Charitable Incentives for Blood Donation Are Promising, But Require Careful Consideration

In outlining his proposal for a charitable incentive schemefor blood donors, Sass (2013) highlights the ongoing challengeof translating widespread public support for blooddonation into actual donors. Sass rightly points out that a reliableand effective blood supply depends on regular donations,rather than sporadic surges in response to exceptionalevents like September 11. He argues that prospective donorsmight be more effectively motivated to donate if each donationis rewarded or recognized with a financial contributionto public health care services or medical research. Sass anticipatessuch “health-related charitable incentives” wouldencourage prosocial behavior by enhancing the beneficialimpact of blood donation. The increased consequentialistvalue of each blood donation would strengthen preexistingprosocial motivations, and would augment the signalingvalue of donation as an altruistic activity. Unfortunately,Sass’s account of the donor–societal relationship is incomplete,due to his reliance on the traditional conception ofdonation as an act of unilateral altruism. He neglects to considerthe potential influence of reciprocity and solidarity inmotivating prosocial behavior and donation in particular(Sykora 2009), and the implications of these elements for ´his proposal. In this commentary, I outline a stronger argumentfor his charitable incentive proposal and discuss someof the potential concerns the proposal may raise.