The Organ Donation & Transplant Association of Canada is a registered Canadian charity and non-profit organization. [Charity# 86069 7309 RR0001]

Getting to know the ODTAC

The Organ Donation and Transplant Association of Canada (ODTAC) encourages all possible organ donors to tell their families and friends of their wishes to be an organ donor. This act could save the life of a Canadian on a waiting list..

We founded The Organ Donation & Transplant Association of Canada because of the glaring need to save Canadian lives by helping to ensure, that organs for transplant will be available to those in need. Not having these organs available is costing over 250 lives in Canada each year. Every Canadian can play a role in reducing these needless deaths and helping thousands of others suffering from related organ failure or injury by making arrangements for some or all of their organs to be available for transplant. Everyone benefits from this. Our telemarketing and educational programs which include extensive tele-canvassing, are designed to bring this critical message to all Canadians. We appeal to the enlightened self-interest of the Canadian people.

Since its inception in September 2004, ODTAC has:

-Reached more than 5 million Canadian households for the dual purposes of raising awareness of the pressing need to become an organ donor and of raising funds to finance our programs;

• Distributed more than 1, 700,000 organ donor and next of kin cards and educational information brochures to individual Canadians and organizations;

• Donated nearly $700,000 in medical research funds to St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Ottawa General Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton and the Alberta Diabetes Institute;

• Distributed to the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network a series of public service announcements encouraging people to become organ donors;

• Created a “Teens-4-Transplants” program to encourage high school students to raise awareness, sign a donor and next of kin card, speak to their parents/guardian and family about becoming an organ donor and to raise toonies for research;

• Assisted St. Lawrence College students in the production of an organ transplant information video for St. Joseph’s Hospital;

• Shipped “gift in kind” medical equiptment and supplies to needy hospitals and humanitarian organizations in Jamaica, Honduras, Malawi, Guatemala, Romania, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ethiopia;

• Established an association with Greco Pizza in the Maritimes under which Greco promotes organ-donor awareness to their customers;

• Enlisted volunteers to distribute thousands of donor and next of kin cards at the Apache Canada Numb Bum Movie Marathon in Calgary.”

Of course, much more remains to be done. Hundreds of Canadians die every year because a suitable organ for transplant is not available. Thousands more wait for transplants that can help them return to productive lives. The number of these deaths and the amount of suffering could be significantly reduced if more Canadians made known their wish to posthumously donate their organs. Many organ-donor recipients will live longer and more fulfilling lives if the medical research funded by ODTAC and others bears fruit.

The Organ Donation and Transplant Association of Canada is still a young organization. Over the last four years we have made a significant investment of imagination, time and money to establish and build our programs. Now that the organization has a solid foundation it can move forward and invest a higher proportion of its revenues into functioning programs.

We thank you for making this possible. Your continuing support makes all the difference!