Understanding the Three Types of Egg Donation

When you’re considering donating your eggs to help someone create the family they’ve been longing for, you’ll want to know everything you can about the process. One of the first things to understand is the different types of egg donation arrangements — closed, open, and semi-open donation. Let’s go over some of the details that make each type of egg donation unique.

Closed Egg Donation

A closed donation is commonly called an “anonymous” egg donation. Your identity will be confidential, which means the recipients of your eggs do not know your name or contact information. If protecting your identity is important to you, you may prefer to choose a closed donation.

Even though this type of donation is technically anonymous, it’s necessary for the recipients to know certain basic information about you, such as your medical and genetic history. These details are needed to help them choose an egg donor that meets their specific criteria. They’ll also be able to view a physical description of you and any photographs you provide of yourself or any children you may have.

Semi-Open Egg Donation 

Another option is semi-open or “semi-anonymous” egg donation. In this type of arrangement, the recipients of your egg are provided with a little more information about you and have the option to contact you, with your permission. For example, they might know your first name but not your last name or address. The recipients of your egg may ask to contact you via phone or email to get to know a little more about you or ask any questions they have.  This also gives you a chance to learn a bit more about the recipients of your egg.

With semi-open egg donation, you’ll be notified about whether the egg retrieval resulted in a pregnancy. So, if your goal is to be minimally involved, but you would like to know if your egg helped someone get pregnant, a semi-open donation may be the right choice.

Open Egg Donation

In an open egg donation, you agree to provide full information about yourself to the recipients of your egg, including your first and last name, address, information about your education and career, etc. You’ll be given the same level of information about the recipient parents.

In this fully transparent arrangement, you can expect the recipients of your egg to be in direct contact with you via email or phone. You may even decide to meet in person before your egg retrieval. Regardless of the level of contact you both agree on, you’ll want to be on the same page when you discuss the communication you’d like to maintain after the birth.

Becoming a TeamFSC Egg Donor

The type of arrangement you choose as an egg donor is a very personal decision, but if you have any questions about which is right for you, we’re only an email or phone call away. We’d love to help you get started on your journey as a TeamFSC Egg Donor!