Kidneys for Communities, a national nonprofit increasing access to life-saving kidney transplants through community-directed living donation, and cinema advertising network National CineMedia (NCM) have announced a strategic partnership to leverage the power of storytelling on the big screen to inspire living kidney donation and connect patients with potential donors in their own communities.
The partnership comes after a highly successful pilot program with ads running before showtime, including:
- One campaign generated more than 8,200 views over a six-week period and led to 18 donor sign-ups, which ultimately led to a successful match.
- Previous NCM-supported efforts have resulted in hundreds of donor applications.
Through this partnership, Kidneys for Communities and NCM are deploying targeted, in-theater advertising campaigns that feature real patients in need of kidney transplants. These campaigns appear before films in major theater chains including AMC, Cinemark, and Regal, and use QR codes to drive audiences directly to Kidneys for Communities’ donor registration platforms or personalized patient pages. As part of the collaboration, NCM is donating advertising inventory and production costs to support these life-saving campaigns.
What makes the partnership especially unique is its origin. NCM employee Ricky Hernandez, a kidney transplant recipient, was the first to use cinema advertising for his own living donor campaign, an effort that ultimately led to his successful transplant. After experiencing the impact firsthand, Hernandez helped bring the concept to Kidneys for Communities to scale its reach and impact.
“This partnership represents a breakthrough in how we reach and engage potential living donors,” said Atul Agnihotri, CEO of Kidneys for Communities and a kidney transplant recipient. “By bringing these deeply personal stories into movie theaters—where audiences are already emotionally engaged—we are creating a powerful new pathway for connection, compassion, and ultimately, life-saving action.”
“This partnership is deeply personal for our team. Ricky’s story showed us firsthand how the big screen can help identify everyday heroes who are willing to step forward to help someone in need. This emphasizes what we’ve been telling advertisers for years, that cinema is the place to find critical engaged audiences. We’re proud to scale that impact alongside Kidneys for Communities and to use our platform to support a cause this meaningful,” said Maria Woods, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Human Resources of, NCM.
Kidneys for Communities and NCM are exploring opportunities to expand the partnership into a broader initiative, potentially supporting dozens of patient campaigns annually and testing different outreach strategies, including community-specific messaging. The collaboration aligns closely with Kidneys for Communities’ mission to address the national shortage of living kidney donors by unlocking the power of community networks and innovative outreach.
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