Become an egg donor

Shady Grove Fertility, home to the largest fresh-cycle donor program in the country, is the only fertility center in the nation that selects its own egg donors (vs. relying on an agency to select donors, which adds significantly to the cost passed on to the recipient). Each year, we work with thousands of women to help them mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare to become egg donors, so that when they are selected by a recipient they are truly ready, well prepped, and well counseled.

We are also home to some of the most qualified egg donors in the country and are proud to share that our egg donors are considered our patients. What does this mean for women who are considering egg donation?

SGF Egg Donor Program: You Are Our Patient

As an egg donor at Shady Grove fertility, you become one of our patients; you will have a team behind you every step of the way—from application completion to the day of donation. This means you are cared for medically, emotionally, and financially, which is why we developed the six-step egg donation process.

• Medical Care: as an egg donor candidate, you will be required to attend Donor Day, an orientation that is held by a member of the SGF Egg Donor Clinical Team. By attending Donor Day you will leave with a great understanding of the medical process. Furthermore, during the egg donation cycle, egg donors attend daily monitoring at one of the 26 SGF offices to measure hormone levels and adjust medication dosing as appropriate.
• Emotional Care: each candidate meets with a social worker to ensure she fully understands and is prepared for an egg donation cycle. At this meeting, candidates are able to ask questions and decide if egg donation is right for them.
• Financial Compensation: egg donors are compensated as they progress through the egg donation process.

SGF Egg Donor Program: Your Health Comes First

At SGF, your health is always our first priority; before, during, and after your donation our physicians and nurse remain available to answer your medical questions. One donor shared, “I knew so little about my own body and fertility before entering the Egg Donor Program at Shady Grove Fertility, but the nurses and physicians I worked with were so informative and caring, I never felt uncomfortable asking.”

SGF Egg Donor Program: We Invest in You

Each year, while 15,000 women apply, only a small portion are eligible to join the Egg Donor Program. These women have cleared eligibility, completed testing, and understand the magnitude of their decision to donate their eggs. These women often become the biggest advocates for egg donation and enjoy sharing their passion for helping others. Not only are our egg donors generously compensated for their time and efforts throughout the egg donation process, we also created the Egg Donor Referral Rewards Program  for our current and former donors. When someone you refer is approved for egg donation and added to the Egg Donor Program, you will earn $100 for your referral. There is no limit to how many referrals you can receive compensation for, and we sincerely appreciate working with friends of our former and current donors!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2016 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness as of October 2019.  

Ready to Choose SGF’s Egg Donor Program?

This decision should not be made lightly and we want you to have all the resources you need to make an informed choice. You can download our free e-book: Everything You Need to Know about Being an Egg Donor.

SGF is home to the largest fresh-cycle egg donor program in the country. Each year, we work with thousands of women who are interested in helping people become parents through egg donation. With 85,000 babies born since the center first opened its doors in 1991, our egg donors have played a significant role in building families; with more than 8,000 babies born from donor eggs.

With a simple online application and transparent screening process, SGF receives thousands of applications to our program each year and we are grateful for the women who choose to donate. One of our donors recently decided to share her experience at SGF and what it meant to her.

Making a Difference with Egg Donation

“Deciding to donate my eggs was not always an easy choice for me. Personally, there was a lot to consider. However, after a week or two of thought, when it came down to it, the choice was clear … I knew that this was the right choice for me at this point in my life. I had always wanted to make a difference. Even if that difference only affected one person. So, when I heard about the donation program through Shady Grove Fertility, things just began to click. I had always known about egg donation but it wasn’t something that I had given serious thought to until right after I graduated college. I had just finished a huge chapter in my life, and I wanted to start the next doing something meaningful. That’s when I found Shady Grove Fertility.

From the moment that I filled out my application, to the day of my retrieval, I could see and feel the difference that I was making in lives of multiple women and families. Each staff member who I interacted with made me feel not only welcomed, but valued. The application process was very in depth, which helped me to learn important aspects about myself as well as my family. One part that I am extremely thankful to have learned was my genetic makeup. Being able to know what genetic disorders I carry is something that will benefit me so much in the future. Each step in the process only reassured me more that donating would make such a positive impact.

To this day, donating my eggs is the best thing I could have done for myself, and for my matches. The entire experience was so humbling. The day of my retrieval, each person I encountered thanked me, and told me what a difference I was making. The retrieval process itself was the most daunting aspect. I had never been under anesthesia before, and there were minor risks involved. Before the procedure both my doctor and my nurse walked me through exactly what would happen, which calmed my nerves. The procedure took about 30 minutes. Afterwards, I stayed for an additional 20 to 30 minutes and then was able to go home. The procedure was much easier than I anticipated, and I knew that day that I would return for a second donation cycle.

I decided to donate my eggs because I wanted to make a difference, and through Shady Grove Fertility I was able to help change the lives of multiple people. I am now currently in the process of starting my second donation, and I couldn’t be happier to work with the Shady Grove Fertility team again.”

If you are interested in sharing the story of your egg donation or learning more about our program, e-mail our Donor Team for information.

 
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2018 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness as of August 2019. 

5 Reasons for Donating Eggs

If you are considering donating eggs, there are a lot of things to consider—from dedicating time, to investigating your family history, to actually donating eggs. Some of these considerations might seem daunting, but there are many, many positive reasons to embark on the egg donation journey. Today, we share just a few that have resonated with the thousands of women who have donated eggs with Shady Grove Fertility.

