1. The scholarship program period is June 1 – Aug. 31, 2024.
2. All virtual blood drives and blood donations must be completed June 1 – Aug. 31 to be counted toward the student’s scholarship total. Donations made prior to June 1 or after close of business Aug. 31 will not count toward the scholarship total.
3. To qualify for the scholarship, students are required to request a custom blood drive link by filling out the online form at vitalant.org/scholarship and host a virtual blood drive.
4. Students will be provided a custom blood drive link to recruit blood donors and record their scholarship blood donations. 
5. To count toward the scholarship, blood donations must be made using the student’s unique virtual blood drive link. 
6. Completed blood donations must be made to count toward the scholarship goal. Deferrals and unsuccessful donations will not count toward the scholarship goal. 
7. Donations must be completed in compliance with the virtual blood drive process to count toward the scholarship goal. Completed blood donations that are not tracked by the student’s scholarship link will not count toward the scholarship goal. 
8. One “extra credit” will be automatically added to the first donation made by a new or first time blood donor. A new or first time blood donor is a donor who is registered and completes their first blood donation with Vitalant. Example: After signing up for the student leader’s virtual blood drive, a new blood donor gives their first whole blood donation with Vitalant. With the “extra credit” for being a new blood donor, the whole blood donation counts as 2 credits toward the student’s scholarship total.
9. There is no upper limit to the number of new donors a student leader can recruit to their scholarship blood drive.
10. Vitalant account managers can provide virtual blood drive status updates. 
11. When the program period ends, scholarship recipients will receive an email with a Vitalant provided scholarship information form required for fund distribution to the student’s school. 
12. Scholarships must be claimed within 12 months of initial email notification. 
13. Scholarships will be dispersed to the designated college, university or trade school the student designates, in the student’s name. 
14. No scholarships will be awarded directly to an individual student. 
15. Scholarships are not transferrable. 
16. Students must meet the following eligibility requirements to participate: 
    • Be enrolled, plan to enroll or be accepted for the 2024 fall or 2025 spring semester for curriculum at a college, university, community college, trade school or other post-high school educational facility within the United States.  
    • For high school participants, student leaders must be planning to continue their education in the fall or spring semester of the next academic year. Full-time enrollment is not required. 
17. This one-time scholarship program is not associated with other Vitalant scholarship programs or promotions. 
18. All scholarship credits are subject to review and verification prior to awarding the scholarship.  
19. Students who have received scholarships in other Vitalant scholarship programs, and meet all program requirements, are eligible to participate.
20. Students are responsible for verifying their eligibility to participate. Vitalant reserves the right to not pay the scholarship based on blood drive results and student eligibility that do not meet the program criteria. 
21. Scholarships will be distributed at the end of the program, after program results have been audited and finalized.
22. Students should allow a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks for scholarship distribution processing and receipt of payment.
23. Vitalant staff and friends and family members of Vitalant staff are eligible to participate in the scholarship program. 
24. For questions, students may contact a local Vitalant representative or call 877-25-VITAL. 

You’ll receive your scholarship blood drive link in an email with instructions and resource links within minutes of submitting the form to start your blood drive. It’s a good practice to check spam and junk folders for an email from getinvolved@vitalant.northeast.org if an email does not populate your inbox.

If you don’t receive your confirmation email, and you’ve checked your spam and junk folders, you should submit another request form. The first form could have been submitted with an error in the email address. Be sure to use an email you check frequently and make sure it is entered correctly.

You’ve signed up to host a virtual blood drive! The virtual blood drive link allows you to recruit donors to any Vitalant donation center and blood drive in the U.S. 

To recruit donors, you must copy and paste the full virtual blood drive link to enable accurate tracking, unless you create a QR code (see below). Students should promote their drives and share their scholarship blood drive links through social media, email, phone calls, tabling, and personal asks. The donor’s email address is used to track their donation to the student’s drive, and the email address must be the same from pledge to donation. A 2-minute instructional video is available on Vimeo and YouTube. Watch it and share the link with donors so they know exactly what to do when they join your drive!

A QR code may be used to convert the blood drive link using the instructions in this document. If these exact instructions aren’t followed, you could corrupt your blood drive link and disable the link’s tracking functionality. A BitLy is strongly discouraged and should not be used to shorten the virtual blood drive link.

Per the program guidelines, students receive credit for successful (completed) blood donations. Attempts, deferrals, incomplete and unsuccessful donations do not count toward the scholarship credits.

Yes! Depending on the procedure, a donor may be eligible to give more than once during the scholarship program period. Educating donors about different types of donations, like Power Red and platelet donations, are great ways to support patients and accumulate credits toward a scholarship. Repeat donors must submit a new pledge before each donation to track accurately. You can find educational materials about the different types of donations best suited to a donor’s blood type in the Student Toolkit.

Yes! Students who are eligible are encouraged to donate to their own blood drive. Students need to follow the same process as other donors participating in their blood drive: they need to pledge using their personal blood drive link and use the same email address from pledge to donation.

Students are encouraged to stay in contact with their account manager for regular progress reports. Account managers are also a great resource for recruitment ideas! After the program ends Aug. 31, blood drive results will be audited. Students will be notified of their scholarship award via email in September.

Once you start earning credits, you will receive bi-weekly email updates of total credits accrued. Your local representative can also provide updates on your drive throughout the program or you can call 877-25-VITAL.