1. The scholarship program period is June 1 – Aug. 31. 

2. All virtual blood drives and blood donations must be June 1 – Aug. 31 to be counted toward the student’s scholarship total.  

3. To qualify for the scholarship, students are required to start a virtual blood drive at vbd.vitalant.org and enroll in the Student Leader Scholarship Program. 
4. To qualify for the scholarship, students must:
   1. Log in or create an account under the virtual blood drive platform vbd.vitalant.org. 
   2. Navigate to “View Profile” and enroll in the Student Leader Scholarship program.
   3. Create a virtual blood drive at

5. Students will be provided a unique blood drive link to recruit blood donors to their scholarship virtual blood drive. 
6. Appointments and donations must be made using the student’s unique virtual blood drive link to count toward the scholarship.   

7. Donations that are not tracked by the student’s scholarship link will not count toward the scholarship.  
8. Donations made to other virtual blood drives, onsite blood drives, blood centers or donation locations will not be added to an individual student’s scholarship virtual blood drive. 

9. To qualify, students must be enrolled or plan to enroll in a college, university, community college, trade school or other post-high school educational facility within the United States. Full-time enrollment is not required.  
10. When the program period ends, students who have met the criteria for an award will receive an email with an online redemption form required for fund distribution to the student’s school.  

11. All virtual blood drives and results are subject to review and verification prior to award notification.   
12. Scholarships will be dispersed to the designated college, university or trade school the student designates, in the student’s name. Awards may not be used for high school tuition or expenses. 

13. Scholarships must be redeemed through the online redemption form within 90 days of initial email notification. Awards that are not redeemed within 90 days of notification will be considered null and void.  
14. This one-time scholarship program is not associated with other Vitalant scholarship programs or promotions.  

15. Students who have received scholarships from Vitalant in the past, and meet all program requirements, are eligible to participate. 

16. Students are responsible for understanding the program guidelines and verifying their program eligibility.  
17. Vitalant reserves the right to not pay the scholarship.  

18. Scholarships will be distributed at the end of the program. Early payouts will not be processed. 
19. It is the student’s responsibility to provide Vitalant accurate redemption information. Vitalant is not responsible for school address verification prior to processing scholarships. 

20. Students should allow a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks for scholarship distribution processing and receipt of payment after redemption information is provided. 
21. Scholarship awards will not be made payable to any individual.  

22. Unused funds paid to a school on behalf of a student may not be refunded by the school to any individual. 
23. Awards will not be held for future payout. 

24. Awards will not be reissued should a student change schools after redemption. 
25. Awards are not transferrable and not redeemable for cash.  

26. Vitalant staff, and friends and family of Vitalant staff, are eligible to participate in the scholarship program if they meet all other requirements.  
27. Vitalant reserves the right to make changes to this program at any time without notification. 

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.