An Intended Parents Guide to Frozen Egg Donation with Cofertility

At Cofertility, we believe that everyone deserves the ability to build the family of their dreams. Part of this is ensuring intended parents have access to different options for working with an egg donor, including both fresh and frozen egg donation programs. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about working with a donor in our frozen egg donation program.

‍If you’re interested in learning more about our options for fresh egg donation, click here.

An overview of frozen egg donation

Our unique egg sharing model provides intended parents with an alternative to cash compensation for egg donation. At Cofertility, our donors always go through a split cycle in which she keeps half of the eggs retrieved for her own future family planning and donates half to your family.

The key difference between fresh and frozen egg donation with Cofertility is the point at which the donor completes her screening and egg retrieval. The donor’s screening, and in some cases the screening and retrieval process, is completed in advance of matching. 

Donors in the frozen egg donation program will undergo the same rigorous screening process as those in our fresh egg donation program. All donors have been pre-qualified to move forward with egg donation per ASRM, FDA, and standard egg donation guidelines. A preliminary screening for donors includes:

• Confirming the donor's age is within ASRM guidelines. All donors on our matching platform are 21-33 years old.
• Reviewing the donor’s personal medical history, including lifestyle, chronic conditions, mental health, and reproductive health, in line with ASRM, FDA, and standard egg donation guidelines.
• Reviewing the donor’s biological family’s medical history, inclusive of evidence of genetic disorders, cancer history, and other conditions and illnesses, in line with ASRM, FDA, and standard guidelines.
• Collecting and reviewing past egg donation history with outcomes, if applicable.
• AMH testing via blood draw. All Cofertility donors are required to have an AMH level of 2.0 or higher.

At the time a donor in our frozen egg donation program is listed on our platform, they will have also already completed or are in the process of completing additional screening that includes:

• Antral follicle count (AFC) assessment
• General health examination
• Genetic carrier screening
• Psychological screening

Considerations for frozen egg donation

Both fresh or frozen egg donation can be great options, depending on your individual goals and what you’re looking for at this point in time. There are several reasons intended parents may choose to pursue frozen egg donation with Cofertility.

Quicker process

Matching with a donor in our frozen program can provide a unique opportunity to move forward with your family-building plans faster, as frozen eggs can be fertilized or shipped to your clinic immediately or as soon as the cycle is complete. Time from match to cycle can be a lot faster with frozen since the screening – which is what takes the most time – is already completed. If you’re looking to transfer embryos ASAP, matching with a frozen donor can help make that happen. 

Added certainty

Because a frozen donor has completed most or all of her medical screening in advance of matching, it brings a little more certainty to the process. With screening results in hand, you’ll have more certainty over whether a donor is the right fit for your family building goals from the outset which can help alleviate some of the speed bumps or heartaches that may come with a fresh donation journey. Every frozen match is also guaranteed to have a minimum of at least 6 frozen eggs. 

Generous guarantee

The pricing model of the frozen program allows us to put our Baby Guarantee on the entire cost of the match. Whereas traditional egg banks may offer a blastocyst guarantee, we offer a live birth guarantee. If the frozen eggs that you receive do not lead to a live birth, we’ll replace those with an equivalent number of eggs for $0. You don’t have to pay for any screening or retrieval fees again. 

Finding the right donor 

Ultimately, the most important thing is that you feel great about the donor who you match with. If you’re open to either journey, it might just be a question of finding the right donor and then accommodating whichever program she’s in. 

Our Baby Guarantee

We’re truly committed to helping families grow — that’s why we’ve built one of the most parent-friendly programs out there, inclusive of our Baby Guarantee.

As highlighted above, Cofertility’s signature Baby Guarantee goes above and beyond what traditional egg banks offer. If, for any reason outside your control, the frozen eggs that you receive do not lead to a live birth, we’ll rematch you with a new donor for $0. That means all of the medical expenses of the second cycle are covered and the only costs you’d need to pay are the additional shipping and fertilization expenses at the clinic. 

If you rematch with a donor who has more frozen eggs available, you will be responsible for covering the difference in cost.

How it works

We understand how daunting the process of looking for an egg donor can be. Our team works tirelessly to ensure that the process of finding your perfect match is as straightforward and as positive of an experience as possible. If you are interested in matching with a donor participating in our frozen egg donation program, here’s how the process works:

1. Create a free account: Simply answer a few questions about what you’re looking for to get immediate access to our donor matching platform. From there, you’ll be able to view profiles for the hundreds of donors that are available to match with families like yours.
   
   Donors participating in our frozen program will have a note in the “About this donor” section of their profile.

2. Find your match: When you find a donor with whom you’d like to match. Just press the “hold this match” button at the top of her profile. From there, you’ll be directed to pay your $500 match deposit, which will immediately remove the donor from the platform so no other intended parents can match with her while we confirm details with all parties.

At any time, you can also schedule a free consultation with a member of our team so that we can help you find your match.

3. Match kickoff: Shortly after you place a hold on a match, you’ll be assigned a dedicated Member Advocate you will be with you through the process end-to-end. Your Member Advocate will reach out to set up a kickoff call, during which you’ll go over the details of the process and confirm your match preferences. 

4. Donor screening and retrieval: When you match with a donor in our frozen egg donation program, the donor’s screening and retrieval is either complete or well underway. 

5. The split and embryo creation: On the day of the donor’s retrieval, the mature egg yield is split into two even cohorts (if there is an odd number of eggs retrieved, the “extra” egg will be in the donated half). Both the eggs that the donor keeps and the ones that she donates will be immediately frozen and stored. The donated portion of the eggs will be stored at our clinic partner where the retrieval is done and can be shipped to your clinic or thawed and fertilized on site. 

The number of eggs that you receive will vary based on the donor’s cycle outcomes and the total cost of each match varies based on the number of frozen eggs included. Some donors in our frozen egg donation program will have already cycled and the outcomes will be known, while others may not have completed their cycle just yet and there will be some uncertainty around the number of eggs that she’ll retrieve. If you match with a donor who hasn't completed her cycle yet and she retrieves a number of eggs that's not in line with your family building goals, you can put the funds paid towards another match in the frozen program.

What happens next is entirely up to you. You can ship frozen eggs to your clinic, where they’ll be thawed and fertilized. You can also work with the clinic where the retrieval took place, thawing the eggs and creating embryos onsite. Some intended parents choose to complete PGT testing on their embryos prior to implantation, while others may not. Some intended parents plan to carry the pregnancy themselves, while others are working with a gestational carrier. In any case, we’re passionate about creating an egg donation experience that is anything but transactional, and we are here to help make the process as seamless as possible — from embryo creation, to pregnancy, birth, and beyond.

Pricing

With the frozen program, you’ll pay a single lump sum fee that covers all of the costs involved in the donor’s retrieval cycle. This includes:

• Cofertility’s Coordination Fee
• All expenses associated the donor’s screening
• All expenses associated with the donor’s medication and retrieval 

The number of eggs that you receive will vary based on the donor's cycle outcomes and the total cost of the match varies based on the number of frozen eggs included. The full cost breakdown can be found on our pricing page. 

Conclusion

At Cofertility, we know there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to growing your family with donor eggs. We’re proud to offer our unique no-cash compensation egg sharing model for both fresh and frozen donation to give intended parents as many paths as possible to grow their families. To create a free account and get instant access to our donor matching platform, click here. We can’t wait to be part of your journey.