Becoming a TeamFSC Egg Donor
Family Source would be honored to be your guide as you become an Egg Donor for a deserving couple or individual. You are doing something of tremendous magnitude—creating a life that could not have otherwise been created—for those who are unable to conceive without your help.
It is an amazingly selfless deed to be an Egg Donor. Thanks to compassionate young women who have stepped forward to assist those who cannot achieve pregnancy otherwise, the dreams of countless parents around the world have been fulfilled.
Our very own Family Source team includes staff members who have had the amazing and fulfilling experience of being an egg donor, both closed and open, as well as being a recipient of donor eggs. Our personal and professional experiences enable us to be acutely aware of all that is involved in this process, both medically and emotionally.
We are incredibly grateful that the process of egg donation is a possibility today, and we thank you for your generous spirit in offering this incredible gift!
Egg Donor Compensation
Eligible candidates will receive at least $10,000 per egg donation cycle.
This amount will vary, based on prior experience, location, and ethnicity.
100% Chinese, Taiwanese, and Indian Donors receive a minimum of $12,000 as a first-time Donor.
Egg Donation Requirements
Family Source requires that potential Egg Donors meet the below criteria to be considered for our Egg Donor Program.
Egg Donation Step-by-Step
Frequently Asked Questions
If you currently have a non-hormonal IUD, like Paragard, you do not need to have it removed in order to become an egg donor.
If you currently have a hormonal IUD, like Mirena, it will need to be removed before proceeding with the egg donation process.
No. There is no biological reason that donating eggs would cause infertility. Women are born with about 2 million eggs. Each month, a group of eggs begin to mature, but only one egg is released during ovulation. The rest are absorbed
by the body. Fertility medications hasten the maturity rate of of these excess eggs so that they can be retrieved, instead of being reabsorbed by the body.
The egg donation process from treatment start to retrieval takes approximately one month. The egg retrieval itself takes minutes. This timeline does not include the matching and screening process, which will vary in length from donor to donor.
There are many types of people who use Donor Eggs to conceive.
Some common situations which may require the use of donor eggs are:
(1) Older women with age related fertility decline
(2) Younger women with early ovarian failure or ovarian insufficiency
(3) Same sex male couples or single males
(4) Certain rare genetic conditions may require donor eggs
FSC does not withhold taxes or issue 1099 forms for compensation received as a Surrogate or Egg Donor.
Whether you are an Egg Donor or Recipient Parents, we know that determining the type of egg donation with which you are comfortable is an important and personal decision. Our staff has first-hand knowledge of the pros and cons surrounding the different types of egg donation relationships, and we are happy to discuss our own personal experiences with you.
Closed Donation – The Recipient Parent/s will typically choose an Egg Donor who has similar physical and personal characteristics or perhaps particular traits that are appealing for various reasons. The Donor’s identity will be kept confidential; any information identifying her will not be given to the Recipient/s. The Recipient/s will, however, be able to view all pertinent information including medical and genetic history, physical description, photographs of the potential Donor, and photographs of her child/ren if she’s willing to share them. In an anonymous donation, the Recipient(s) will have important information about you, but you will never meet or know each other’s names. Many Recipient Parents and Egg Donors choose the anonymous route because they are most comfortable with this type of arrangement for many valid reasons.
Semi-Open Donation – This is an alternative that offers somewhat of a middle-ground solution in choosing anonymous vs. open egg donation. Oftentimes, Recipient Parents do not feel comfortable with anonymous donation because they would prefer to have the option of contacting the woman who shared her genetics with their child/ren. Additionally, many Recipient Parents would not feel comfortable with a totally open donation. With a semi-open relationship, the Recipient Parent/s have been given the Donor’s profile information, but do not necessarily know her last name, address and other detailed information. Similarly, the Egg Donor will be given basic information about the Recipient Parents, but will not necessarily know more specific information as she would in an open donation situation. The Recipient/s and the Egg Donor may decide to chat via telephone or e-mail, for example, but there will not necessarily be a commitment to stay in touch after the egg donation has occurred. The benefit to semi-known vs. anonymous, however, is that enough general information is exchanged so that the Recipient Parent/s know their Egg Donor (and vice versa) on a basic level, and can contact her if they have any questions and such. With a semi-open donation, the Egg Donor will most likely be informed about the results of the egg retrieval and whether or not a pregnancy occurs.
