LifeCare Solutions
How to Organize a Blood Drive

March is American Red Cross Month, the perfect opportunity to hold a blood drive at your organization. Holding a blood drive can have a tremendous impact on your local hospitals and blood centers, which are continually in need of donations. In fact, for many hospitals and blood centers, corporate blood drives are their biggest source of donations.

The following tips can help you organize your own blood drive:

		Contact your local blood center. The center will actually help you organize the drive as well as provide technicians who will take blood and deliver the donations. To locate a blood center near you, contact your local Red Cross (www.redcross.org) or an America’s Blood Center (www.americasblood.org).
		Get help. You’ll need plenty of volunteers to organize the drive, advertise, and recruit donors. Have a meeting with all of your volunteers to ensure that everyone understands their roles. Finally, suggest that the president or CEO of your company attend to show personal support.
		Advertise. Ensure that all employees are aware of the event well in advance by sending out intranet announcements, e-mail reminders, flyers, direct mail letters, etc. You can also advertise the event effectively through posters and desk drops. Ask if your sponsoring blood center has advertising materials that you can use for free. You might even contact your local radio station to alert them of the drive.
		Schedule appointments in advance. While your event can allow for walk-ins, it’s generally easier to ask for sign-ups prior to the event. If you have a fairly accurate count of the donors you expect, the blood center can determine how many staff members will be needed at your drive.
		Follow up with donors and the rest of your community. Report the results of the drive to your organization, send thank you cards to donors and have a special event to celebrate your success.
		Remind your organization about the next drive. In the wake of your success, promote the next drive. Chances are, donors will participate again and convince others to help out as well.

Hosting a blood drive is just one of the ways that your organization can help ensure that blood is readily available to your community. Contact other organizations (such as the Red Cross, the United Way, the Salvation Army, FEMA, etc.) to see if they need volunteers; organize fundraisers for local charities; consider matching charitable contributions and donations made by employees; and consider allowing employees to volunteer during work hours.

Charitable contributions such as these can raise morale and help everyone at your organization feel as though they are making a difference.