Community Partners

Hundreds of thousands of people are alive today because businesses, non-profit organizations, financial supporters, volunteers, blood donors, and our own talented employees give generously to advance our mission of saving and sustaining lives. 

Locally based and dedicated to meeting local needs, Memorial Blood Centers works in and for the communities we serve. We strive to make a difference through rich and rewarding partnerships that inform, inspire, and engage everyone in saving and sustaining lives through blood donation. 

The need is great, as are the opportunities for giving. And the rewards are life changing. 

To learn more about corporate, community, and foundation partnerships, contact Phil Losacker, Community Relations Manager. 

Thanks to all who partner with us—whether providing funding for a new bloodmobile, sponsoring a blood drive or special event, or contributing toward special programs to recruit and test new donors. Thanks to you, we have been able to continuously reach out to benefit those in need. We are especially grateful for the partnerships featured below—businesses and organizations that have played a significant, long-term role in fulfilling our mission to save and sustain lives through blood donation. 

Memorial Blood Centers Partners

Leading businesses and organizations help ensure that a reliable and safe supply of blood is available for all who need it.

  • General Mills: Has been a blood drive sponsor with Memorial Blood Centers since our founding in 1948. Corporate volunteers also help ensure the success of the annual What’s Your Type? fundraiser
  • KARE11: Our long partnership includes twice-annual blood drives and provides the exclusive opportunity for free blood typing for more than 4,000 visitors at the Minnesota State Fair
  • Best Buy: A top blood drive sponsor for Memorial Blood Center for many years. Free blood typing and sickle cell trait testing educate potential donors at more than 30 local and statewide events, including Best Buy’s Annual Enrollment Health Fair
  • Target Corporation: This top sponsor engages its employees to donate and give back to as many as 55,000 people in the community
  • Donaldson Corporation: MBC employees annually join forces with long-time blood drive partner Donaldson Corporation in the MS150 Ride to fund Multiple Sclerosis research

Collaborations with civic groups, hospitals, and other non-profit partners build community spirit and support, and contribute to improving the health and well-being of the communities in which we work, live, and serve.

  • Cookie Cart: North Minneapolis-based Cookie Cart, a non-profit that provides employment and leadership opportunities to youth, is the sole provider of cookies at Memorial Blood Centers’ six metro donor centers 
  • St. Paul Saints: Annual blood drive events honor Half-Pint Heroes and the thousands of children whose lives have been saved by blood transfusions
  • Minneapolis Public Schools and AchieveMpls: Memorial Blood Centers is a yearly STEP-UP Program sponsor, providing participants with summer internships and the work experience and professional connections they need to become tomorrow’s leaders
  • Community Health Charities: The MBC Employee Giving Campaign, in cooperation with Community Health Charities, makes it easy for employees to support a charity of choice through payroll deduction. Each years employees give an average $20,000 back to their community

MBC also is a proud member of dozens of Chambers of Commerce, including Ashland, Bemidji, Cloquet, Duluth, Grand Rapids, Hayward, Hermantown, International Falls, Minneapolis, St. Paul, TwinWest, Two Harbors, Waconia, and more.

  • Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Cancer Kids Fund: $15,000 grant helped type and match over 375 new Sickle Cell Donor Program participants 
  • Foundation of America’s Blood Centers: $25,000 grant, and the participation of the HealthEast Care System, funded a comprehensive blood transfusion training curriculum and simulation videos to help all partner hospitals better prepare for emergency cases of massive obstetric hemorrhaging 
  • Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation: Major ongoing financial support—$150,000 over three years—has helped purchase a new bloodmobile and launch the Apheresis Angels Program of generous platelet donors. 
  • Google: $120,000 Adwords advertising grant to improve search engine optimization (SEO) supports increased outreach to potential new blood donors 
  • Ameriprise: A 40-year blood drive sponsor and financial partner that has supported efforts to expand Twin Cities metro area donor recruitment and blood drive sponsorship for three consecutive years 
  • Park Nicollet Foundation: Supporting sickle cell education and donor recruitment 
  • Polaris Foundation: Has generously gifted several all-terrain vehicles to be raffled off during high-need times of year
  • Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund: $10,000 grant to test and identify HLA-matched platelet donors to benefit patients undergoing sustained treatments against cancer