Donating Plasma for Money: How Does It Work and How Much Can You Make?

The way plasma donation works is simple: you visit a donation center, undergo a screening procedure, donate, and get paid. Most of the time, you can donate the first time you visit.

Selling plasma means getting your blood drawn. However, the donation center will only take your plasma. They’ll use a machine to separate it from the rest of your blood, then inject what remains back into you. This makes donating plasma less taxing on your body than “normal” blood donation (which is often called “whole blood donation”).

The donation process

In general, giving plasma takes around one hour, but your initial visit will take longer (potentially 2–4 hours), as you’ll have to undergo a health screening and take an in-depth questionnaire. You’ll be tested for health conditions that would make giving plasma dangerous, such as low blood pressure, as well as bloodborne diseases, such as HIV.

Assuming you pass your screening, you’ll sit down in a donation chair. One of the center’s workers will draw your blood (they’ll insert the needle into your arm, near your inner elbow). It will be drawn into something called a plasmapheresis machine, which will spin it rapidly, separating your plasma from the rest of your blood. This process is painless, aside from the small pinch you’ll feel when they first insert the needle.

Once your plasma has been completely separated from the rest of your blood, they’ll remove and collect it. They’ll top off the rest of your blood with saline to replace the fluid you lost, then inject it back into you. This won’t hurt, either, although your blood will cool down in the machine, so you might feel cold afterward.

This entire process will take place under medical supervision. You can relax and read a book or use your phone while you’re donating.

When you’re done, the center will give you a debit card with your payment loaded on it and you’ll be free to leave. You’ll also use this card to receive subsequent payments if you donate plasma at that center again.

Who can donate plasma?

To donate plasma, you must satisfy a number of requirements. These vary somewhat from center to center and company to company, but in general, you must:

• Be 18 years or older
• Have a permanent address (i.e., not be homeless)
• Weigh at least 110 pounds (50 kilograms)
• Have blood pressure that’s within a normal, healthy range
• Have iron, protein and hemoglobin levels that aren’t too low
• Test negative for certain transmissible viruses, such as hepatitis and HIV
• Not be pregnant or nursing
• Not have had a piercing or tattoo recently (i.e., not in the past 4 months, although some centers have stricter requirements, such as 1 year)
• Not be a recreational user of any intravenous drugs

Passing your health screening

As mentioned, your eligibility to donate will also depend on the results of various screening procedures and physical exams you’ll have to complete. These will include questions about your medical history, as well as a:

• Blood sample
• Blood pressure check
• Pulse check
• Temperature check
• Quick physical exam

After you donate, the center will test your plasma and evaluate whether it can be used. This will determine whether you can continue to donate in the future.

Where can you donate plasma?

You can donate plasma at specialized plasma donation centers. The major plasma donation companies include:

• BioLife Plasma Services
• CSL Plasma
• Grifols Plasma
• Octapharma

While there are differences between these companies (they may pay slightly different rates to donors, and offer different incentives and bonuses), all four are reputable, and it’s safe to give plasma at a clinic run by any one of them.

For more information, check out DonatingPlasma.org. This is an educational website that provides information about plasma donation and features a search tool for donation centers.

How often can you donate plasma?

You can donate plasma more often than you can donate whole blood, as your body can replenish it more easily. However, there’s still a limit. You can’t legally donate plasma more than once every two days, and you can’t do it more often than twice per week. 1

Be aware that the FDA requires plasma donation centers to test your blood twice before they can use it. Your plasma is only usable after you donate again at the same plasma center within 6 months, so if one of your goals is to help people (and not just to make money), you’ll need to give plasma at least twice. 2

In general, you can expect to make anywhere from $50 to $100 when you donate plasma.

However, how much you’ll make as a plasma donor depends on several factors, including:

• Plasma’s current value: The companies that collect plasma are for-profit entities, and they sell the plasma they collect (and the medications they make from it) on the global market. When there’s a shortage and the price of plasma spikes, they tend to pay more to incentivize donors.
• How often you go: To encourage people to donate more frequently, plasma companies often raise their rates if you go twice in one week (the maximum number of times you’re allowed to). For instance, one donor we spoke to, CJ, told us that when he donated at a CSL Plasma center in Michigan, he earned $47 for his first visit each week and $65 for his second.
• Your weight: At some centers (although not all), your pay will be calculated on a sliding scale depending on how much you weigh (e.g., if you weigh under 150 lb, you might get $45 per donation; if you weigh 150–170 lb, you might get $55, and so on). This is because the more you weigh, the more plasma the centers can safely extract from your blood.

Additionally, many companies have loyalty and rewards schemes that you can take advantage of to get additional bonuses. Pay attention to these to maximize your earnings.

How you’ll get paid: You’ll usually be given a prepaid (and reloadable) Mastercard or Visa debit card after your first donation with a company. You’ll receive subsequent payments on this card as well.

Do you have to report plasma donations on your taxes?

Yes, you have to report the payments you get from your plasma donations on your taxes. This is the case even if the staff at the donation center you visit tell you otherwise; they aren’t tax professionals, and there are many reports of clinicians giving mistaken information about this.

Whatever you hear from your local plasma center, legally speaking, plasma earnings are a type of income, and you need to tell the IRS about them.

There’s a good chance donating plasma won’t affect how much you actually owe since it’s a relatively modest source of income, but you still have to report it. Do this using the Schedule 1 attachment to the form you usually use to file your income tax (Form 1040).3 Your earnings from plasma belong on line 8z.

