Longer description of your proposed project

I was a lifelong educator for 33 years, most recently a professor and program director of the Peace Corps Fellows Program at Columbia University. I resigned in March of 2022 to support the passage of legislation that will end the kidney shortage.

As the Director of Waitlist Zero, I am working on four laws that will dissolve some of the barriers to living kidney donation, the gold standard of care for those with kidney failure. The first is the most bold. As a founding member of the Coalition to Modify NOTA, I am in talks with Congressional leaders to champion passing a law to provide all non-directed kidney donors with a refundable $50,000 tax credit over 5 years. This proposal is consistent with the government's history of providing tax credits to encourage behaviors they believe are desirable like home buying and adoption. We are on the verge of introducing this bill in the House. Our community meets monthly and has a multitude of supporters in the transplant field. We have estimated that this bill will save American taxpayers $12 billion by year ten and save thousands more lives.

The second project is passing the Honor Our Living Donors (HOLD) Act that will make far more low income donors able to access reimbursement for lost wages and costs from the federal government. This bill has been introduced in the House by Representatives Obernole and DelBene. I am seeking cosponsorship in the House as well as Senate sponsors.

The third project is an omnibus bill in Colorado sponsored by State Representative Manny Ramirez that aims to increase the number of kidney donations. Donors in Wisconsin have reached out to me to help launch a similar bill.

The fourth project is implementing the Waitlist Zero law entitled the Living Donor Support Act that was passed unanimously in 2022. We are working with the New York State Health Commissioner and stakeholders to make sure the law is implemented by January of 2024. This law will make New York State the most generous state for reimbursing living donors’ expenses and guarantee that all potential transplant candidates will be educated about transplantation. Once the law is in place, I will educate transplant centers and advocacy groups about the reimbursement and education programs.

The plan is to pass the two federal laws and state law during this legislative session that ends in December of 2024.

Describe why you think you're qualified to work on this

I want to live in a country that has a surplus of kidney donors rather than a waitlist of potential recipients that now includes 92,000 Americans. As a lifelong educator for 33 years, I am confident in my persuasion skills, including getting reluctant eighth graders to write long stories and essays when I was a New York City public school teacher. This skill of getting people to do what is optimal translates well in my talks with Congressional members’ staffers.

I led the campaign to pass New York State's historic Living Donor Support Act in 2022, a bill that passed unanimously. Even though I was told by everyone involved that the bill would not pass that year, I was not discouraged. After the bill was signed by the New York Governor, I was told by Frank McCormick, a devoted economist and scholar committed to helping end the kidney shortage, that I have the "secret sauce" ability to convince government leaders that the passage of kidney laws is urgent. He advised me to turn my attention to passing life and cost saving laws on the federal level.

As a non-directed kidney donor, I launched a kidney chain for four people who received kidneys in Georgia, Oklahoma and Washington State. The final recipient on the chain was on the kidney waitlist. After that, I founded the New York City One Kidney Club, Kidneys 4 Strangers, and Vegan Kidney Donors. I lead the Global One Kidney Club and NKDO “Ask Me Anything” meetings. I am an NKDO volunteer kidney donation mentor, and on the NKF's Community Advocacy Committee.

In addition to my willingness to work diligently to help save more lives, I greatly enjoy this work, and I believe my enthusiasm is contagious, raising our likelihood of success.

Other ways I can learn about you

@UrbaneElaine is my personal Twitter. I also run the @waitlistzero and @modifynota sites on Twitter and FB as well as the Modify NOTA page on Threads and Instagram.

How much money do you need?

I am the only paid employee at Waitlist Zero/ Save Lives Now New York (organizations founded by Josh Morrison and Thomas Kelly) with a salary of $75,000. The organization has enough funds to pay me until April of 2024. We are seeking $50,000 in funding that will provide me with a salary through 2024 so that I can work diligently to complete these projects.

Links to any supporting documents or information

http://waitlistzero.org/;https://www.modifynota.org/;

https://shorturl.at/tyIK2;https://shorturl.at/ksvMY;https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-refundable-tax-credit-for-kidney-donation-c64b2de2;https://shorturl.at/ftDFN;https://shorturl.at/jtRY0;https://shorturl.at/kACOY

Estimate your probability of succeeding if you get the amount of money you asked for

The probability of success varies. For the federal bill to provide a refundable tax credit for all non-directed donors, I believe our chance of success is 8 out of 10 because we have so many influential and devoted supporters. Plus the bill will save thousands of lives as well as billions of tax dollars. The bill that will help low income donors has a 5 out of 10 chance of success because it may cost the government money in the long run once more low income donors will qualify when their recipients’ income is no longer determining whether or not they are eligible for reimbursement. For the Colorado bill, I think that a slimmed down version of the omnibus law has a 8 out of 10 chance of passing because Colorado has an active, passionate and organized group of donors who join our biweekly meetings. The Living Donor Support Act’s implementation will depend on whether or not I am working for all of 2024, connecting with organizations and hospitals as well as the media to educate about the law’s benefits and resources.