Egg Donation is the process using donor eggs to grow your family. Using an egg donor to have a baby is a special way to fulfill your dreams of parenthood. Circle offers an Egg Donation program for intended parents where they will partner with our experienced team, have access to our extensive egg donor database and find an egg donor match.
Search egg donor databaseWhat is Egg Donation
Egg Donation Process
Types of Egg Donation
Egg Donation Costs
How Egg Donors are Screened
What to Look for in an Egg Donor
How to Find an Egg Donor
Why Choose Circle Egg Donation
Egg Donation Program
Frequently Asked Questions
Egg donation is the process of a fertile woman donating her eggs to allow another woman to conceive a child, whether she’s the intended parent herself or a surrogate for heterosexual or homosexual couples/individuals.
At Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation, we pride ourselves on working with women who donate their eggs for reasons that go beyond financial incentives. Our egg donors are wholly dedicated to making the dreams of intended parents come true, and they’re totally prepared — emotionally, mentally and physically — to do just that.
For some parents, they know immediately that they require donor eggs. For other parents, the need to find an egg donor comes after they have tried to grow their families on their own. The intended parents who cannot have children on their own and require egg donation include:
However you've come to egg donation to become parents, building your family through egg donation is a wonderful way to fulfill your dreams.
Part of the egg donation process includes In vitro fertilization (also known as IVF). In this process sperm is combined with an egg outside of the body to produce fertilization. The process also includes the transfer of the embryo into the intended mother (or, in the case of surrogacy, the gestational carrier). The recipient of the embryo will be required to take IVF medications in order to prepare her body for a pregnancy.
Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation is a full-service egg donation agency; coordinating all aspects of your egg donation—from screening and matching to contract negotiation with our in-house legal team.
Our process involves:
As a parent in our egg donation program, you will follow a process that guides you along your journey from establishing yourself with a clinic until your egg donor’s egg retrieval.
There are 4 different types of egg donation: Known Egg Donation, Semi-Known Egg Donation, ID Release Donation and Anonymous Egg Donation.
Known egg donation. For known egg donation, Circle will share contact information between egg donors and intended parents. This allows you to build a relationship, get to know each other, and enables you to have contact with each in the future.
Semi-known egg donation. In this type of egg donation, first names and area of residence are shared between the egg donor and intended parents. Then, donors and parents may choose to have some limited (and anonymous) contact with each other.
Anonymous egg donation. In this type of egg donation, non-identifying information is exchanged, but there is no direct contact between intended parents and their donor. Any communication or information is managed through the agency.
ID Release egg donation. Similar to an anonymous donation, the egg donor and intended parents will have no contact, however with ID Release identifying information will be released if a donor-conceived child at legal age requests details.
Circle Egg Donation encourages known egg donation between intended parents and egg donors. Known egg donation allows intended parents to get to know their egg donor, and her motivations for donating her eggs. It also creates an open channel for future communication between the egg donor and the parents, as well as for the child, should the child wish to learn more about where s/he came from.
Almost all of the egg donation matches at Circle Egg Donation are Known Egg Donations. When deciding which type of egg donation works best for your family, please remember it is a very personal decision, and one to be made that’s best for your situation and wishes. If you are most comfortable with an anonymous donation, we will happily support your decision.
Egg donation can cost anywhere between $25,000-$35,000, exclusive of IVF clinic fees. An egg donor's fee can also vary since egg donors set their own fees, though most of our first-time egg donors ask for compensation between $9,000-$10,000. In some instances, an egg donor may be compensated higher if she's an experienced donor.
Our Egg Donation Program fees are made up of the following costs:
Many women who apply to become egg donors do so because someone close to them has experienced infertility, or they are parents who wish to give that same joy of parenthood to others.
In addition to a desire to help others, egg donors who work with Circle must meet a variety of medical, psychological, and demographic screening requirements to make sure they’re a healthy reproductive match for your family.
At Circle Egg Donation, we hold our egg donors to high standards. How we select egg donors results in an egg donation database that is regularly updated with hundreds of bright, healthy and generous women who are hoping to help intended parents achieve their dreams of having a family.
Circle egg donors will complete an in-depth profile that asks for the egg donor’s biographical information, self-reported health and family history, education and career path information; she will also provide photographs and a video. Every egg donor applicant is pre-screened by Circle's Egg Donation Team, and she is further educated about the egg donor process, and has the opportunity to ask questions of experienced egg donors. If the applicant meets all our egg donor requirements, she will move into the next phase of the screening process.
Once selected, the egg donor is further evaluated by one of Circle’s licensed social workers and she completes a psychological evaluation conducted by a licensed psychologist. The egg donor also attends a medical screening with your IVF clinic where she will complete genetic testing, among other things.
