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I'm working on a social marketing plan for Gift of Life, the primary organ and tissue donation program in Michigan.

Getting sidetracked from the assigned portions for this week I looked closer at the different metrics I could use to predict the outcome of my marketing plan: there are a lot more to choose from than I expected. I could use dollars raised, organs donated, organ donors registered, awareness increases (but thought I would need survey data before and after). I eventually found this statistic and thought it'd be the obvious place to start:

"In 2008, a record 327 organ donors provided 922 organs to waiting recipients in Michigan."*

But the truth is that the number of organs actually donated isn't within my (or my to-be-brilliant marketing plan's) sphere of influence at all. For example, the 2008 Michigan Traffic Crash Facts organization reports that 980 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2008. This number has reduced since last year - had it gone up it would have contributed to more organ donation (assuming the percentage of people on Michigan's organ donor list is normally distributed and had remained equal over the two years).

I'm less interested in dollars raised than the other options, even though I can see the value in that approach. It seems too similar to the business plans I've thought through in the past - so next I considered 'donors registered' which might be a viable way to measure awareness efforts. I think this is where I'll stay - education, awareness and ease-of-access are three of the main places I think the organization needs to focus.

"In Michigan more than 800 people became tissue donors."*

Things I am still curious about:

What are the trends of people who become donors?
If this is more or less than in the past?
How do they monitor how many people leave the state of Michigan each year? (You need to register each time you move to a new state.)
How does Michigan compare to other states? Especially in donors as a percentage of residents?


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*: These quotes are from the following website:
http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org/understanding_donation/facts_figures/

marketing614

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