Where We've Been

LifeSource hires its first employee, Susan Gunderson, and is granted full membership in UNOS as an organ procurement organization.

LifeSource joins donation agencies around the country as part of Donate Life America (formerly the Coalition on Donation), a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing donor registration and creating a culture where donation is embraced as a fundamental human responsibility.

LifeSource launches an online donor registry in the state of Minnesota. At the press conference announcement, Governor Tim Pawlenty becomes the first Minnesotan to add his name to the online donor registry.

North Dakota passes a state law to allow youth under the age of 18 to register as a donor on their driver’s license or state ID card. The law was supported by friends of Alexa Kersting, a young girl from West Fargo, ND who died while waiting for a lung transplant.

LifeSource opens its Donor Services Center, bringing the crucial function of referral management, tissue and eye donation family conversations and donation coordination in-house. 

LifeSource secures a federal grant and partners with Rapid City Regional Hospital to create our Donate Life Black Hills project. This program was centered on healthcare professionals sharing the message of donation in their community and featured several videos of hospital staff stating their support and educating the public.

LifeSource’s Board of Directors formally approves the launch of an intentional fundraising program to support public education and donor family care. Learn how you can contribute at the link below.

LifeSource facilitates a first-of-its-kind gift of donation in the Upper Midwest – a face transplant – in partnership with Mayo Clinic and Sanford Health. This unique and generous gift was provided by a donor named Calen “Rudy” Ross and his wife, Lilly. 

Team MN-DAK becomes a program of LifeSource, bringing in-house the celebration of donation and transplantation through athletic competition. Team MN-DAK participates in the Donate Life Transplant Games of America and, in turn, honors donors, donor families, celebrates transplant and encourages others to register as donors.

LifeSource’s dedication to performance excellence and improvement is recognized with the “Excellence Level” of recognition from the Performance Excellence Network (PEN). This is the highest recognition given by PEN, indicating mature, well-aligned organizational processes, systematic evaluation and improvement, and strong organizational results with some leading the industry.

LifeSource is honored as a Top Workplace on the annual Star Tribune list, as ranked by employees. The engagement factor most cited by employees is “connection to the mission.”

Children’s Minnesota becomes the ninth hospital in the LifeSource region to add a transplant center.

On September 21, LifeSource team members provided a half day workshop for 85 interpreters representing about 30 languages. 

This session was a unique opportunity to foster strong relationships between LifeSource and the interpreter community and develop strategies to collaboratively support non-English speaking families. The session concluded with robust dialogue including questions from interpreters as well as recommended opportunities for collaboration. 

LifeSource honors 30 years of saving and healing lives. We’re honored to have cared for more than 10,000 generous donors and their families, providing more than 15,000 organs for transplant and more than 500,000 tissue grafts for people in need. 

During a global pandemic and civil unrest that upended American life and health, LifeSource team made possible the second highest number of organ donations in its 30-year history and helped save more than 600 lives. 

LifeSource Joins Biostasis Research Institute to Initiate Human “Organ Bank.” The University of Minnesota became one of two institutions in the United States to host a new center established by the Biostasis Research Institute (BRI) aimed at creating human organ banks through the cryogenic storage of organs donated for transplantation. This initiative aims to reduce time on the waiting list for future transplant recipients and would allow many others to become organ donors – a rare opportunity due to current medical criteria. This incredible work will advance the LifeSource mission to honor the heroism of every organ donor by maximizing the impact of their lifesaving gifts. 

In May, LifeSource honored the wishes of our 5,000th organ donor since official reporting began in 1990. 

On July 20, the Stillwater City Council adopted a resolution to designate the City of Stillwater as a Donate Life℠ City. Stillwater, Minnesota is the first city in the nation to affirm its community-wide commitment to organ, eye and tissue donation by being designated as a Donate Life City. 

LifeSource adopted practice of recognizing the deep and enduring relationship between Indigenous people and the land we call the United States. This practice acknowledges the historical, current, and future practices that result in the marginalization, displacement, and extermination of Indigenous people in our region. Furthermore, this regular and consistent practice demonstrates our respect for the people of the 23 sovereign Indigenous Nations in our designated service area.

At the start of all organizational and department-wide meetings, the meeting host will make a short statement acknowledging the land. 

Nichole Salaam is hired as LifeSource’s first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Director. Salaam will lead the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion program both at the programmatic and administrative levels to drive one of two “Bold Aims” set for the organization’s future.

Peter Farstad announced as LifeSource Interim Chief Executive Officer. 

“In honor of Pride month, LifeSource raised the Progress Pride flag to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of our LGBTQIA+ communities and consider how all can advance the progress of civil rights and equity. We honored those who started this movement, brave enough to live their truth and forced to fight for their place in our society. We recognized that donation will not be equal until every member of the LGBTQ+ community can participate without discrimination. Proud of my organization.” – Peter Farstad, LifeSource Interim Chief Executive Officer

Starting June 2022, LifeSource is flying the Progress Pride flag – a symbol of unity, remembrance and hope – and continues to fly the flag every day forward. This is just one way we’re celebrating and showing our support and allyship for our LGBTQIA+ team members and community.

July was a milestone month for organ and tissue in the Upper Midwest with more donors than any other month in LifeSource’s 33-year history: 28 organ donors (84 organs transplanted/lives saved) and 118 tissue donors (more than 8,850 lives impacted). The second highest month saw 26 organ donors and 100 tissue donors. LifeSource is also on track to fulfill the wishes of more donors in 2022 than any previous year. 

On December 19, 2022, LifeSource raised the Donate Life Flag to honor a historic milestone: fulfilling the wishes of more than 1,000 tissue donors in a single year – a record since our tissue program began in 1999. The total tissue donors for 2022 was 1,058.