NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Currently 100,000 Americans are waiting for an organ, but a Nashville based nonprofit group called LifeSharers aims to change the way the system works.

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Dave Undis started the network in 2002 and now has more than 9,000 members, each with a donor card explaining who they would like their organs offered to immediately.

Currently about 30 percent of Americans have something on the back of their driver's licenses indicating they are an organ donor.

A member carries an identification card that reads, "It is my expressed wish that my organs be donated first to members of LifeSharers network."

If no one on LifeSharers is a match, the organ can then go to anyone else who is waiting.

Jill Maxfield of Tennessee Donor Services said across the country there is one universal database used in organ donation program called United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

In a life-and-death situation, UNOS gives organs based only on the needs of waiting patients.

"We don't access other special group lists,” said Maxfield.

"We rely on their next of kin to call us on our toll-free number to get the numbers for the LifeSharers members who need those organs," said Undis.

It is legal to designate your organ to someone specific, but the UNOS ethics committee wrote a memo finding LifeSharers did not fall under this law, since it was a group, not a person.

"It is not our practice to allow for donations to a special group or class," said Maxfield.

"The main goal of LifeSharers is to increase the number of organ donors. Because if you get more organ donors, you save more lives," said Undis.

So far no one on LifeSharers has been able to donate to another LifeSharers member. Still its founder is confident this service can save lives.

A representative with Tennessee Donor Services said they do share a common goal with LifeSharers and that is to increase awareness when it comes to the need for organ donation.

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