Getting People Involved

June 14th - World Blood Donor Day

AABB and ADRP Partner to Recognize Blood Donors Worldwide

ADRP and AABB are once again partnering to encourage their members to celebrate and promote World Blood Donor Day on June 14. 

The 2008 WBDD theme, “Giving Blood Regularly,” is one AABB and ADRP members can, and should, easily embrace, says Sue Churchill, former ADRP president and current member of the AABB Donor Recruitment/Public Relations Committee. “What center hasn’t at some point struggled with how to build and retain a base of returning donors willing to make a life-long commitment?” asked Churchill.

Churchill challenges AABB and ADRP members to be creative in their WBDD celebration. She suggests the use of clever slogans that encourage repeat donors, while adhering to WBDD’s intent to thank donors for their gift of blood. World Blood Donor Day provides an opportunity for centers to evaluate the effectiveness of their donor care programs and involve blood donors themselves in identifying ways to increase donor satisfaction and promote donor loyalty.

The overall objective of WBDD is to increase awareness concerning the concept of altruistic blood donation, and to promote the importance of giving more than once each year, hence the suggestion to use “Many Happy Returns” to help promote the theme.

The theme can be brought to life featuring the use of “Name tags” with the line “Hello, My Name is Y, and I am a X time donor”. This image can be re-produced locally to reflect your local language.

To help promote this event, AABB and ADRP have developed the following downloadable World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) resource kit materials to assist member organizations with implementing WBDD activities:

WBDD fact sheet (MS Word)
Official WBDD 2008 poster (PDF)
Sample press release that can be tailored to build WBDD interest among local media members (MS Word)
Sample Local Fact Sheet (MS Word)
Sample Solicitation Letter for Gubernatorial Proclamations (MS Word)
Sample Proclamations: Gubernatorial (MS Word) or Mayoral (MS Word)
Top 25 Sound Bites (MS Word)
Facts about Blood and Blood Banking (MS Word)
Generating Media Publicity (MS Word)
WBDD Flyer To Use (MS Word)
Newspaper Ad To Use (MS Word)

in addition, the week of May 19 AABB and ADRP members will receive balloons with the world image to help promote the event.

Note: Please check this site regularly for updates.

New This Year:  AABB/ADRP Blood Donor Day Award
AABB and the Association of Donor Recruitment Professionals (ADRP) have established the AABB/ADRP Blood Donor Day Award, which will recognize one organization for its outstanding efforts to promote WBDD.

The organization selected to receive this award will receive one complimentary registration to AABB’s 2008 Annual Meeting & TXPO in Montréal, Québec, Canada, and one complimentary registration to ADRP’s 2009 Conference in St. Pete Beach, Fl.

In addition, the winning organization will receive $1,500 to apply toward travel to these meetings for an employee(s) who played an instrumental role in implementing that organization’s WBDD activities.  To submit your blood center for consideration, complete the online 2008 activity form.

Submissions are due by July 11 and will be judged on the following criteria:

  • Creativity. Creative methods used to promote your 2008 WBDD activities on a local and/or national level. (30 points)
  • Community/Donor Involvement. Ways your facility’s WBDD activities involved its community and donors. (20 points)
  • Media Coverage. Media coverage (newspaper, radio, television, etc.) secured for promotion of your WBDD activities. (20 points)
  • Samples. You must provide samples of your activities, which can be uploaded via the online submission form. Samples may include your facility’s promotional material, photos or examples of media coverage. (30 points)

For additional information, contact Deb Swift at or call 512.658.9414.