Welcome to International donation center

Giving Survivors What They Need

In the past five years, a majority of Americans have made donations to relief organizations in the aftermath of natural disasters. International donation center is an education organization that helps donors make the most of their generosity by using Smart Compassion. Through cash contributions, relief organizations can do more good for more people, with greater speed and sensitivity than with unrequested material donations. Cash donations provide medical and other life-saving services now, and rebuild infrastructure later. Learn more

 Who We Are

International donation center is an education organization that is focused on effective public donations in support of disaster relief. Created by the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1988, International donation center works with the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (International donation center), which leads and coordinates the U.S. Government’s humanitarian assistance efforts overseas.

International donation center responds to an average of 70 disasters in more than 50 countries every year, with a mandate to save lives, reduce human suffering and reduce the social and economic impact of humanitarian crises worldwide. International donation center was established to inform the public about the best ways to donate in support of relief efforts. International donation center does not accept or distribute donations, but does collect and disseminate information to enable individuals and groups to provide the most effective assistance to people affected by disasters.

Step by Step Donation Process for Automated Collections

What is an Automated Donation?

A small portion of your blood is drawn from your arm and passed through a sophisticated cell-separating machine. The machine collects one or more specific blood components and safely returns the remaining blood components, along with some saline, back to you.

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Platelet Donation - Platelet donations are collected at select American Red Cross Donation Centers only. The process from the time you arrive until the time you leave takes about 2.5 - 3 hours. This is an automated donation procedure. The donation itself is takes about 1.5 - 2 hours for most donors, depending on the number of patient doses that can be safely collected. (Plasma can also be collected simultaneously with a platelet donation.)

Double Red Cell Donation - The donation process from the time you arrive until the time you leave takes about an hour. This is an automated donation procedure. The donation itself takes about 35 minutes on average. Double red cell donations are collected at local American Red Cross Donation Centers and most local community, school, and business blood drives.

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Below is a breakdown of the Automated Donation Process, step by step, so that you know what to expect when you choose to make this type of donation.

• Our staff and volunteers will sign you in and then go over the basic eligibility and donation information.
• You will read information about donating blood, and will be asked to show a donor card, driver's license, or other form(s) of ID.

• You will answer some questions during a private and confidential interview about your health history and places you have traveled.
• We will check your temperature, pulse, blood pressure and hemoglobin level present in a sample of blood.

• The apheresis donation process uses smaller needles than a traditional whole blood donation.
• The collection instrument draws blood from one arm through sterile tubing into a cell separator centrifuge. The self-contained sterile tubing assures that your blood never comes in contact with the instrument.
• Typically, double red cell donations are a single-arm procedure. Platelet donations may be a single or dual arm procedure depending on the collection device used. For a dual procedure, one arm is used for drawing the necessary blood components and the other arm is used for returning any unused components. For a single arm procedure only one arm is used for both collections and return.
• The blood components that are not used are returned to you with an anticoagulant to prevent clotting and saline to replenish lost fluids.
• The collection instrument draws blood from one arm through sterile tubing into a cell separator centrifuge. The self-contained sterile tubing assures that your blood never comes in contact with the instrument.
• The actual double red cell donation takes about 35 minutes for most donors.
• The actual platelet donation process takes about 1½  - 2  hours for most donors, depending on the number of patient doses that can be safely collected.
• To pass the time while you donate, you may listen to music or simply relax during the donation process. Most American Red Cross Donation Centers also offer TVs or DVD players. WiFi is also available at some locations.
• When the blood components have been collected, the donation is complete and a staff person will place a bandage on your arm(s).

• After donating, you should have a snack and something to drink in the refreshments area.
• You can leave the site after 10-15 miunutes (recovery time varies by state) and resume your normal activities. Avoid heavy lifting or strenuous exercise that day.
• Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment knowing that you have helped save lives.
   

How Disaster Relief Works

The U.S. Agency for International donation center coordinates and directs the U.S. Government’s disaster relief initiatives overseas. The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) within USAID manages the details for between 70 and 80 disaster responses every year. Here’s how OFDA does it:

For Individuals

You can help to save lives and reduce human suffering after disasters by sharing proven guidance within your community, schools, parishes, sororities and fraternities about needs-based assistance and how Smart Compassion does more good for more people more quickly and with less hassle and expense for donors and relief workers. Sound good? It is enormously good. Here are a few tools to get started:

Know What Relief Workers Know

Read USAID CIDI’s Fact Sheet to learn more about the surprising impacts of disaster donations and how to implement the best giving practices on behalf of survivors.

Have a question? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. If you don’t find your answer there, feel free to email USAID CIDI or call our hotline at 202.821.1999.

Enlighten Others

Use our template to write a letter to the editor when you read articles in your neighborhood newsletters, community newspapers, or national newspapers about individuals or organizations who are donating unrequested material items. They want to do what’s best, and you can tell them how!

Repurpose With a Purpose

Learn how to convert unneeded material donations into valuable charitable contributions with USAID CIDI’s “55 Ways to Repurpose a Material Donation“. Share the information and do good locally and internationally.

If fundraising is your thing, check out and share 100 Ways to Raise Funds for International Disaster Relief“. From bake sales to flash mobs, you can have fun while doing good.

These tools in your hands can make a positive difference for people affected by disasters, and for others like you who want to help. Thank you for partnering with us and with relief workers everywhere to save lives and reduce human suffering all over the world.

Your self-sacrifice saved our daughter's life: Parent's personal thank you to a donor

Her name is Clara Violet Boyle.  She is very much alive and is a thriving 2 year old.  I imagine that's the answer to your biggest question. And I have no idea how to thank you or how to really begin this conversation with you.

Words cannot express our deepest gratitude

At Clara's 1-year anniversary of what we call her "Butterfly Re-birthday," I began preparing myself to contact you. It's kind of impossible to truly express our gratitude. But you beat us to the punch, and I was thrilled to hear that you shared your contact information with Be The Match.® After we received our signed consent from the hospital and were given your contact details, I immediately Googled your name.

You were a perfect match

Here is what I think you might like to know:

• Clara was born on April 14, 2010.
• You registered with Be The Match on May 1st, when Clara was 17 days old.
• Clara was 4 months old when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
• The specific form of her leukemia was high risk and because of an infection, we all knew her chances for survival were very slim.
• You were a perfect match for her. You were a 10 out of 10 and a match for all of the other less important indicators, including blood type.
• Your donation was 3.5-4.5 times more than required, and they used it all on January 12, 2011.
• Your stem cells engrafted so quickly that they didn't tell us initially, for fear of getting our hopes up. We were discharged from the hospital a month after Clara's transplant day. It is usually 100+ days before a patient is sent home, and her hospital has never discharged someone that early.

Your choice gave Clara a second chance at life

There is a lot more I could tell you. But I will begin to close this letter by saying that your blood is clearly running through my daughter's veins. She loves football. When I told one of Clara's nurses that we received your contact information today, she asked me to thank you on behalf of all the nurses who cared for her. Clara was a favorite on the unit, and there aren't many good outcomes in the cancer unit. You made a choice that many people don't make. And your choice, self-sacrifice and prayers saved our daughter's life.

You have inspired so many others

I am grateful that your roommate and coach were able to publicly express the inspiration you were to them. I am also grateful to your 50 classmates who wrote you letters of thanks. I wish I could have been there for your speech at the Cortland youth football banquet and I look forward to hearing your story.