Although blood donation is safe for most donors, some donors may experience acute reactions occurring at the time of or shortly after donation, or long-term adverse effects that may result from regular donation. Understanding the frequency and risk factors for donors’ reactions is important to develop effective risk mitigation measures. The first speaker will provide an overview of the goals of donor vigilance and the challenges in establishing rates of adverse donor events, to enable benchmarking and assessment of the effectiveness of risk reduction measures. The second speaker will review the United States Donor Hemovigilance Program, including definitions of adverse events, and use of the data to enhance donors’ safety. Finally, the last speaker will update us on recent developments in knowledge about iron depletion in blood donors. Many studies are underway to try and understand the importance of iron deficiency in our donors and explore various strategies to prevent, detect or treat iron depletion.