#228 The Generosity Crisis and Donating Blood; with Mike Parejko and Benjamin Prijatel

The Generosity Crisis — with Mike Parejko & Benjamin PrijatelMost People Don’t… But YOU Do!  |  Episode #228 recorded live at the Blood Centers of America Annual Conference, Universal City  |  Released: May 2026What happens when 97% of the country opts out of an act that takes 40 minutes and saves three lives? Two blood center CEOs name the real shortage — and it isn’t blood. It’s generosity.Recorded live at the Blood Centers of America annual conference in Universal City, Bart sits down with Mike Parejko (CEO, ImpactLife) and Benjamin Prijatel (CEO, Shepeard Community Blood Center, Augusta, GA) to unpack what most people don’t know about the blood supply that quietly props up American healthcare. Only 3% of the population donates blood — and just 1% of that 3% provides the type-specific products needed for pre-hospital trauma transfusions. May, Mike notes, is the kickoff of “trauma season.”Beyond the numbers, the conversation lands on something larger: what Mike calls “the generosity crisis.” More money is coming from fewer people. Devices distract us from the people in front of us. Younger donors are disappearing. But the path back is simple, and the guests offer the language and stories to walk it — Benjamin’s “force the choice,” Mike’s “you don’t have to, you get to,” and the story of an executive assistant who is alive today because strangers showed up. This episode turns a topic most people avoid into one they want to talk about at the dinner table.Most people don’t think about blood until they need it.Most people don’t write five handwritten thank-you notes a week to strangers.Most people don’t reframe obligation as privilege.Mike and Benjamin do — and that’s why the system holds.The generosity crisis is real. Only 3% of Americans donate blood, and the post-pandemic reset has shrunk that pool further. “More money from fewer people” is the trend across nonprofits — blood is no exception.Trauma season starts in May. Warmer weather brings more accidents, more pre-hospital transfusions, and more demand for type-specific products that only 1% of donors can provide.“Force the choice.” Benjamin spent eight years asking others to donate before he was eligible himself. The day the rules changed, he removed “choice” from the equation. Most action problems are really permission problems.“You don’t have to — you get to.” Mike’s reframe to his college-aged kids becomes a tool any leader can borrow tonight: same task, same effort, completely different identity.The path matters more than the pitch. Donatingblood.org. 40 minutes. No appointment. Walk in, walk out. People don’t refuse because they’re selfish — they refuse because no one ever asked, and no one ever showed them the path.“There’s a little bit of what I would call a generosity crisis that we’re facing.”— Mike Parejko  |  [00:08:00]“It wasn’t a choice. I had to do it. If people who are listening didn’t think it was a choice, they could do it, too.”— Benjamin Prijatel  |  [00:39:00]“You don’t have to do that — you get to do that. That little spin on the words makes a big difference.”— Mike Parejko  |  [00:42:00]Mike Parejko — President & CEO, ImpactLife (Iowa). Chair, Blood Centers of America. 40+ years in transfusion medicine.Benjamin Prijatel — President/CEO, Shepeard Community Blood Center (Augusta, GA). Former journalist, AARP board member, 12 years in blood banking.Guest contact detailsBenjamin Prijatel — President/CEO, Shepeard Community Blood Center  |  [email protected]  |  Mike Parejko — President & CEO, ImpactLife  |  [email protected]  |