1. Donating eggs allows me to be a part of modern medicine.
   If you donate eggs, you have the opportunity to learn more about your body than you could have ever imagined. Through various simple tests, you will learn about human reproduction, your menstrual cycle, the number of eggs you currently have, if you have any genetic diseases, and much more.
2. Donating eggs allows me to make a positive impact in someone’s life.
   Due to a woman’s age, her current medical situation, and many other reasons, there are many women and men across the world who need donated eggs to have a baby. And a lot of these couples come to SGF to find an egg donor. As an egg donor, you have the opportunity to fill a need they never knew they had, and help them have the family of their dreams. Many women say they feel an overwhelming sense of empathy and empowerment by helping someone else in such a grand and irreplaceable way.
3. Donating eggs provided compensation for my time and efforts that helped me reach my goals.
   At Shady Grove Fertility, the overwhelming majority of women say the primary reason they donate is for altruism. However, because we provide generous compensation for your time, dedication, and willingness to undergo elective surgery, many women have shared with us that they have been able to pay off their debt, pay for grad school, help them plan for the future, and much more.
4. Donating eggs showed me that I can accomplish a new goal.
   From the application process, through testing and Donor Day, to being accepted as an egg donor and selected for egg donation can take about 3 to 4 months. This opportunity proves that you are dedicated and responsible. It proves you are able to seek out a goal and accomplish it. (And you might even learn some great things about yourself along the way as you complete your personal and family profile and meet with a social worker during your psychological evaluation.)
5. Donating eggs gave me a new sense of self worth and a new community. 
   Of the women who apply for egg donation at Shady Grove Fertility, only 3 percent are selected. For those selected, they join a small community of women who were also able to impact someone’s life in a grand and meaningful way. Donating eggs is an admirable decision and journey and even though you will never meet the recipient(s) of your eggs, you can be reassured that you changed someone’s life forever.

Learn more about the Shady Grove Fertility Egg Donor Program or apply today to see if you are eligible for egg donation. For questions, call 1-877-DonateEggs.

SGF is home to the largest fresh-cycle egg donor program in the country. Each year, we work with thousands of women who are interested in helping people become parents through egg donation. With 1 in 6 couples experiencing infertility, there are many ways to get involved or give back, but one of the most significant and unique ways to help is by choosing to become one of our egg donors.

Our Egg Donors Choose to Give Back

The women who have become egg donors at SGF choose to donate for many reasons but there is one common theme: giving back. Our egg donors share their different but similar reasons for wanting to give back.

“I have had several friends who may have never been able to have had their kids without the help from a reproductive specialist. Seeing their experiences, struggling to having children of their own, and knowing how much my daughter changed my life, I would be honored and would love to give the chance of motherhood to another woman.”

“As a woman, I feel like bringing a child into this world is one of the most powerful things we possess. If that possibility was taken away from me and if I needed an egg donor myself, I would hope that someone else would do that for me.”

“My mother struggled with fertility and had my wonderful brother with fertility treatments and I would love to give another family the chance to either start a family or expand their current family.”

“When I look into my child’s eyes and hear his giggle, I can’t imagine the pain that must come with struggling to conceive. For me, donating my eggs as a mother myself was my way of ‘paying it forward.’”

“My best friend found out she is infertile and has wanted to have children since we were kids. It breaks my heart that there are so many women who want children but are unable to do so. It would be so rewarding to give the gift of life.”

“For me, egg donation is a privilege and I consider myself lucky to be able to give in such a profound way. The first time I donated, I remember vividly how emotionally good I felt. Pure, simple goodness in the knowledge that I created hope where previously there had been none.”

“For me, it’s doing the little things for others that occupies the biggest part of my heart. And since donating my eggs was a BIG thing that I could do for someone else, my heart is that much fuller.”

Becoming an egg donor can be a powerful experience that brings immeasurable joy to a couple who has struggled to conceive. For those selected to donate, you join a small community of women who were also able to impact someone’s life in a grand and meaningful way. Donating eggs is an admirable decision. And even though you’ll never meet the recipient(s) of your eggs, you can be reassured that you have given back and changed someone’s life forever.

 
Editors Note: This post was originally published in October 2017 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness as of May 2019.

SGF is home to the largest fresh-cycle egg donor program in the country. Each year, we work with thousands of women who are interested in helping people become parents through egg donation. With more than 50,000 babies born since our practice first opened its doors in 1991, our egg donors have played a significant role in building families; with more than 5,000 babies born from donor eggs … and counting.

With a simple online application and transparent screening process, SGF receives thousands of applications to our program each year. We are grateful for the women who choose to donate. One of our donors recently decided to share her experience at SGF and what it meant to her.

“I originally looked into egg donation after seeing the devastation an acquaintance went through after a miscarriage. While her loss didn’t stem from overall fertility issues, it still got me asking a lot of questions about myself as I was quickly approaching my late 20s. I knew I would want children someday, but what if, when I decided I was ready, I couldn’t conceive? After seeing the pain this woman went through with just a single miscarriage, I wondered what it must be like for women and their partners to go through multiple miscarriages or despite years of trying, to not be able to conceive at all. What if that was me someday? I knew that if there was a way I could help, I wanted to. After a little research, I found Shady Grove Fertility and their egg donor program. I read up on egg donation and was in awe that such a thing was even possible. Based on statistics alone, I knew the odds of actually getting through the application process, being accepted, and going on to complete a donation weren’t all that high, but a few days later I applied to become a donor in the hopes I would be able to help. I am thankful to have been accepted and successful in doing six donations with Shady Grove Fertility. The opportunity to give multiple women a chance to have a family, who otherwise might not be able to, was incredibly rewarding for me. And during the process, I learned a lot about myself and my own fertility as well as fertility in general.”

If you are interested in sharing the story of your egg donation or learning more about our program, e-mail the SGF Donor Team for information.