Kid-U-Not Living Organ Donor Fund

Kid-U-Not neither encourages nor discourages donation, but assists people who have become living organ donors with their non-medical expenses. It is the Kid-U-Not belief that living organ donation should be cost neutral. Living organ donors are the unsung heroes of the transplant story; they should not need to make financial sacrifices when they donate. As a result of our beliefs, Kid-U-Not assists all types of living organ donors (kidney, liver, lung, etc.) regardless of income.

Although there are several organizations that assist living organ donors, Kid-U-Not is the only organization in Connecticut that works to cover donors' legally allowed non-medical expenses, as far as we know. Kid-U-Not does not have a specific income cut off for who is helped, but applicants are helped with exploring options for getting lost wages and other expenses covered beforeKid-U-Not steps in and provides a grant to cover any otherwise uncovered legally allowed support under the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA).  Usually, Kid-U-Not grants cover two weeks lost net wages for the donor and up to ten days lost wages for the donor’s caregiver. We also cover other non-medical living organ donor expenses as long as they aren’t otherwise covered. 

Kid-U-Not encourages living organ donors to apply for assistance with other charitable organizations. Kid-U-Not will then supplement those grants in order to maximize each donor’s assistance within the limitations established by the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). For example, the National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) will often cover travel and lodging expenses for donors and their caregivers. The NLDAC is a need-based program that evaluates if organ recipients can afford to cover such costs for their donors and will assist if they cannot. Generally, if the NLDAC does not assist, recipients are able to cover their donors' travel expenses. Sometimes, however, recipients cannot cover the costs; or donors give organs to unidentified recipients in need. If recipients are unidentified, NLDAC cannot help. In such cases, Kid-U-Not will step in to assist with travel expenses and more, which can include a donor's lost wages. Sometimes Kid-U-Not is able to cover a donor's caregiver's expenses and lost wages, as well.