*Purpose: Potential living donors of different races/ethnicities present for kidney donor evaluation with varying levels of knowledge.

*Methods: We surveyed potential living donors about how they had educated themselves and how comfortable they were understanding critical topics associated with living donation. 2576 potential donors from five transplant centers, with no clear medical contraindications, were surveyed.

*Results: Potential donors were 48% White, 16% Black, 21% Hispanic, 9% Asian, 61% female, had a mean age of 44 years (SD, 13), and 23% with a high school education or less. Prior to evaluation, potential donors had spent 4.6 hours (SD, 3.5) educating themselves about living donation. Overall, the most common actions donors had taken prior to evaluation included talking to the kidney patient about why they want to donate (70%), talking to people they trusted about risks/benefits of living donation (56%), and reading information or watching videos (52%). The proportion of White donors who had read brochures, reviewed websites, watched videos, and considered how to cover work responsibilities was 15-20% higher than Blacks (Table). While 96% of potential donors agreed that they knew how donation could benefit their recipient, they were less confident in knowing donation medical process, risks, and costs of their own donation (52%-71%; Table). Compared to the other groups, Asian donors reported that they felt most knowledgeable and Black donors felt the least knowledgeable about the risks, tests required, and expected recovery (p<0.001; Table).

*Conclusions: Potential donors, in general, are beginning evaluation ready to help their kidney patient but without a clear understanding of the specifics of the donor process, especially Blacks.

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