Donate Life, the organ and tissue donation registry for California, contracted with Meta to assist the organization in determining barriers to signing up with the donation registry. This study was designed to test the theory that the primary barrier to registering as an organ and tissue donor was people’s belief that they were already registered as a donor. Secondary data was also collected from participants that knew they were non-donors to drill down into additional barriers. Finally, data was collected from all participants to determine awareness and opinions of the organization as well as education for teens in schools on the subject of organ and tissue donation.

A telephone survey of 425 California residents was conducted with non-registered donors using a listed sample. Interviews were conducted in both Spanish and English. Several actionable items were determined including some insightful findings the organization had not anticipated. In April 2009, Donate Life CA held a press conference at the state capitol referencing the Meta Research study to aid them in their lobbying efforts toward educating teens. Donate Life CA also plans to use this valuable insight to implement systematic changes to the organization and provide direction for further studies and marketing efforts.