How to Donate

Before making a decision regarding whole body donation, we suggest you read the information on the What is Whole Body Donation page. If you have any questions or concerns, please call us for clarification before proceeding. We also suggest you talk it over with your family and/or interested others before making your decision.

Steps for becoming a donor

Step 1

Obtain an Anatomy Bequest Program Donation Consent. Donation Consents can be mailed to you or downloaded and printed from the Resources panel of this page. Individuals must be considered legally competent at the time they complete the consent.

You can request a Donation Consent by:

• Completing an Inquiry Form
• Calling the Anatomy Bequest Program at 612-625-1111, or
• Emailing the Anatomy Bequest Program at [email protected]

Step 2

We suggest that you make copies of your Donation Consent and distribute them to the individuals who will be notified at the time of your death. It is important that your physician, family and friends know of your Donation Consent so they know to contact the Anatomy Bequest Program at your time of death.

The Anatomy Bequest Program Donation Consent must be complete, signed by the donor on their own behalf, and witnessed by two people. The signatures do not have to be notarized. Return the Donation Consent to the Anatomy Bequest Program by mail, email, or fax. The Program's contact information is in the maroon block below. A copy of the Donation Consent will be as valid as an original signed Donation Consent. The Anatomy Bequest Program cannot accept a donation unless a fully executed Donation Consent is on file at the Anatomy Bequest Program at the time of death. Upon receipt of the Donation Consent, the Anatomy Bequest Program will mail an acknowledgement letter and donor wallet card.

Health Care Directive Information

A Health Care Directive is an easy and inexpensive way to name another person (called the Health Care Agent) to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to decide or speak for yourself. Health Care Directives can be completed to allow your Health Care Agent to make anatomical donation and after death decisions about what will happen to your body.

A Health Care Directive is not required for whole body donation to the Anatomy Bequest Program. A copy of an existing Health Care Directive is required if the person you have empowered as a health care agent is other than your legally recognized kin, or if you wish to empowered a lower level family member to be your health care agent over a higher ordered family member. For example, if you have empowered a sibling to make after death decisions on your behalf and you are married at the time of your death, we would need to have a copy of your health care directive on file in order to accept the donation and work with your sibling at the time of donation. The Anatomy Bequest Program has the right to decline a donation in the event of family discord at the time of the death.

Learn more about the recommended standardized Health Care Directive language from the Minnesota Revisor’s Office.

The Anatomy Bequest Program has imported the suggested language into a PDF form which you can fill out and print. If you are using Firefox, right click on the link and select Save Link As. Then open the file in Adobe Acrobat.