Eligibility

You must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds. There is no maximum age or weight limit for donation.

Donors 18 or younger must also meet additional height and weight requirements for whole blood donation (applies to girls shorter than 5'6" and boys shorter than 5').

If you've traveled to a country where malaria is found in the past 12 months, you may not be eligible. Before you donate, a nurse will review any travel outside the US or Canada to make sure there are no issues.

For tattoos, wait three months if the tattoo was applied in a state that does not regulate tattoo facilities: the District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming. A tattoo is acceptable if applied by a state-regulated entity using sterile needles and ink that is not reused.

For piercings, you can donate right away as long as the instruments were single-use and disposable. Wait three months if a reusable gun or instrument was used, or if there's any question about it.

Almost all medications won't disqualify you. See the Red Cross deferral list for the ones that will.

If you don't feel well, have a fever, or are having trouble breathing through your mouth, wait to donate until those symptoms go away.

The previous MSM policy has been replaced with the Individual Donor Assessment approach, a more inclusive and equitable blood donation policy. All donors fill out the same gender-neutral donor history questionnaire before each donation.

Any individual, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, who has had new or multiple sexual partners in the last three months and also had anal sex in that timeframe will be asked to wait three months from last anal sex contact.

Reach out at blooddrivesunited@umich.edu for volunteering information — our drives run on volunteers as much as donors.