Next Step Next One

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$3,532 raised by 13 donors

35% complete

$10,000 Goal

Next Step Next One (NSNO) exists to reduce the kidney transplant waitlist by inspiring living kidney donors through storytelling, education, and community engagement that empowers people to take life-saving action.

A Kidney Convo

A Kidney Convo is a free, 90-minute, peer-led community education experience. Five original short films, live storytelling from a donor and a transplant recipient, and opportunity for audience members to ask questions about living donation. The program is an easy, engaging way to learn more about living kidney donation. The program has inspired over 40 people to start the process of living donation since its inception in October of 2025.

The Donor Search Roadmap

The Donor Search Roadmap flips the traditional ask for a living kidney donor. Instead of a patient asking their network to donate, the Roadmap guides them, step by step, to invite their network to come learn at A Kidney Convo. It reduces the risk of the ask, lowers the barrier for the patient's network to say yes, and reflects what NSNO's research consistently shows: the best way to find a living donor is to build an educated network around the person who needs one.

Our Impact and Proof

~500 people have attended A Kidney Convo, across 21 sessions delivered to date

~9% of attendees in have taken the first step towards donation- filling out the donor intake form.

40+ people have started the testing process to become a living donor since October 2025

But the numbers only tell part of the story. The day after one session, NSNO received this message from an attendee:

“Last night's webinar was amazing! I had been on the fence about donation, but I filled out the donor screening questions while my wife and I were watching, and I should be receiving my kit in a couple of days! I wish I were a match for my wife, but this is a win/win. My A+ kidney can go to someone in need of it, and my wife will get a voucher for an O+. This is an incredible organization with amazing people! Again, thanks for all y'all are doing!”

Giving Activity

Mission

Next Step Next One (NSNO) reduces the kidney transplant waitlist by inspiring living kidney donors through storytelling, education, and community engagement that empowers people to take life-saving action.

Background Statement

In 2023, documentary filmmaker Brian Tiell traveled to Guatemala with Kidney Donor Athletes to film living kidney donors living full, active lives — and came home believing donation shouldn't be as rare as it is. Back home, Brian partnered with Abbey Collins, a public health strategist with a background in health promotion. Before building a single program, Abbey surveyed more than 125 living kidney donors to understand what had actually moved them to donate, and what had nearly stopped them. One finding stood above the rest: interaction with other donors and peer support was cited by 50 of 125 respondents as what helped them move forward — nearly double the next-highest factor. That finding didn't just inform NSNO's programming. It became its architecture.

NSNO piloted its flagship program, A Kidney Convo, in June 2025, and formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2026. Today, NSNO is led by two full-time staff and one part-time staff, supported by roughly 20 volunteers and a board of five directors, most of whom bring personal, lived experience of kidney donation or transplant to their governance role. NSNO operates nationally, with a continued focus on Colorado.