We are Donors – ‘Changing minds about saving lives’

Thank you!

Everyone at We Are Donors would like to say a massive thank you to the Alec Dickson Trust
for their generous grant.

As a new charity we rely solely on grants and donations to conduct our activities and this
grant has allowed us to purchase materials, print merchandise and cover travel fees for our
volunteers!

Below is a summary of what we have achieved this year with the help of your grant!

● This year so far we have spoken to over 1600 students aged 11 to 18 years old. From
preliminary analysis of the first ~900 responses we demonstrated that our talk
significantly increases knowledge, family discussion, and planned organ donor registry
sign up.
● Forty-one ambassadors this year gave talks, and many more were trained to give
talks in the future. Other ambassadors took part in charity events raising awareness
about organ donation and WAD as a charity.
● A total of 115 talks were given at 26 schools across the UK this year.
● We have now spoken to over 3500 school students over the three year period we
have been running.
● We published the results of our first year in Pediatric Transplantation, and that article
can be read here.
● We expanded to five new universities: Bristol; Cambridge; Dundee; Sheffield; and
UEA and are in the process of expanding to London.
● We welcomed Dr Benjamin Ivory (an ITU consultant and National Education Clinical
Lead for Organ Donation at NHSBT) onto our National Steering Committee.
● We have been selected for oral presentation at the International Society for Organ
Donation and Procurement in Dubai, 14-16th November 2019.
● Local committees have been awarded a Silver Balloon Accreditation Award from
Bristol University Student Union, and Community Impact Award – runner up from
Newcastle University Student Union.
● We featured in a blog post written by one of our Newcastle Members, which can be
read here.

Feedback on our activities
Feedback is a very important part of the development of We Are Donors.

Feedback from Local Committees
The talks have been very well received by the schools, many schools invited the groups
back multiple times over to teach different year groups. Google Drive was useful to share
resources amongst the committee which helped with organisation.

Feedback from Ambassadors
Ambassadors found the process rewarding and liked visiting local schools, the interactive
nature of the talks and that they were non-biased , and felt they were a good way to engage
younger people. The Ambassadors found it was informative for themselves and found it
improved their confidence for public speaking as they were able to practice the same
presentation multiple times in front of different audiences.

Feedback from School Students
The school students liked how informative and clear the talk was, specifically finding out
information about organ donation and myths which they weren’t aware of before. They found
the Ambassadors friendly and enjoyed the presentation delivery.

Thank you again and we hope that you can see the impact your grant has had on the
charities activities!

Dr Charlotte Brathwaite Shirley
Treasurer & National Committee Lead
charlotte@wearedonors.org