What are Egg Donor Requirements

It takes a special woman to be an egg donor. Women who want to help others by donating their eggs are kind, giving and have a strong sense of family. Additionally, young women who are interested in donating their eggs must meet a set of physical, health, geographic and educational requirements.

Physical requirements

• Be between 21-29 years of age (up to 31 for experienced donors)
• Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) lower than 28. Calculate my BMI.
• Be of any ethnic and racial background

Geographic requirements

• Be a U.S. or Canadian citizen

Health requirements

• Have no more than one occurrence of the same cancer in family history (except non-genetic cancers, such as leukemia and lung)
• Have family history with no serious heart disease or heart attacks under age 55
• Not have psychiatric hospitalizations
• Be comfortable with giving yourself daily injections with small needles, like those used for insulin

Educational requirements

• Have some education after high school i.e. enrolled in college, college classes, certification programs, bachelor's degree, master's degree, PhD, etc. If you have questions about what qualifies for advanced educated, please email us

What disqualifies you from being an egg donor?

The requirements to being an egg donor so that you'll qualify for egg donation are put in place by ASRM (the American Society for Reproductive Medicine). Plus, you may find that different clinics have slightly different criteria from each other.

Egg donors will not qualify for egg donation if:

• They are older or younger than the age requirement
• They live unhealthy lifestyles
• They smoke cigarettes or use recreational drugs
• They have a history of STDs or of infertility themselves
• They have inheritable genetic diseases

If you're thinking about becoming an egg donor – that's great! In addition to the egg donor requirements set forth by ASRM and fertility clinics, it's important for potential egg donors to be emotionally, physically and mentally ready to apply, and to commit to the process.

Prepare mentally

Egg donation is a big commitment, and one that you should feel amazing about doing! But egg donation is also a serious responsibility. You need to be mentally ready for all that is going to be asked of you.

When you apply, are accepted and added to our egg donor database, you are that much closer to helping make intended parents dreams come true. Should an intended parent choose you for an egg donor match, you need to be able to commit to moving forward with the journey. Once matched, intended parents are emotionally invested in you helping them grow their families.

Egg donors will be given a cycle schedule by the IVF clinic, which includes strict instructions for medications. It's imperative that an egg donor follow these directions explicitly – the success of your egg retrieval can depend on it! While you are taking your medications, there will be a bunch of appointments you'll be required to attend. Please be sure that you have made the time in your schedule to accommodate them (and that you have transportation!)

Prepare physically

The actual egg donation process is relatively short (a few weeks), but keeping up with exercise and eating right from when you apply to when you are matched is a great way to help your body prepare for what's ahead.

Prepare emotionally

Be ready to share one of the greatest adventures ever with your agency and with your intended parents. During the application process you will be asked many personal questions about yourself and your family, and you should be ready to answer all of them as honestly as possible.

While you are the one donating your eggs, you should have at least one person in your life who knows about your plans for egg donation. You can look to this person for emotional support throughout the process, or even as your travel companion for the retrieval trip.

You need to be mentally, physically and emotionally "all in" for a successful egg donation!