Plasma donors can make hundreds of dollars per month with relative ease. However, giving plasma for money is still somewhat controversial. The debate around it centers on two questions:

• Is donating plasma for money ethical?
• Is frequent plasma donation safe?

For an in-depth look at this issue, you can read our article on compensated plasma donation and the paid plasma industry as a whole. We’ll briefly summarize the arguments for and against paid plasma below.

Is donating plasma safe?

By and large, donating blood plasma is safe.

Your blood will always be collected using sterile, one-use-only instruments, which means it’s impossible for you to catch any bloodborne illnesses (such as HIV or hepatitis) during the donation process. Because you’ll be comprehensively screened before giving plasma, it’s also very unlikely that you’ll be allowed to donate if you have any health conditions that could make the process unsafe for you.

That said, to protect yourself, make sure you’re donating plasma in a legitimate collection center that’s been certified by the Industry Quality Plasma Program (IQPP). These centers are clean and have sterile equipment and professionally trained staff.

Before visiting a center, search for it on DonatingPlasma.org (linked above) and check for the badge that says “IQPP Certified.”

The plasma industry is tightly regulated, and it’s unlikely that you’ll ever encounter a center that’s operating less-than-legally. However, when it comes to your health, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Potential side effects of donating blood plasma

Although donating plasma is largely safe, it can have negative side effects. These are usually mild, but can occasionally be serious. As mentioned, all legitimate donation centers have medical staff on hand who will intervene if something goes wrong.

Mild short-term side effects

The short-term side effects of plasma donation can include:

• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Bruising
• Dehydration
• Lightheadedness
• Bleeding

To minimize the chance of these effects (especially dizziness and fatigue), make sure to hydrate and get plenty of sleep the night before you donate. It’s also helpful to eat a protein-rich diet if you plan on being a frequent donor—as mentioned, plasma is full of vital proteins, and you need to provide your body with enough fuel to replenish what’s being taken away.

Serious short-term side effects

In the process of researching our article on the paid plasma industry, we contacted Veronica Hoad of Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, a public health physician who researches plasma donation, and asked her about the side effects of giving plasma. She listed several serious reactions that some donors experience, including:

• Adverse reactions to the citrate anticoagulant used in the donation process (such as numbness, tingling, and lightheadedness)
• Vasovagal reactions (fainting)

Neither of these will seriously hurt you, but they can be scary and unpleasant. Fortunately, reactions like this are quite rare.

If you do experience one of these side effects, the donation center’s staff will stop the procedure, and you’ll probably be banned from donating for several weeks to give your body a chance to recover. If they reflect a serious underlying problem that makes giving plasma unsafe, you may also be banned permanently.

Long-term side effects

Some researchers have suggested that donating plasma frequently may lead to long-term side effects, such as:

• Iron depletion or iron deficiency anemia
• Lower immunoglobulin levels (which can lower immunity and possibly increase infection risk)
• Strained veins (from frequent needle insertions, which can cause inflammation or damage to blood vessels over time)

The evidence for this isn’t conclusive—there haven’t been many studies into the long-term effects of donating plasma. Veronica Hoad told us that, while more research is needed in this area, “there is little evidence to date that there are donor health impacts” from regular plasma donation.

The bottom line: Millions of people donate plasma regularly and most of them seem to be fine, but if you plan on joining them, run your plan by your doctor first, and be sure to get regular checkups.

Ethical arguments for and against donating plasma for money

Not everyone approves of plasma donation as a source of income. The US is one of just five countries in the world where donating for money is legal, and some people take issue with a side hustle that involves selling blood (even in a relatively safe way).

Complicating matters, many of the people who donate plasma for money are lower-income individuals who don’t have many other options, which leads some to see the practice as exploitative.

The journalist Kathleen McLaughlin wrote a book about this, Blood Money, in which she heavily criticized the plasma industry. She also published an article on plasma donation in The Guardian in which she described it as “a business that thrives on people’s economic hardship.”

However, there are also counter-arguments in favor of selling plasma. We interviewed one of its main defenders, the ethicist Peter Jaworski, who pointed out that without the paid plasma industry, there would be a global shortage of plasma-derived medicine, because only countries that allow paid donations collect enough plasma to meet their needs.

We also contacted Emily Gallagher, a professor of finance at the University of Colorado, who authored a paper with John Dooley that found that selling plasma enables people to avoid taking out high-interest payday loans (which may be worse for their financial health and overall well-being).

Ultimately, whether you’re comfortable with donating plasma for money is a personal decision. If you’re concerned about the ethics of this industry, we recommend reading up on the arguments for and against it and drawing your own conclusions.

If you’ve decided to donate plasma, follow these steps:

• Limit your alcohol and caffeine intake for a few days before your appointment (and avoid drinking either of these at all within 24–48 hours of your appointment).
• Nourish your body with a protein- and iron-rich diet.
• Avoid eating foods that are high in saturated fats and cholesterol (e.g., pizza, burgers, or fries) before you donate.
• Get plenty of sleep the night before you donate.
• Avoid drinking milk on the day of your appointment (the calcium in milk reduces iron absorption in your blood)
• Drink plenty of water (or other caffeine-free beverages, like fruit juice) on the day of your appointment.
• Eat something healthy a few hours beforehand.
• Avoid nicotine within an hour of your donation.
• Bring a book, headphones, or your phone to the donation center to help you relax and pass the time.
• Bring a blanket, jacket, or sweater in case you get cold during the donation process.
• Avoid strenuous activity for at least an hour before your donation and for 24 hours afterward.

These tips will minimize the risk of side effects and make the donation process as easy and pleasant as possible.