Selecting Your Egg Donor

Becoming a parent is one of life’s most exciting journeys. And if you’re becoming a parent via an egg donor, your journey is even more special.

Selecting the person who will provide half your child’s genes is a huge decision. For many recipient parents, it can feel like the most challenging part of the process. You might wonder how you can possibly know who the ‘right’ person will be or whether you’ll even find someone who will match your preferences.

But if you have a large pool of donors to choose from, it can also be an exciting experience! FSC’s egg donor database contains profiles of prospective egg donors who have passed our strict selection criteria. Each donor has been carefully screened by medical experts, so you can be confident that you’re choosing the very best. 

First things first: how do you choose the right person? Where do you even start? What traits or variables are most important?  

Choosing the type of egg donation

Before choosing who your donor will be, you first have to make an important decision about the type of egg donor arrangement you want to pursue. You have three options: open (known), semi-open, or closed (anonymous).

In a ‘known’ egg donor arrangement, all parties have agreed to disclose information about each other completely. The recipient and donor are open to the prospect of staying in touch, possibly throughout the lives of the children born of the donation. All identifying information is disclosed, including names, addresses, and other contact details.

Choosing an anonymous donor or closed egg donation is the opposite. In this case, neither you nor the donor has any identifying information about each other, and you cannot make any contact. Instead, your agency or clinic facilitates the entire arrangement. You will only view the donor’s profile, which includes photos of herself at various ages, her medical and family history, cultural or religious background, profession, hobbies, test scores, personality profile, and other characteristics. 

For recipients who want to maintain the option of contacting the donor in the future but are uncomfortable with an entirely open donation, choosing a semi-known egg donor is a happy medium. In this case, the recipient parents and the egg donor will receive more information about each other, but details such as last names, addresses, and additional identifying information may be withheld.

Donation history

At Family Source Consultants, all egg donors must meet a strict set of criteria to be accepted into our egg donor program. Egg donors must be between the ages of 20-30 and must complete a series of medical and psychological tests. Your donor’s profile will show her donation history and experience. 

There is no difference in success rates between using a first-time donor and an experienced donor. However, some recipient parents might prefer an experienced donor who has been through an egg retrieval with proven success. A repeat donor will usually have a higher fee than a first-time donor.

Other recipient parents may find a first-time egg donor that checks all their boxes. There are many advantages to choosing a first-time donor. If you’re open to selecting a first-time donor, you will have a much larger group of donors to consider. First-time donors often have greater availability to begin when you’re ready. Lastly, the fees for first-time donors are typically lower.

Egg donor’s medical history

For obvious reasons, you’ll want to choose an egg donor with a clean bill of health. You’ll also want to be sure that she isn’t a carrier or affected by any diseases, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV, or genetic disorders. Mental health is also an important factor. 

Using an egg donation agency makes this easy. All egg donor candidates in our database have been screened for any family history of medical or genetic conditions. 

Each donor’s profile includes their medical history and any test results, as well as their family’s medical history, which will help you learn more about her genetic makeup.

Egg donor’s ethnicity or looks

Our egg donor database offers a large selection of donors from many different backgrounds. This allows you to exercise your own preferences in terms of ethnicity and looks.  

Some recipient parents may prefer a donor with features like their own, so there’s a better chance that their child resembles the mother or father. This may mean they prefer a certain hair color, eye color, or ethnic background. 

The donor’s religious affiliations or cultural background may also be important. For example, recipients of the Jewish faith often require that their egg donor be Jewish as well. 

Egg donor’s personality, interests, and intelligence

Every parent wants their child to be happy, sociable, and bright. Utilizing an egg donor database is a discreet way to compare lots of different personality types and find someone who matches your expectations. 

Your donor’s profile may include her SAT scores, Grade Point Average, tertiary education, degrees, occupation, and the occupations of her parents or siblings. This is a great help in foreseeing the level of intelligence your child might have. 

You might also like to choose a donor whose interests are similar to your own. If you’re athletic, you might choose a donor who participates in certain sports. If you love the arts, you might choose a donor who loves music and books. 

Finding an egg donor with Family Source Consultants 

When you register for our egg donor database, you’ll see that every donor profile includes information about her appearance, education, family history, physical statistics, GPA, occupation, medical information, and questionnaire results. 

You can begin searching by identifying basic traits, such as eye color, hair color, and race. From those results, you can narrow your search down to more specific preferences. 

No matter which route you decide to take or who you choose to be your egg donor, you can be sure that FSC will be there to make the process as smooth as possible.