Just as important, our egg donor application is designed to only admit egg donors who are donating for all the right reasons. As a result, you can feel good knowing that your egg donor is emotionally invested in the success and happiness of your parenting journey.
Finding the perfect egg donor can feel like an overwhelming task. How do you begin to find an egg donor who will help you grow your family?
When looking for your perfect egg donor match, think about the type of woman that you're looking for. Some intended parents look for a young woman who has similar qualities that they possess. Other intended parents look for an egg donor who complements their personality or appearance.
Education? Appearance? Ethnicity? Personality?
As you start your search, it's a good idea to have some thoughts as to what's important to you in an egg donor match.
And remember, nature vs nurture – not every characteristic or trait is hereditary!
The first place most intended parents start their egg donor search is in an egg donor database. Most Egg Donor databases are set up so that you can search for an egg donor by certain criteria. Circle's egg donor database is easy to use, and easy to navigate.
It can be helpful to make a list of search criteria before you begin. Things to consider are:
Within each donor profile, you'll find a tremendous amount of additional information, including:
You may not know what you're looking for in a donor, and that's okay! Some intended parents take the "I'll know her when I see her" approach.
Starting your search to find an egg donor may feel a little overwhelming at first, and you're likely going through many emotions as you begin.
There are many egg donation agencies out there, many clinics also have an egg donor database and you will also come across egg banks in your search. The benefit of working with an egg donation agency like Circle Egg Donation, is that we will help you choose an egg donor, and then support you for the duration of your journey. We'll work with your IVF clinic of choice, and coordinate all steps of the process. It's why we're the best egg donor agency!
Here are the key steps in your egg donor search:
Whenever you’ve settled on a potential donor that you feel connected to, just let Circle Egg Donation know. They’ll help you set up a video call, so you can get to know each other even better (this can be done anonymously if you prefer). The whole process is very flexible, and depends on your comfort level.
Circle is a premier egg donor agency with the experience and passion to help you find a perfect match. We have over 25 years of experience, and are partnered with outstanding IVF clinics and other field-leading institutions around the country.
Joining our Egg Donation Program gives you access to our egg donor database and dedicated egg donation support team. Our staff brings a wealth of egg donation experience – including women who have donated their eggs multiple times to help families; we are confident that we can help you choose the perfect egg donor. We’re ready to guide you through the entire egg donation process and help you coordinate with an IVF clinic of your choice.
Why you should grow your family with Circle Egg Donation:
Using donor eggs to grow your family is exciting, however it can also add feelings of stress to what is naturally a very emotional journey.
Working with an egg donation agency helps to eliminate the unknowns, so you can focus on what’s important: growing your family.
At Circle Egg Donation, intended parents will experience the following benefits by with with us:
The Circle Egg Donation team does everything in our power to make your egg donation experience seamless and hassle-free. That’s why we offer Unlimited Egg Donor Matching, meaning we’ll keep matching you with new Circle Egg Donors until a live birth is achieved. It may take more (or less!) time than you expect, but working with our team means you’ll eventually find the right donor. It’s just one more thing you don’t have to worry about.
It's natural to have questions about being an donor egg recipient and the egg donation process. We've helped so many become parents through egg donation, we're happy to answer any and all of your questions. Frequently asked questions and answers are below. If you have additional questions, do not hesitate to reach out to our team.
There are many different criteria by which you can search for your prefect egg donor match. Some intended parents look for egg donors who physically resemble family members. Other intended parents focus on personality traits they'd like to see in their future children. While other parents make the donor's family medical history a priority.
Yes! You may use a fertility clinic with which you already have a relationship if they do third party egg donation. If they don't, Circle can help you select a clinic. We have built relationships with clinics from all over the United States. We will coordinate with your clinic throughout the entire process.
Intended parents review and choose an egg donor from our egg donor database, however all matches Circle facilitates must be mutual in order to proceed. Egg donors will not “choose” who their intended parents are, and who will be receiving their eggs, however, donors are able to choose whether or not they will match with intended parents who select them.
Intended parents search for an egg donor in our egg donor database, which is filled with hundreds of bright and giving young women. Intended parents are able to create a profile and search for donors based on characteristics such as hair color, education, location, etc. After reading comprehensive egg donor profiles, intended parents will let the Circle Egg Donation team know when they have found a donor with whom they wish to match. If both parties agree on the match, the matching process will commence.
Intended parents will purchase an insurance policy for their egg donors (estimated around $800 for complications insurance on the donor). A donor‘s health insurance will not cover any complications due to the act of egg donation, so the insurance policy is put in place for all donors whether they are insured through their own plan in the marketplace or not.