This national day highlights an important need in the medical industry: the need for donors of the ethnic minority. There is a devastating lack of donors of all types who belong to all ethnic minorities, be it blood, organ, or tissue donors. This means that those looking for transplants have a much lower chance of being matched and given the life saving transfusions and transplants that they need. Success in these kinds of procedures is much higher when patients are paired with donors of the same or similar ethnic makeup. National Minority Donor Awareness Day puts the spotlight directly onto this issue and puts out an open call for minorities to donate.

August 1 is observed as National Minority Donor Awareness Day.

National Minority Awareness Day is observed in conjunction with National Minority Awareness Week, and both observances have the same goal: to bring awareness to the need for the minority community to increase donations of blood, organs, and tissue.