Find an Egg Donor
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
– Eleanor Roosevelt
The Fertility Agency is proud to refer intended parents interested in egg donation to Hatch Egg Donation, the first egg donation program in the United States since 1990.
Finding an Egg Donor can be an easy or overwhelming process, but no matter where you fall on this spectrum we want to make it as simple as possible for you.
Complete our Intended Parent Intake Form to start your journey. We’d like you to take advantage of our complimentary TrueMatch™ system. You can easily set up a consultation with one of our Matching Specialists.
But, for those that like more information before jumping in, here are some guidelines that might help you find your own special Egg Donor.
There is no one “type” of person that needs an Egg Donor, although there are some situations where it may be more obvious.
MEN: This one seems pretty straight forward, gay male couples or single men are genetically at a disadvantage when it comes to egg production.
WOMEN: When there is a woman that is part of the equation, then the reasons can be varied for needing an Egg Donor.
Whether your reason is the more obvious one, or has been a more trying emotional road, we are here to make your journey smooth.
We will hold your hand and guide you throughout your Egg Donor journey and beyond.
If you need an Egg Donor and/or a Gestational Surrogate, you may wonder which comes first, the womb or the egg?
For those using their own uterus, the first step is to meet with a fertility doctor to double-check that you indeed need an Egg Donor. The doctor may also check your hormones and uterus to ensure everything is ready for a healthy pregnancy.
For those who need an egg and a surrogate and are unsure where to start, you have two choices:
This is the option to select if you prefer to spread your journey out over time. This can also be helpful if you prefer to pay for your Egg Donor, and then pay your Surrogacy journey, rather than do it all at once.
This is a great option for those who have saved all of the money needed (or are able to access those funds) and want to get started immediately. This will be the fastest road to get you to a baby.
Some Egg Donor agencies (like us) also have Surrogates. This is a great option for people that prefer both under one roof. We are always happy to make clinic referrals, if you need it.
Still not sure where an Egg Donor fits in your journey? Click below and reach out.
Typically, the young women that reach out to become Egg Donors are kind and giving, educated, accomplished and have a passion for helping others when they realize people are struggling with fertility issues. Besides a huge heart, there are other qualifications we look for in a healthy donor before adding them to our database.
Like shoes, Egg Donors come in all shapes and sizes – but not everyone is going to be the right fit. In general, there are three different areas that people consider when looking at Egg Donors, and while you probably want all three, in truth, sometimes people end up finding someone that might have a little less in one area but checks all of the boxes in the other.
Don’t forget, you always have the option for a free consultation so you can talk directly with one of our Matching Specialists who will have previously spoken to/met with the Egg Donor/s, and may even have some video or extra pictures that aren’t in the database. Sometimes there may even be someone new coming in that isn’t even entered into the database yet. It never hurts to ask.
Looks are not just about how pretty an Egg Donor is, since there is a wide array of what “pretty” means. It might also include height, ethnicity, hair color, etc. It is a very personal choice. We make it easy to locate what you are looking for by offering free access to our database - where you can select your parameters, which then leads you to clear pictures of the Egg Donor and her profile.
An Egg Donor’s “qualities” can also fall into a variety of categories – it could mean she excelled at sports, got high grades in school, is a fabulous artist. It can also be her religious heritage, or possibly her kindness, positive attitude, and great writing ability. There is an unlimited amount of qualities a person can possess, but it is best to figure out what are the few top ones that you and your partner (if you have one) agree on.
We work to help the Egg Donors present their personal qualities (she may not even realize the gorgeous sketches she makes reveal true artistic ability) or that while she wasn’t an all-star athlete she received the “Miss Congeniality” award from her college softball team. There’s a lot to learn in the details.
Family health history may seem like a more obvious category, but it can have many subtleties, too. For instance, you want someone with a good health background, but everyone dies of something, so you may have to dig a little deeper – i.e., her grandmother had breast cancer (very common), but that might not be a disqualifier – you will want to see at what age she was diagnosed. Was she 35 or 75? The latter has a higher chance of not being a genetic issue. Same with lung cancer. Was the person who had it a heavy smoker or a health nut? You see, just having something in her background isn’t a bad thing.
Just to ease your mind, your Egg Donor will go through a genetic screening. Issues that arise can be a deal breaker, but most times they are things to know and understand and go into with eyes wide open. We are always happy to discuss any of this with you in helping you make the right choice for you.
We know from our years of experience helping Intended Parents that selecting an Egg Donor can feel overwhelming. Here are a few guidelines for your Egg Donor search:
Before seeing our database you will need to fill out a short form, and that will give you free access to browse Egg Donors profiles and see which ones catch your eye. There are a lot of great women there, so to help you narrow down your choices, when searching our database you can select your preference/s to display the Egg Donors that fit your criteria, i.e., height, hair, or eye color, ethnicities, etc.
It may be a little daunting at first, but you’ll get more confident as you go. And if you’d like a helping hand, one of our True Match™ specialists will always be available to offer expert guidance.
We want to make sure you will be able to easily see the information you may want about your Egg Donor. Each of our screened Egg Donors fills out a comprehensive profile describing her family health history, personality, interests, education, talents, ethnic background, etc. Plus, we have large, clear current photographs of her (and sometimes childhood and family pictures). Her profile will also indicate if she’s had proven fertility (as an Egg Donor and/or as a mother) and what type of communication/contact she is open to.
Many Intended Parents and Egg Donors want to match with someone that shares their thoughts on future contact. This is something you may want to consider before your final Egg Donor selection.
Here are the most common options:
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.
When you settle on an Egg Donor that you feel connected to, just let us know, and our staff will confirm that Egg Donor is available on your timetable. Then we will send you all of the fees associated with her Egg Donation and agency paperwork to sign. An Egg Donor Case Manager will be assigned to you and will guide both you and your Egg Donor through all of the steps.
Your match is official, you are on your way!
We’re sure you’re anxious to get started on your Egg Donor journey. Here’s what a start-to-finish Egg Donor journey might look like:
We’re not just an Egg Donor agency offering you an Egg Donor match, we’re here to educate and guide you through this process. Our goal is to arm you with the important facts, answer all your questions and help make your journey as successful and enriching as possible. Here’s how we do this:
Our TrueMatch™ Specialists are ready to meet you via Zoom/Skype/Phone to learn more about your needs, preferences, answer your questions, guide you or simply lend a friendly ear. Whether you’re ready to pick an Egg Donor or this if your first time learning about it, we’re here for you.
Contact us to chat more.
We understand that you’re probably eager to select your Egg Donor and we want to make sure you get quick access to their profiles. Signing up to our database is free and there is no commitment if you don’t find what you’re looking for. We take great pride in keeping our database up to date with the most beautiful, educated and compassionate Egg Donors. Check out our database now.
Egg Donors are the stars of the show and play a vital role in this journey. This is why our Egg Donor Coordinators take extra time to educate our Egg Donors on the responsibility that they are taking on when they sign up to our program. We take pride in working with beautiful, educated and committed Egg Donors that understand the emotional investment Intended Parents are making when they choose to work with them
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.
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.
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.
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 –
See a full timeline.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ready to get started? Want to learn more? Have questions?
There’s no pressure or commitment when you reach out.