Gift of Life Michigan

What Gift of Life Michigan does

Gift of Life Michigan is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the state of Michigan, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Ann Arbor. The organization recovers more than 1,000 organs annually from over 500 organ donors and facilitates more than 1,500 tissue donations each year, coordinating the full donation process from hospital referral through surgical recovery to transplant placement. It maintains the Michigan Organ Donor Registry, a confidential database of 4.8 million registered donors built through a 50-year partnership with the Michigan Secretary of State, which drives over 95% of new registrations. The organization operates a 24/7 communication center handling more than 36,000 referral calls per year and a 100,000+ square-foot headquarters that includes a 54,000-square-foot Donor Care Center surgical suite and an in-house histocompatibility laboratory performing more than 17,000 compatibility tests and 9,000 infectious disease tests annually. Gift of Life Michigan also runs the placenta donation program with Trinity Health hospitals, the All of Us youth education program, and donor family support services, supported by 400+ employees across clinical, administrative, laboratory, communications, and IT functions.

Revenue is generated primarily through CMS-mandated reimbursement as a designated OPO, supplemented by charitable contributions, fundraising events, and a tissue processing partnership for placenta grafts. Customer-facing operations span four segments: donor families, transplant recipients, Michigan hospitals and transplant centers, and volunteers/advocates. The organization is governed by a Governing Board and Advisory Board and reports clinical and operational metrics across all Michigan hospitals via direct referral relationships and the OPTN system for national organ placement.

Name

Gift of Life Michigan

Legal name

Gift of Life Michigan

Website

https://giftoflifemichigan.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Gift of Life Michigan is Michigan's federally designated organ procurement organization, recovering 1,000+ organs and 1,500+ tissue donations annually while maintaining a 4.8M-donor statewide registry, serving hospitals, donor families, and transplant recipients since 1971.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Organ and Tissue Donation Services

NAICS

Blood and Organ Banks (621991)

akta.pro primary industry

Blood, Organ & Tissue Donation Organizations (BPAGACAJ)

Keywords

• Organ donation services
• Tissue donation services
• Organ procurement
• Donor registry management
• Transplant coordination

Headquarters

HQ city

Ann Arbor

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Healthcare Services Reimbursement: As a federally designated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), Gift of Life Michigan operates under CMS reimbursement structures. OPOs receive payment for services related to organ recovery and transplantation coordination, funded through the healthcare system rather than direct consumer payments.
2. Charitable Donations and Fundraising: The organization accepts financial contributions from donors to support youth education programs, community outreach, donor family support, and general operational expenses. The Gift of Life Foundation (merged into the organization in 2023) previously provided financial assistance and grants.
3. Placenta Donation Program: Partnership with Trinity Health hospitals to facilitate placenta donation for wound healing applications, generating revenue through tissue processing partnerships.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Gift of Life Michigan is Michigan's federally designated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), recovering and coordinating organ and tissue donations for transplantation. The organization operates a 54,000-square-foot Donor Care Center surgical suite and an in-house Histocompatibility Laboratory, and maintains the Michigan Organ Donor Registry in partnership with the Michigan Secretary of State. It recovers more than 1,000 organs annually from over 500 donors and serves 1,500+ tissue donors each year.

