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Intended Parent Egg Donation FAQs

Who Needs An Egg Donor?

There is no one “type” of person that needs an Egg Donor. Some situations may be more obvious – for example, a gay male couple or a single male. But when a woman is part of the equation, then the reasons can be more varied. Some women need an Egg Donor because they have had an illness where medications affected their ovarian reserve, or possibly her ovaries have been removed or she was not born with functioning ovaries. Other times women have unexplained infertility – their eggs and ovaries look good and even the retrievals and fertilization look good, but there is still no pregnancy. Sometimes these women try using their eggs with a surrogate, and still no pregnancy.If one of the above is the case, the next avenue is to work with an Egg Donor – whether transferring to her own uterus or to a surrogate’s. And there are circumstances where a woman’s ovaries are no longer functioning properly, or their eggs are no longer viable due to age. Whatever your reason, we are here to make the journey smoother and hold your hand so you feel great about your Egg Donor choice.

What Is The Average Cost For The Egg Donor Journey?

While we’d love to give you some hard numbers, there is not one number that fits all situations. Some clinics may charge as low as $14,000 for an IVF/Egg Donor cycle including everything – such as medications and monitoring, that does not include the Egg Donor agency or the Egg Donor’s fees and expenses. Some clinics may be much higher in their costs. Keep in mind, that there is often a correlation between high success rates (less tries to get pregnant) and higher fees, vs lower success rates and lower fees.

There will also be the cost of the Egg Donor’s fee, the agency’s fee, travel for the Egg Donor to and from the clinic (1 time for her medical evaluation and 1 time for her egg retrieval), plus fees for medical appointments local to her, her medications, your lawyer and hers, and escrow account set up. There can be a great variation on Egg Donor’s fees based on her desirability and experience as an Egg Donor. To narrow it down a bit you can anticipate paying $22,000 and up for this part of your journey.

Between the IVF clinic, medications, monitoring, the Egg Donor’s fee and related costs, the agency fee, the total cost is most likely $36,000 at the lowest and up.

What's The Difference Between Fresh And Frozen Eggs?

Fresh Egg Donor eggs appear to be about twice the price of frozen Donor Eggs. But it’s not as simple as that since there are additional fees for eggs that are purchased frozen. Also, not all eggs are created equal. Let’s help break this down a bit.

Many clinics find that fresh Egg Donor eggs have a higher fertilization rates than frozen eggs.

For example, if you purchase 8 frozen eggs, not all may thaw, not all may fertilize, and then if you do genetic testing on them, you may only end up with 1 or if you’re lucky 2 high quality genetically tested embryos. And even when tested it doesn’t guarantee a pregnancy.

If you do a fresh Egg Donor cycle, during the initial screening most doctors will not approve an Egg Donor who is showing less than twelve follicles (each follicle in the ovary contains 1 egg), and most experienced Egg Donors in our database have produced 18+ eggs. Then with a fresh Egg Donor egg fertilization (if the quality of sperm is good) you may end up with 15 – 18 fertilizing and 3 to 8+ genetical sound and tested embryos.

Using these figures - if you were to purchase 8 frozen Egg Donor eggs at $3000/egg you would be paying at least $24,000 for the eggs alone, and an additional $12,000+ for possibly shipping, IVF fees for fertilization, genetic testing, transfer fees, etc., and end up with possibly 1-2 genetically sound embryos. With a fresh Egg Donor cycle you might end up with 3-8 genetically tested embryos, with the cost being $36,000+ (this includes the Egg Donor compensation, agency fees, IVF costs, medications, monitoring, etc.). The exact total cost for each cycle will depend on what your clinic charges, the cost of your specific egg donor and the agency’s fees.

Learn more about costs related to fresh cycles.

What Is The Timeline Once I Select An Egg Donor?

Once you select an Egg Donor the typical start-to-finish timeline is approximately 3 months. These are the big steps that will take place –

You will sign the agreement with The Fertility Agency and pay the agency fee, then open and fund your escrow account
Your Egg Donor is medically and psychologically screened
She will complete a genetic evaluation and your own genetic panel is compared to the Egg Donor’s to increase the odds of healthy embryos and a healthy baby
Once your Egg Donor is medically cleared to move forward, lawyers will be recommended - one for you and one for your Egg Donor, contracts are reviewed by both parties and signed and legal clearance is issued
A medical calendar is put together by your clinic, with a medication start date, monitoring appointments and finally the egg retrieval date
According to the medical calendar, your Egg Donor starts her medical cycle, attends her monitoring appointments, and the agency makes travel arrangements
Your Egg Donor travels to your clinic, her eggs are retrieved and they are ready to be fertilized (this can be done right away, or when you're ready)
Your Egg Donor receives her compensation paid out of the funds that are in your escrow account

See a full timeline.

What Is The Timeline For The Egg Donor/Surrogate Journey

In most cases the egg donation part of the journey can move rather quickly – it can be as short as 8 to 12 weeks. It begins when you select your Egg Donor until the eggs are retrieved depending upon where she is in her menstrual cycle at the start.