Open Donation – In an open donation arrangement, all parties have agreed to completely disclose information about each other, including last names, addresses, occupations, etc. The Recipient Parents and the Egg Donor, in this case, will sometimes decide to meet in person before the egg retrieval takes place, and if not possible due to logistics (location or scheduling conflicts) there will at least be conversations via email and/or telephone. In this type of arrangement, everyone is mutually interested in maintaining contact—potentially throughout the life of the child/ren born via the donation. An open donation may also occur because the Recipient Parents have a friend, a sister, or another relative who has offered to help them. Regardless of whether the Egg Donor is known previously, or whether she is someone the Recipient Parents have been matched with via Family Source, it is most important that all parties have discussed their long-term expectations of the relationship. For example, the Donor and Recipient Parent/s should discuss who they plan to tell and when. Additionally, and even more importantly, everyone must be on the same page in regards to what the Donor’s future relationship will be with the child/ren. There are certainly many issues to consider when going the open donation route, but open (or open/known) egg donation can be a wonderfully positive experience for the Recipient Parent/s, the Egg Donor, and any future children that may result.
If you match with a Surrogate or Egg Donor and she decides not to go forward before the egg retrieval or transfer has taken place (although, due to our intense pre-screening process it’s unlikely this will occur)—or if, during medical or psychological screening it is determined there is a problem that disqualifies her from becoming a Surrogate or Egg Donor— will match you with another Surrogate or Egg Donor.
There are basically two groups of people who need Surrogates and/or Egg Donors to help in their family building endeavors (in the event they choose not to adopt). The first group (discussed below) includes infertile women or couples. The second group includes gay or single males. For obvious reasons, gay or single men who are interested in becoming fathers, but who choose not to pursue adoption, will need to find a woman to carry a baby/ies for them. In this case, they will need to determine whether they are interested in pursuing Traditional Surrogacy or Gestational Surrogacy with an Egg Donor. Since, as mentioned above, it is clear why gay or single males who want to be fathers need to turn to surrogacy, below we will concentrate on addressing some of the reasons infertile women (or heterosexual couples) may need the services of a Surrogate and/or an Egg Donor.
There are many potential reasons a woman may not be able to carry a baby (creating the need for a Surrogate), and a variety of conditions that could prohibit a woman from using her own eggs to conceive (creating the need for an Egg Donor). It’s also fairly commonplace, in terms of assisted reproduction, to need both the services of a Surrogate and an Egg Donor—thus, a Gestational Surrogate would carry the baby/ies created by an Egg Donor’s eggs and the Intended Father’s (or Sperm Donor’s) sperm. This is a subject that can be discussed in great length; however, we would just like to touch on a few of the most typical reasons a couple/individual may need to turn to Surrogacy and/or Egg Donation to create or add to their family.
The need for a Surrogate may exist when a woman does not have a uterus, due to a gynecological cancer for example, or when she has a syndrome known as MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome), in which she is born without a uterus (or with an under-developed uterus), and in many instances, without a vagina (or with an under-developed vagina). A large percentage of women with MRKH have perfectly functioning ovaries; therefore, Surrogacy has provided a wonderful solution in allowing them to use their own eggs and pass on their genetics to their future child/ren.
Even when a woman’s uterus and all of her other gynecologic organs are in tact, there are still many potential conditions that could prevent her from getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy. Some factors that may cause infertility are fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus), endometriosis (when endometrial cells form outside the uterus), blockage or scarring of the fallopian tubes, and cervical incompetence. About 10% of infertile women have unexplained infertility, in which a cause is really never determined, and another portion of the infertile community suffers from the devastating loss of recurrent miscarriage, defined as three or more consecutive miscarriages before twenty weeks gestation.
