American Kidney Fund Expands Living Donor Assistance Program

ROCKVILLE, Md. (Sept. 27, 2024) — Today, the American Kidney Fund (AKF) announced that it has launched a new living donor program in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to provide one-time financial assistance grants up to $2,500 to support people who are donating a kidney to a recipient in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The expansion of AKF's living donor assistance program, made possible with generous support from the Sievers Family Charitable Fund, will help ensure that the out-of-pocket costs associated with living organ donation are not an obstacle to donating a kidney to someone in need. 

"People who choose to donate a kidney are making a selfless decision, and they should not have to worry about their finances, such as the cost of childcare or travel, as they prepare for and recover from their surgery," said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF President and CEO. "With support from the Sievers Family Charitable Fund, AKF is strengthening its efforts to reduce barriers and financial hardships that could prevent potential living donors from making the gift of life." 

AKF's DC-Maryland-Virginia living donor assistance program is open to living kidney donors who are permanent residents of the United States or its territories and donate on or after Oct. 1, 2024, to a recipient whose evaluation and/or surgery takes place at one of the following hospitals in Washington, D.C., Maryland or Northern Virginia:

George Washington University Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Medstar Georgetown Transplant Institute, Washington, D.C.

Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

University of Maryland Medical System, Baltimore, Md.

Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Va. 

Over 104,000 Americans are on the organ transplant waiting list and over 92,000 of them are waiting for a kidney, with over 5,000 people on the kidney transplant waitlist in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Out of the 28,144 kidney transplants performed in the United States in 2023, 6,290 of them were made possible by living donors. In Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, 296 of the 1,612 transplants performed in 2023 came from living donors.