Matching process
The first step is to fill out a short form in which you share more about your family and what you’re looking for in an egg donor. You’ll then gain immediate, free access to our matching platform and can start browsing for your perfect match. When you’re ready to begin the process with a specific donor, you can place a hold on a match for up to five days.
We believe the concept of “family” takes many forms, and we’re here to help your family grow, whatever that looks like. So regardless of your gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationship status, we do not discriminate, period.
In traditional egg donation, all of the eggs retrieved in a given cycle are given to the intended parents in exchange for payment. However, in egg sharing, the donor has the opportunity to keep half of the eggs retrieved for their own future family planning in exchange for donating the other half to your family.
At Cofertility, we exclusively work under the egg sharing model, which we call Split, because we think it’s better for everyone involved – the intended parents, the egg donor, and ultimately the donor-conceived child.
Read more about the Reasons Why Egg Sharing is an Ideal Egg Donation Model for Intended Parents
While some agencies require you to pay extra to receive any form of a guarantee, Cofertility’s baby guarantee is built into our pricing. We want to help you bring your baby home, and we’ll re-match you for free until that happens.
What does this mean? If the donor doesn’t clear her screening… we’ll rematch you. If the cycle doesn’t lead to any blastocysts… we’ll rematch you. If none of the blastocysts turn into a pregnancy… we’ll rematch you.
In short, if at any point along your egg donation journey, something out of your control prevents you from bringing your baby home, we’ll re-match you for free or we’ll offer you a full or partial refund if you do not move forward with another donor.
To read more about Cofertility’s Baby Guarantee, including how it applies to our fresh and frozen egg donation programs, click here.
We work with anyone who is looking to build a family through egg donation, in the U.S. or anywhere in the world. Our donors are primarily based in the U.S., and we are happy to work with intended parents around the globe, depending on your country’s laws around third-party reproduction.
When it comes to our team, we collaborate remotely and are distributed across the U.S.
When you’ve found a donor you want to move forward with, press the “Place a Hold” button at the top of her profile. From there, you’ll put down a $500 deposit to place a hold on that match. Placing a hold removes a donor from the platform and prevents her from matching with any other intended parents. Within 24 business hours, your Member Advocate will reach out to set up a kickoff call and discuss next steps.
When you match with a donor in our fresh egg donation program, the process from match to cycle may generally be two to four months. Once you create a free account, you’ll gain immediate access to our matching platform and can start to learn more about our donors. When you’re ready to begin the matching process, you can place a hold on the match. As soon as the mutual match is confirmed, we can begin the process of scheduling her screening and testing with your clinic, which generally takes a few weeks. Once your doctor gives the go-ahead, we’d set a date for the cycle at a time that is mutually convenient.
Matching with a donor in our frozen program can provide a unique opportunity to move forward with your family-building plans even 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.
Yes. Unlike others in the space, we pride ourselves on facilitating mutual matches that meet the needs of you, your family, and the donor. After you place a hold on a match, a member of our team will reach out to the donor to ensure that they have the opportunity to voice their preferences around disclosure status. Our hope is to facilitate a mutual match in which your and the donor’s disclosure preferences are aligned.
With a fresh donation cycle, you match with the donor before she undergoes any screening. Her screening and retrieval will be done at a clinic of your choice. With a frozen donation cycle, the donor has already completed all of her screening and is either fully cleared to donate or, in some cases, has already completed her cycle. Her screening and retrieval will be done at one of Cofertility’s partner clinics. You can either thaw and fertilize the eggs there or have them shipped to your clinic.
Ultimately, the path that’s best for you depends on your timeline and family-building goals. To learn more about how to decide which path to pursue, check out this blog we’ve written on the topic.
In a disclosed donation with Cofertility, you and the donor will exchange contact information and can communicate directly. In an undisclosed donation, you will not exchange contact information and only communicate via Cofertility. With an undisclosed donation, you could arrange to have the information available to your child down the road (this is sometimes called Open ID).
We highly encourage disclosed donations as we’ve met with the US Donor Conceived Council and heard from the donor conceived community that disclosed is best for the donor conceived person. However, if you choose to move forward with an undisclosed donation after careful consideration, we will honor that decision.
Read more in Disclosed vs. Undisclosed Donation: What's the Difference?
Every relationship is unique and depends on the desires of all parties involved: you, the donor, and any future donor-conceived children. The extent of the relationship, including the point at which your contact information is shared and the frequency of communication, is up to both parties and will be determined during the agreement phase.
It’s important to separate your disclosure status from any potential relationship that you have with the donor. For example, you may have a disclosed donation, in which you share contact information but decide not to maintain any regular communication.
In any case, more research shows the benefits of being open with children about their donor-conceived roots. As such, we encourage you to be open with your own children about their conception story. We share more about our stance on disclosure in this article.
Regardless of your disclosure status, you and the donor may choose to meet as part of the match process. This meeting can take many forms. For example, you can meet over Zoom, over the phone, or in person. The meeting can be facilitated with or without sharing contact information. Some intended parents choose not to meet live but to instead share information about themselves via a letter, slides, or video to their donor.
If you do meet “live,” we’ve put together a list of suggested questions and conversation starters that we’ll share with you and the donor before your meeting. Your Member Advocate will also join the call to help facilitate introductions and conversation.
If you match with a donor in our fresh egg donation program, your match meeting can take place before she begins her screening. If you match with a donor in the frozen program and are both open to a meeting, it will take place after her retrieval.
Ultimately, we view a match meeting as a way to connect with the donor on a deeper level but there’s no right or wrong way to do this. If it’s something you’re interested in, we’ll work with you to do so in a way that feels good for you.
It is impossible to guarantee anonymity in egg donation. With widely available genetic testing and more state laws banning anonymous gamete donation, it’s increasingly likely that identity and shared genetics will be discovered. We ensure that our Split members (who will be freezing her eggs and donating half to your family) are aware of the possibility that, even in an undisclosed donation where contact information is not shared, donor-conceived children may eventually want to reach out with their own questions.
Read more in Why We Don’t Believe in Anonymous Egg Donation
We’re committing to working with donors who are as unique as you and your family, and hope we can find someone who is a great fit. There is no fee to access our matching platform and once you have an account, you can indicate specific characteristics or criteria that you’re looking for in a match. Sign up for emails so you can get notified, as we are constantly adding new members who may be a good match for you and your family. