Many persons affected and relatives do not want to wait around idlyduring the search for a donor for themselves or their relative or friend who hasthe disease and they turn tothe public to help them with their fate. Even though the probability of finding a matching donor by planning and conducting an own donor registration drive is extremely low, there is still an increasingly greater chance that the "genetic twin" will be found for patients in the global network thanks to the continually growing number of new donors.

These public donor drives play a pivotal role in already enabling more than 26,000 DKMS donors to offer hope to a patient.

According to our experience, donor drives which are organized on the basis of a known person’s illness are particularly successful and they lead tothe registration of many new stem cell donors.

DKMS is naturally ready to assist you during the planning and implementation of your donor drive. After a preliminary consultation on the telephone, we will send you the "Guidelines for Local Initiative Groups," in which we have summarized our experience acquired in organizing donor registration drives. The guidelines should serve as support for you and provide an introduction as to what you will have to deal with during the organization of a donor drive like this. Of course, we are personally there for you at all times.

Organizing a company donor drive is also an opportunity to become involved. Maybe you can ask your employer whether he is willing to demonstrate commitment to the DKMS due to an illness in your family and if he would provide his employees with the opportunity to show solidarity with you and to get registered themselves.

In order for a donor drive to be exceptionally successful, it is helpful to announce this through various channels. That’s because as many persons as possible should be informed about why and when the donor drive will be held. For this purpose, there are diverse approaches that you can take: maybe there is someone in your group of friends and contacts who has already set up a private Internet website. Or you’re active in the social networks and can effectively spread the information this way. There are many possibilities and we are happy to support you with advice and assistance. For example, we have Internet banners, advertisements, and many other advertising resources for Internet sites that have already been prepared that can easily be adapted to your donor drive. If you’re interested, we will provide you with this advertising material and advise you as to how you can make use of these resources.

The lifeblood of our workthrives from the fact that as many persons as possible are informed about the subject of blood cancer and stem cell donation. Many people still do not know how easy it is to become a donor. Or they confuse bone marrow with the spinal cord and that makes them worried that they could suffer health problems if they become a donor. Simply take advantage of your social network comprised of friends and acquaintances as a multiplier in order to provide information about our work. You can, for example, display our information material in your association/club or fitness studio or create a link to our organization online on Facebook.

DKMS is represented in all relevant online networks, too. Our broad spectrum of fans and followers on Facebook, Twitter and StudiVZ receive up-to-the-minute information regarding all of DKMS’ activities every day.

Why is it important that you make an issue of DKMS, e.g., in the social networks?

The principle behind social networks (e.g. Facebook, studiVZ, etc.) is not only the exchange of information among friends and acquaintances, but rather, the further recommendation of information, i.e. specifically: friends recommend friends/acquaintances, for example, in the form of a link to an Internet site or in the form of a photo or video. Since friends recommend“ good things” to friends, these recommendations have great significance. You can therefore get the ball rolling for DKMS (dominoeffect) by reporting about us, sharing our Internet site as a link or by simply forwarding our contents that we publish in the social networks.

The registration and tissue typing of a new, potential stem cell donor costs DKMS EUR 50. The majority of the costs in this context are attributable to the analysis of tissue characteristics in the laboratory. We are happy that many of our donors support us with a voluntary monetary donation.

However, not everyone can pay the EUR 50 for the tissue typing. That’s why: join in to help us ensure that the willingness to assist does not fail due to monetary reasons! Every Euro counts in the fight against blood cancer and in the search for the matching donor! If, for example, you are not allowed to donate any stem cells due to health reasons, you can become a sponsor for another potential stem cell donor by making a monetary donation.

Starting with a monetary donation in the amount of EUR 100, we will automatically provide you with a donation certificate. For donations below the mentioned value, we can send you a donation certificate upon request.

You have various possibilities to donate money: easily and securely online via PayPal ordirect debit, viabank transfer or with the donor drive"Donations instead of gifts."In addition, you can gather condolence donations during a mourning in your family or give patients around the globe a new chance for life within the scope of an inheritance donation.