About us
The place we wish had existed
Transplant Organizers was started by two people who had each lived a different side of living donation. One watched his father gain twenty more years of life from a gift. The other gave two organs to two strangers she found by searching online herself, because nowhere had been built for it.This is the place they needed and could not find.
The problem
Two people who cannot find each other
If you need an organ, you are asked to do the hardest thing imaginable: ask. Friends, family, strangers, over and over, while you are ill. Many people never ask at all. And those who do it well are often simply the ones with the largest address books, which has nothing to do with how sick they are.
If you want to give one, there is nowhere to look. People willing to donate to a stranger are treated as suspicious when they offer, turned away by hospitals with no recipient to name, and told to wait. Many who do donate never learn who received the organ, or what it meant, and are left with an odd emptiness at the end of the most generous thing they will ever do.
We close that gap. A recipient tells their story once and it reaches far beyond the address book they were born with. Someone considering donation can read those stories, choose a person, and know exactly whose life they changed. Everything medical – testing, compatibility, surgery – happens through a reputable transplant hospital chosen by the recipient, with its own team and the donor's independent advocate.
The idea
Jared and Andrea Yochim
Neither of them came to this from the outside.
Jared & Andrea
His father, Mark, received a kidney from his sister-in-law, Mary Lou – a gift that gave him twenty more years of life.
Her favorite boss, Skip, died waiting for a liver. She has since donated twice, both times to strangers she found by searching online herself: a kidney to Yuri in 2018, and part of her liver to Den in 2019. Nobody introduced them. There was no place set up for it, so she went looking.
The promise
What we are, and what we are not
What we are
- A storytelling and outreach platform for people who need a living donor.
- A public place those stories can be read by anyone – including someone who has never considered donating.
- A way for a willing donor to start a conversation with a person they chose.
- Independent of hospitals, transplant centers, and every organization in this field.
What we are not
- Not a transplant center, an organ broker, or a procurement organization.
- We do not match, allocate, evaluate, or transfer organs.
- We never buy or sell organs, and never pay anyone to donate one.
- We promise no outcome. Nobody can promise you an organ, and anyone who does is lying to you.
The origins
The name, and the logo
The name
Imagined by Lindy, who found a living liver donor for her father in 2019.
The logo
Adapted from a Gift of Life rock, lovingly handpainted by Ujala Ali Khan, who has personally been touched by organ transplantation.
“Gift of Life” refers broadly to the gift of organ donation. Transplant Organizers is independent and not affiliated with any organization of a similar name.
Public vs. private
Only what has to be
If you need a donor, four things are public: your first name, the organ you need, your photo, and your story.
Everything else stays off the public internet. Your age, state and blood type are visible to people who create an account. Your legal name and date of birth are shared only with a donor you have chosen to connect with, so your transplant hospital can identify you. Your email address and phone number are never shared – conversations happen through the site.
You can take your page down the moment you no longer need it up.
If you are considering donating, nothing about you is public. You are not listed, not searchable, and not visible to anyone until you choose to reach out. Recipients cannot browse or contact you. The choosing is entirely yours.
Full detail is in our Privacy Policy and Terms.
Somewhere out there is a person waiting for a reason
Everyone gets seen. The photo order is random, every time.
Adults 18+ · United States