Intended Parents (IPs) should identify a clinic with which they feel comfortable and confident in their care. If IPs have received IVF care at a clinic previously, they do not need to work with the same clinic for egg donation. In fact, IPs should confirm that their clinic has a third-party coordinator who will work with an egg donation agency. If you would like assistance in finding a clinic, Circle Egg Donation can help; we have decades-long partnerships with respectable clinics across the United States.

Intended Parents can create an account on Circle’s egg donor database and begin reviewing egg donor’s full profiles. Intended Parents can search by certain criteria (physical traits, education, etc) and begin to compare donors, review photos and watch donor videos. When IPs find an egg donor they are interested in, the next step is to reach out to Circle Egg Donation to let the team know that they've found a donor in which they are interested in matching.

The first step in connecting with Circle Egg Donation is to fill out the parent form on the website. Once completed, our Egg Donor Intake Coordinator will reach out to the Intended Parents. At this time, IPs can schedule a consultation, which typically takes about 30 minutes, to share their story, discuss egg donors and learn more about our Egg Donation Process.

Welcome to the Circle Family! As Circle is a full-service agency, intended parents will have an attorney, coordination team, and trust accountant assigned to them when they sign on with us. Once matched with a donor, the attorney will represent the Intended Parent(s) in negotiations with the donor to finalize a legal contract between the parties. The coordination team will work with the Intended Parent(s), donor, and fertility clinic to organize and coordinate all logistical aspects of the donor’s cycle (including travel, local monitoring and ensuring complications insurance is in place for the donation cycle).

During this step of the process, Intended Parents will create a matching profile, sharing information about themselves (to the degree they are comfortable sharing) which will be shared with the donor during the matching process. Circle facilitates mutual matches, which means that the donor must agree to accept the match request presented to her. 90% of egg donor matches completed at Circle are known to some degree, however we also facilitate anonymous matches, too.

When beginning the matching process, the IPs will decide what type of matching arrangement they feel best meets their needs. Donors will also indicate the type of match arrangement they feel suits them. Aligning on this is an essential part of the matching process. If all parties are comfortable doing so, we encourage a virtual meeting between Intended Parents and donors prior to confirming the match. When all parties agree that they wish to proceed, psychosocial screenings for the donor begin.

Once Intended Parents and a donor agree to work together, the donor will need to complete psychosocial evaluations. The donor will meet with a social worker who will complete a clinical interview with the donor to learn more about her life – her family history, education, supports and motivation to donate. The donor will also complete a psychological examination which must be reviewed and approved by a psychologist in order to proceed. When a donor has successfully completed both parts of her psychosocial evaluation, we consider the MATCH official!

The egg donor will travel to the Intended Parent(s)’ fertility clinic for a comprehensive in-person medical screening. Occasionally, the clinic will allow a donor to complete some or all of the medical screening at a clinic local to the donor. During this time, the Intended Parent(s) will begin work on their legal contract with their donor. The Intended Parent(s) will be represented by their Circle attorney while the donor will have legal representation independent of Circle.

Once a donor has been medically cleared by the Intended Parent(s)’ clinic, and the contract between the Intended Parent(s) and the donor is finalized, the clinic will plan out the retrieval cycle. They will also order medications for the donor and local monitoring will be arranged for the cycle. The donor will attend local monitoring for the cycle ahead of travel to the Intended Parent(s)’ clinic for the retrieval. The number of monitoring appointments required varies from clinic to clinic. Intended Parent(s) can ask their clinic what the standard is for their retrieval cycles.

This is the most exciting time during your egg donation journey. Your egg donor will be taking her medications; on average, donors are on stimulation injections for 8-12 days prior to administering a trigger shot with a scheduled retrieval 36 hours later.

The egg retrieval will take place at the Intended Parent(s)’ clinic. Donors are required to travel for this trip with an adult companion. After beginning injections at home, a donor and a companion will then travel to the IVF clinic for the remainder of the cycle for monitoring leading up to the retrieval.

Once eggs are retrieved, they will be fertilized into embryos at the clinic. Many intended parents choose to complete genetic testing of their embryos (PGS testing) to aid in determining which embryos are most likely to yield success. 24 hours after the retrieval is complete, the donor and companion will travel back home. The retrieval trip itself can average 4-12 days depending on the duration in which she is on stimulation injections.