Exploring Ways to Retain First-Time Volunteer Blood Donors

Abstract

Because of their expertise in working with volunteers, social workers may be called on to provide consultation to organizations that are not traditional social service agencies. Unpaid volunteer donors provide the vast majority of this country’s blood supply; however, many donors give only once, and few think of themselves as regular, committed donors. The purpose of this study was to determine if special letters of request or incentives would increase blood donations during a 14-month study period. One thousand first-time donors were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups or the control condition. On average, first-time donors gave 1.89 donations, and there were no statistically significant differences among the groups. The conclusion was drawn that the interventions were too passive.