Is there an age limit to donate a kidney?

You must be at least 18. There is no fixed upper age limit — the transplant centre assesses your overall health rather than your birth date, and people in their sixties and beyond do donate. See kidney donor requirements for what the evaluation screens for.

Can I choose who receives my kidney?

Yes. Through MatchingDonors you can read registered patients' profiles and decide who you would like to help. You can also choose to donate without directing it to a particular person.

How long does the whole process take?

The transplant-centre evaluation is usually the longest part and typically runs weeks to months, depending on how quickly tests can be scheduled and reviewed. Registering and matching can happen much faster.

Does donating cost me anything?

Your donation-related medical care is generally covered by the recipient's insurance. Out-of-pocket costs such as travel, lodging and lost wages may be reimbursable through a federal programme — see donor costs and expenses.

Can I change my mind after I start?

Yes, at any point, and without having to justify it. Donation is voluntary and the transplant centre will stop the process if you ask.

How to Become a Living Kidney Donor

Most people who want to become a living kidney donor stall at the same point: they do not know what actually happens next. Here is the whole path, step by step.

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15,000+ registered potential donors
501(c)(3) nonprofit since 2004

If you are thinking about how to become a living kidney donor, the process is more structured — and more reversible — than most people expect. You are not signing anything binding by starting. At every stage, right up to the day of surgery, you can stop.

More than 90,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney, and the average wait at most transplant centres runs three to five years, longer in some parts of the country. One living donor removes one person from that queue.

Step 1: Decide, without pressure

There is no obligation attached to reading this page, registering, or even talking to a transplant centre. Living donation is voluntary by law and by medical ethics. Transplant centres assign donors an independent donor advocate whose only job is to represent the donor's interests — not the recipient's, and not the centre's.

Step 2: Register with MatchingDonors

MatchingDonors is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has been connecting patients with living altruistic donors since 2004. Registering as a potential donor is free. You create a profile describing who you are and what you are open to, and you can browse the patients who have registered.

You choose whom to help. That is the part most people do not realise. You are not assigned to someone. You can read patients' stories and decide who to reach out to — or ask to be matched with whoever is the best medical fit.

Step 3: Match with a patient

When you and a patient both want to proceed, the process moves to that patient's transplant centre. Nothing medical happens through MatchingDonors itself — the nonprofit makes the introduction, and the transplant centre does all clinical work.

Step 4: The transplant-centre evaluation

This is the longest stage, and it exists to protect you. The centre runs blood and urine tests, imaging of your kidneys, a full medical history, a psychological assessment, and a meeting with your independent donor advocate. They are checking two things: that donating is safe for you, and that you are choosing it freely.

Expect weeks to months rather than days. Tests are often spread across several visits and results have to be reviewed by a committee. If anything raises a concern the centre will decline — and that decision is made on your behalf, not against you.

Step 5: The surgery

Kidney removal for donation is usually done laparoscopically, through small incisions rather than one large one. Living donors typically stay in hospital one to two nights.

Step 6: Recovery

Most donors make a full recovery four to six weeks after surgery, and many return to desk work sooner. You will be asked not to lift anything heavier than a jug of milk for about six weeks while the incisions heal.

Longer term the evidence is reassuring. According to the National Kidney Foundation, donating your kidney does not change your life expectancy, and fewer than one per cent of donors go on to develop end-stage kidney disease.

You can withdraw at any point. If you change your mind during the evaluation — or the night before surgery — you say so, and the centre ends the process. Transplant teams are used to this, and will not tell the recipient it was your decision unless you want them to.

What it costs you

Your medical costs as a donor are generally billed to the recipient's insurance rather than to you. Travel, lodging and lost wages are a separate matter, and a federal programme reimburses many donors for exactly those. That is covered on does it cost money to donate a kidney.