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 Donation Form. Forms can be mailed to you or downloaded and printed from this page.

The donation authorization consent form (available in the "Resources" sidebar) is for an individual wishing to donate their own body to the Anatomy Bequest Program.  Individuals have to be considered legally competent at the time they complete the consent form.  If an individual is not able to sign on his/her own behalf, the Anatomy Bequest Program considers next-of-kin or authorizing persons donations on an individual basis.

You can ask us to mail you a form by:

• Completing an Inquiry Form
• Calling the Anatomy Bequest Program at 612-625-1111, or
• Emailing the Anatomy Bequest Program at bequest@umn.edu

Step 2

We suggest that you make copies of your consent form and give them to the individuals who will be notified at the time of your death. It is important that your physician, your family and your friends know of your donation consent so they can make sure your wishes are carried out.

Make sure the Anatomy Bequest Program Donation form is completed, signed and witnessed by two people. The signatures do not have to be notarized. Please return the original form to the following address:

Anatomy Bequest Program
University of Minnesota
3-102 Nils Hasselmo Hall
312 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0215

Or via fax to 612-625-1688.

Health Care Directive Information

A health care directive form is an easy and inexpensive way to make your healthcare decisions known in the event you are unable to make your own decisions.  Health care directive forms often also 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 would have 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 the 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.

The Minnesota State Revisers Office recommends standardized advance health care directive language which may be found here. The Anatomy Bequest Program has imported the suggested language into a PDF form which you can fill out and print, the form can be found here.  If you are using Firefox, right click on the link and select Save Link As. Then open the file in Adobe Acrobat.

If you also have an Advance Health Care Directive, please enclose a copy with your donation consent form.  If you are using Firefox, right click on the link and select Save Link As. Then open the file in Adobe Acrobat.

The consent form must be on file at the University of Minnesota at the time of death. Upon receipt of the completed consent form, the Anatomy Bequest Program will send you a letter of acknowledgement and a donor wallet card.