Surrogacy is a longer and more intricate journey. It starts with matching. There can be a 1-month to 18-month wait to be matched depending upon the agency. Once matched it usually takes approximately 3 months for your surrogate to be medically evaluated and contracts to be drawn up and completed. Then you will be ready for an embryo transfer.

If your Gestational Surrogate gets pregnant on the first try, you will have a baby in hand 9 months later. Our agency stays involved for an additional 6+ months to give support, pay bills and make sure that everyone’s needs are taken care of.

We suggest you start looking for your Egg Donor before or as soon as you are ready to start your surrogacy journey. Since the wait time for a Surrogate match can vary, you will want to have the Egg Donor’s eggs retrieved and tested by the time your surrogate is ready to go.

The good news is that once you have your eggs, they will be fertilized and frozen and stay good for decades – not that you want to wait that long to use them – or until your Surrogate has been selected and screened and is ready to go.

Will I Have Contact With My Egg Donor?

This all depends on both parties’ comfort level and also on your choice of Egg Donor. Here are the most common communication options:

Anonymous: some Egg Donors and also Intended Parents prefer to be anonymous. This means the only information you will have is what is in the profile and nothing more. She will have no information about who you are.

Semi-Anonymous: this is an option where you may meet your Egg Donor via a video chat that we arrange and facilitate. You get to talk to her, know more about her life and ask any further questions you may have. You do not exchange any additional contact information to remain in touch. No names are revealed if you are not comfortable sharing that information.

Open to Future Communication: in this scenario, you are not committing to any ongoing communication but at some point, when your child/ren are older you or they may have additional questions and may want some sort of contact with the Egg Donor. In this case, during the legal phase, arrangements would be made for you to reach out to each other – usually through a third party.

Open Communication: this is where you receive each other’s names and contact information. You can directly reach out to each other at any time in the future.

All of the profiles on our database do list what type of communication the Egg Donor is open to. If you are unsure of what you are comfortable with, we are more than happy to discuss these options and what the implications for them may be.

What Is The Average Compensation Fee For An Egg Donor?

The compensation the Egg Donor personally receives can range from $7,000 - $12,000 for a first-time donor. It can increase from there if she has highly desirable traits and/or education and/or talents.

The agency fee for finding the Egg Donor, matching and managing the cycle is usually $8000 but it can also vary Egg Donor to Egg Donor.

If you find a donor that you like, please reach out to one of our Matching Specialists and they can send out a complete list of anticipated fees and costs for that Egg Donor.

Why Does The Compensation Vary Between Egg Donors?

While we feel all eggs are created equal, some qualities can be in higher demand. Since other agencies are offering higher compensation for those qualities, we do the same. Some of the qualities that tend to command a higher fee are:

- Ethnicities (i.e., full Chinese).
- Religions (i.e., Jewish).
- Education from more well-known and prestigious schools.
- High SAT or ACT scores.
- Specific talents or particular looks.

What Expenses Should I Anticipate?

It is important to understand the different costs that you will encounter on your journey. Here we’ve broken them down into 3 categories to make it easier:

Medical Costs: there will be medical costs that will include the fees you pay your IVF clinic and monitoring costs for your Egg Donor and hormones to prepare for the egg retrieval (medication).

Egg Donor’s Expenses: this includes the compensation fee that will be paid to her upon completion of her Egg Donor cycle. This is paid to her for the act of going through the cycle and giving you her eggs so you can build your family. Beside from the Egg Donor compensation fee there may be travel costs, per diems, parking, etc.

Professional Fees: these fees include the Egg Donor agency fee for finding your Egg Donor and then overseeing the entire journey, the psychological and genetic evaluation, the attorneys to draft and then review the contract – one for each party, medical complication insurance, and escrow company set up.

Can I Become An Intended Parent If I'm Single?

Of course! Our team is familiar with the specific needs of individuals looking to become a parent through egg donation. We believe anyone who wants to be a parent should have that opportunity.We don’t discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, location, age, etc.

Is There An Age Limit To Becoming An Intended Parent?

While we as an agency do not set a specific age limit for the Intended Parent, you may find that clinics will. Some IVF clinics have a combined age limit of the couple, it may be 110 years total. If you have a clinic you’ve selected we can reach out to them for you to find that information. If you don’t have a clinic, we are happy to make recommendations.

What Qualities Should I Look For In An Egg Donor?

Choosing an Egg Door is a very personal choice, but we have found three major components that people look for: appearance, intelligence and family health history. For some, one of these characteristics may be more important than the other, but in most cases, you end up with someone that balances it out for you and your partner (if you have one).

We have many years of assisting in making successful matches using our TrueMatch™ technique and are happy to help you evaluate your wants and needs with one of our Matching Specialists. If you prefer, you can start now and register to directly view Egg Donor profiles on our online database.

Intended Parent Egg Donation FAQs

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