Finally, even when a woman is be able to carry a pregnancy, from a physical standpoint, there are many possible health reasons (for example, heart conditions, lupus, other autoimmune diseases, etc.) that make it inadvisable for her to become pregnant, because it could be potentially harmful to herself or the baby she would be carrying.
The reasons for needing an Egg Donor are different, on many levels, than those pertaining to the need for a Surrogate. In the case where the Recipient Mother is carrying the baby, the issue may be directly related to her egg quality or a problem with her genetics (for example, a chromosomal abnormality that she could pass on to her children). She may have had her ovaries removed (or had a full hysterectomy) due to cancer or another serious gynecologic problem. Other reasons to need the assistance of an Egg Donor are premature menopause, under-developed or malfunctioning ovaries, or poor egg quality in general due to age or other various causes. Recipient Mothers can achieve pregnancy and carry a baby successfully, but they need another woman’s eggs (genetic material) to make this a possibility.
We at Family Source are not medical professionals; however, we are familiar with most of the typically used medications for IVF protocols. In addition to reading through the general protocol in our sections on this website addressing the Surrogate process and the Egg Donor process please review this list of the most commonly used medications for IVF protocols.
It is important to note, women respond differently to these medications: In most cases, very few side effects, if any, are experienced, but it is possible that more adverse reactions may occur among some patients. Some potential side effects are: mild bruising and/or soreness from shots, headaches, mood swings, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, functional cysts (approx. 15% of IVF patients will develop), and in extreme cases, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a condition which, fortunately, is pretty rare. It is most important to work with a reputable infertility clinic that 1) has a good track record of avoiding ovarian hyperstimulation among its patients and 2) has the expertise needed to treat the syndrome if it should occur. Your reproductive endocrinologist will answer any additional questions you have in regards medications and their possible side effects.
Yes. With the IVF procedure, the embryos will be implanted directly into your uterus; therefore, having your tubes tied does not affect your ability to be a Surrogate.
Usually the reproductive endocrinologist will not recommend more than six (6) donations in a life-time.
The most common reason women become Egg Donors is they have a genuine altruistic wish to help infertile women/couples get pregnant. Like Surrogates, some Egg Donors report being inspired by empathy for a friend, co-worker or relative they have witnessed going through infertility or pregnancy loss. Other Egg Donors do not necessarily “know” anyone personally who has had reproductive issues, but still have a desire, once exposed to the concept of egg donation, to assist someone else in this remarkable way. Oftentimes, women who become Egg Donors have an internal personally characteristic—a particularly strong sense of compassion—that drives them to help others in general.
In addition to having a genuine desire to assist a couple or individual in family building, a woman considering egg donation should be healthy, of above average intelligence, and familiar with her family’s physical/mental health history (or be able to access this information). As far as physical appearance is concerned, there is more of a likelihood that an Egg Donor will be chosen if she is considered average looking or above; however, each potential Recipient Parent/s will have their own version of what constitutes physically attractiveness. In addition to physical description requirements, many Recipient Parents will choose Egg Donors based on their personality traits, hobbies, interests and/or intellect. Egg Donors usually receive compensation, and this is clearly an added incentive for them and their spouses/partners (when applicable); however, we at Family Source believe strongly that the financial aspect should definitely not be the #1 motivator.
In a nutshell, personal gratification and financial compensation are the primary benefits to egg donation for women who: do not view their eggs as their offspring from a maternal aspect (i.e., they recognize they are passing on their genetics, but do not consider themselves to be the “mother” to any resulting children from their egg donation); are healthy overall and have attractive mental and/or physical traits, are willing to follow a fairly intense medication protocol (which will likely include injections); and who have support from either a spouse/partner, friend or family member with whom they can share thoughts and feelings with as they go through their egg donation experience.
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