Remote Donation

Remote kidney donation allows someone who wants to donate a kidney to a friend or family member in a distant city to donate to that friend or family member without requiring the donor to travel to the transplant center in that distant city.

Remote donation reduces the donor’s travel and lodging cost for both the workup process, before the transplant, and the transplant surgery itself. Remote donation also allows the donor to recover at home instead of in a hotel (donors are advised to NOT travel on an airplane for a week post-surgery).

Donors who donate through the NKR’s remote donation program are eligible for the support and protections offered by Donor Shield.

There are Three Types of Remote Donation:

Remote Standard Voucher Donation

Remote standard voucher donation occurs when a donor donates at a transplant center nearby, through the Voucher Program, on behalf of a friend or family member who is at a different transplant center in a distant city. The recipient of the voucher will be given prioritization through the NKR for a living donor transplant when they are ready for transplant. Learn more about the Standard Voucher Program.

Remote Paired Donation

Remote paired donation occurs when a paired donor donates their kidney in a paired exchange at a nearby center rather than at the recipient’s center.

Remote Direct Donation

Remote direct donation occurs when a donor donates at a nearby center and their kidney is shipped to the transplant center where the recipient is being transplanted.

The Remote Donation Network

When a donor donates through the remote donation network, the NKR utilizes proven logistics systems pioneered in kidney swaps over the past decade to safely transport the kidney from the donor’s local transplant center to the transplant center in the distant city.

Below is a map of the NKR centers that support remote donation.