Product overview

Gift of Life Michigan operates as a single, unified nonprofit healthcare service organization providing organ and tissue donation services across Michigan. The core offering centers on organ donation services (recovering more than 1,000 organs annually) and tissue donation services, supported by the Michigan Organ Donor Registry maintained in partnership with the Michigan Secretary of State. The organization operates a Donor Care Center with a 54,000-square-foot surgical suite and an in-house histocompatibility laboratory. Supporting services include placenta donation, living organ donation support, donor family support services, and community outreach programs. Educational offerings include the All of Us Youth Education Program and the LifeLINES publication. The organization does not operate a modular software platform but rather provides integrated donation healthcare services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Organ Donation Services Recovery and transplantation coordination of organs including lungs, kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, and intestines for Michigan patients on the organ transplant waiting list; recovers more than 1,000 organs every year from more than 500 donors.
• Tissue Donation Services Recovery of bone, skin, and other tissues that help heal seriously injured and sick recipients; tissue donation can heal up to 75 patients per donor.
• Michigan Organ Donor Registry Confidential database maintained in partnership with the Michigan Secretary of State and Donate Life America, documenting Michigan residents' decisions to become organ, eye and tissue donors; contains over 4.8 million registered donors.
• Placenta Donation Program Partnership with Trinity Health Michigan hospitals enabling new parents to donate placenta for wound healing applications; each placenta can be processed into upwards of 100 grafts used in dental, ocular, and complex wound healing procedures.
• Living Organ Donation Support Education and support services for living kidney, liver, and lung donation, including information about paired kidney exchanges and transplant center evaluations.
• Donor Family Support Services Comprehensive support for donor families including grief resources, family support specialists, donor remembrance activities, donor family gatherings, and assistance with writing to transplant recipients.
• Donor Care Center State-of-the-art on-site surgical facility in Ann Arbor enabling organ recovery procedures independent of hospital operating rooms.
• Histocompatibility Laboratory In-house laboratory performing more than 17,000 compatibility tests and more than 9,000 infectious disease tests annually to support organ matching and donation safety.
• LifeLINES Publication Monthly publication covering transplant news, industry innovations, and stories about transplant recipients and tributes to donors and donor families.
• All of Us Youth Education Program Award-winning hands-on learning experience for high school students about organ, eye, and tissue donation, including traveling trunks with educational materials.
• Community Outreach Programs Multicultural outreach including Hispanic, African American, and Arab American community outreach; faith community partnerships; campus challenges; and HOSA challenge programs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,000 organs recovered annually for transplantation
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EversightcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1971Partnership (formerly Michigan Eye-Bank) for cornea and eye donation management. Gift of Life works with Eversight to manage eye donation, with Gift of Life continuing to support Eversight's 'Gift of Sight' campaign providing financial assistance to cornea transplant patients.
• Michigan Secretary of StatecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOver 50-year partnership to maintain and grow the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. Over 95% of Michigan residents register as donors through Secretary of State branch offices during driver license transactions. Senator Carl Levin was the first person to sign up in 1994.
• Donate Life AmericacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational partnership for the organ donor registry, enabling Michigan residents to register through the national Donate Life registry system.
• Donate Life Coalition of MichigancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStatewide coalition focused on promoting organ donation awareness and increasing donor registrations across Michigan.
• Detroit MOTTEP FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMinority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP) partnership to address the shortage of donors in minority communities through education and outreach. Gift of Life MOTTEP is a formal partnership between Gift of Life Michigan and the Detroit MOTTEP Foundation, hosting annual LIFE Walk/Run events.
• Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational membership organization for OPOs. Gift of Life Michigan's CEO Dorrie Dils served as AOPO President in 2024-25, demonstrating leadership in the organ donation industry.
• Trinity Health MichigancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for placenta donation program at Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital, Trinity Health Livonia Hospital, and Trinity Health Oakland Hospital. Enables new parents to donate placenta for wound healing applications.
• Central Michigan University (CMU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHistoric first-of-its-kind partnership allowing CMU employees to register as organ, eye and tissue donors through the university's annual April employee benefits enrollment process.
• Michigan Health & Hospital AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStatewide healthcare association partnership for hospital engagement and organ donation coordination.
• Organ Donation and Transplantation AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational partnership focused on increasing donation rates and improving transplant access through industry collaboration and best practices.
• Association for Advancing Tissue and Biologics (AATB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMembership in tissue banking industry association for standards development and professional best practices.
• Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational association focused on multicultural outreach and addressing disparities in organ donation within diverse communities.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• LifeNet Health: Nonprofit organ and tissue procurement organization based in Virginia. Comparable in tissue recovery focus and clinical infrastructure (including allograft processing) to Gift of Life Michigan's tissue operations.
• Gift of Life Donor Program: Largest OPO in the U.S. serving Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Despite sharing the 'Gift of Life' name, it is a separate organization; both function as federally designated OPOs with similar organ recovery, tissue, and donor registry operations.
• Mid-America Transplant: Federally designated OPO serving eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and northeastern Arkansas. Comparable in scale, service mix, and operational structure to Gift of Life Michigan, with similar hospital referral and donor registry operations.
• LifeLink Foundation: Federally designated OPO serving Georgia, Florida (west), and Puerto Rico. Performs organ and tissue recovery with comparable clinical operations, histocompatibility lab services, and donor family support programs.
• Iowa Donor Network: Federally designated OPO serving Iowa and parts of neighboring states. Comparable mid-sized OPO with organ and tissue recovery, donor registry management, and public education functions similar to Gift of Life Michigan.
• Mid-South Transplant Foundation: Federally designated OPO serving Tennessee. Comparable in operational scale and service mix to Gift of Life Michigan, performing organ and tissue procurement with hospital coordination and donor family support.
• Southwest Transplant Alliance: Federally designated OPO serving Texas. Performs organ recovery, tissue donation, and donor family support comparable to Gift of Life Michigan, with similar 24/7 communication center and hospital referral operations.
• Donor Network West: Federally designated OPO serving northern California and Nevada. Performs the same organ and tissue procurement and donor family services as Gift of Life, with comparable hospital partnerships and registry operations.
• New England Donor Services: Federally designated OPO serving parts of New England. Performs the same organ and tissue procurement, donor family support, and public education functions as Gift of Life Michigan within its designated service area.

Broad incumbents

• Eversight: Eye bank organization partnering with Gift of Life for cornea and eye donation management. While focused specifically on ocular tissue rather than full multi-organ recovery, it is a direct operating partner and comparable nonprofit tissue recovery organization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/giftoflifemichigan
• Facebookfacebook.com/giftoflifemichigan
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/giftoflifemichigan
• Instagraminstagram.com/giftoflifemich
• Xx.com/giftoflifemich

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles25 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gift of Life Michigan