Campaign – 38 Seconds, Donor Network of Arizona
- Miscellaneous Program – Going Live for Life!, Donor Network of Arizona
- Youth Education Program – Sibling Rivalry KY ΣΠ Challenge, KY Circuit Court Clerks’ Trust for Life & KODA
- Best Multicultural Program – Giving Me Life: A Visual Journey of African American Recipients, Donor Network West
- Best Remix – Pause to Give Life – Statewide Flag Raising, Donate Life Wisconsin
- Best ROI – Rally Por la Vida (Rally for Life), LifeLink of Puerto Rico
- Hospital/Healthcare Program & Innovation – 1st Nursing Schools Congress, LifeLink of Puerto Rico
- Event and Platinum – The Freedom to Give, Lifeline of Ohio
Congratulations to the 2019 DLA Pinnacle Award winners! Thank you for leading the Donate Life Community in reaching the public and engaging our partners in education about the cause of donation and inspiring more individuals to register their lifesaving decision to be organ, eye and tissue donors.
A brief description of each program is included below.
2019 DLA Pinnacle Award Recipients
Fundraising Program – Falmouth Road Race, New England Donor Services
New England Donor Services (NEDS) has participated in the Falmouth Road Race ‘Numbers for Non-Profits’ program since 2012, with volunteers raising over $200,000 ($24,450 in 2018) for education and awareness programs. In this low effort, low cost campaign each participant commits to raising a minimum of $750 in exchange for a guaranteed entry into the race. In addition, the peer-to-peer fundraising campaign doubles as a registry outreach opportunity.
Living Donation Program – “Be a Living Donor” Web Page, Donate Life Virginia
With a goal of making it easier for Virginians to learn about living donation, Donate Life Virginia created a page on their website beginning with 14 frequently asked questions that addressed such areas as criteria for being a living donor, recovery, expectations, cost and recent advances. A collaborative effort with representation from almost every transplant center in the state, there are stories of Virginians who have benefited from the gift of living donation as well as a map of the transplant centers performing living donation and their contact information.
Media Campaign – 38 Seconds, Donor Network of Arizona
What can you do in 38 seconds? Launch a potato. Belch a song. Devour a tray of tacos. Do you know what else you can do in 38 seconds? Be noble. Save lives. Become an organ, eye and tissue donor. Males 13-34 years of age were the target audience for this campaign as they have the highest potential to be donors, yet are the least likely to be registered. 38 Seconds explored a series of hilarious videos of millennials performing mindless and absurd activities to contrast a better way to use 38 seconds and directly registered 1,106 people in the process.
Miscellaneous Program – Going Live for Life!, Donor Network of Arizona
The goal of this media training was to unify the staff in organizational brand messaging about donation and donor registration, recognizing that these on-camera skills are transferable to multiple environments. Going Life for Life included an hour-long training regarding local news outlets, how they operate, newsroom jargon and ways to write press releases to earn coverage. Another hour-long training taught tricks on using a smartphone to take compelling pictures and video for multiple platforms. Every employee showed drastic improvement in confidence on camera and comfort with DNA messaging.
Youth Education Program – Sibling Rivalry KY ΣΠ Challenge, KY Circuit Court Clerks’ Trust for Life & KODA
Through a partnership with KY Sigma Pi, this program challenged all chapters in the state to earn points by doing donation related activities on campus and encouraging their peers to register. Whichever school had the most registrations and points won the competition. The Bridge2Life app was used to provide quick information. During the two-week challenge, 75 fraternity members across all 5 chapters were educated about donation and there were 386 new donor registrations.
Best Multicultural Program – Giving Me Life: A Visual Journey of African American Recipients, Donor Network West
This exhibit was born of the desire to lay claim to the affirmation #BlackLivesMatter through the lens of the countless African American lives that are being saved and healed through organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation. Well-known Bay Area social documentary photographer Katie Sugarman (who also happens to be the daughter of a heart recipient) created visual testimonials of nine African American recipients whose lives have been transformed by the gift of life. Held at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, the exhibit integrated multimedia elements to creatively highlight donation facts and audio testimonials. In addition to providing a unique opportunity for attendee, the event garnered media coverage, social media engagement and a bonus grant to incorporate core messages from the exhibit into a video project that can reach additional audiences.
Best Remix – Pause to Give Life – Statewide Flag Raising, Donate Life Wisconsin
Donate Life Wisconsin created this inaugural event as a statewide observance to kick off National Donate Life Month and create a major media relations opportunity. Wisconsin hospitals and other organ, eye and tissue donation related organizations across the state were invited, and 81 participated. Flags were raised at 10:08am, to highlight that one donor can save eight lives, followed by one minute and fourteen seconds of silence to recognize the 114,000 patients awaiting lifesaving transplants. The event was a media success with 18 TV stations attending, 89 confirmed TV broadcast hits, 7 radio interviews and numerous newspaper stories.
Best ROI – Rally por la Vida (Rally for Life), LifeLink of Puerto Rico
The goal of this National Donate Life Month kick-off initiative between LifeLink of Puerto Rico, ECONO Supermarkets and FM 96 radio station was to educate Puerto Ricans in three southwestern towns about donation and promote the Done Vida donor registry. Music, donation messaging and interviews with donor families and recipients were incorporated by the radio DJ from the rolling stage at each stop and a popular musician and liver recipient participated. This event was very economical at less than $5,000 and generated media coverage, as well as orienting more than 500 people and registering 350.
Hospital/Healthcare Program & Innovation – 1st Nursing Schools Congress, LifeLink of Puerto Rico
During National Donate Life Month 2018, LifeLink of Puerto Rico developed an initiative with four nursing schools. The project consisted of giving each university an investigative theme directly related to organ, eye and tissue donation that they developed and presented at the Congress. The topics included authorization rate, family services and brain death declaration. Additionally, the students needed to coordinate donation education and registration events on their campuses. This resulted in 817 new registrations and 11 radio interviews across the universities, helping to build a culture of donation in each of them.
Event and Platinum – The Freedom to Give, Lifeline of Ohio
Lifeline of Ohio has a unique partnership with the Ohio Department of Corrections (ODRC), as the hospital designated to care for seriously ill or injured prisoners in Ohio is in their service area. In 2015, they were asked by the ODRC to develop a program so that staff and prisoners could make an informed donation decision. The goal was to build a culture of donation through education, sharing personal stories and meeting volunteers with a connection to donation. They hoped to encourage inmates to see that at the end of their lives, they could do something good for their community. Through this program, Lifeline has registered 1,541 individuals (463 in 2018 alone) and received 119 death referrals, with seven going on to donate lifesaving organs for transplant. In addition, seven prisons have contributed more than 400 shawls crocheted by inmates to Lifeline’s bereavement program as another way of giving back to their community.
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About Donate Life America
Donate Life America (DLA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization leading its national partners and Donate Life State Teams to increase the number of donated organs, eyes and tissues available to save and heal lives. DLA manages and promotes Donate Life℠, the national brand for the cause of donation; motivates the public to register as organ, eye and tissue donors; provides education about living donation; manages the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org; and develops and executes effective multi-media campaigns to promote donation.
Contact:
Hilary Czarda
Donate Life America
hczarda@donatelife.net
804.377.3584
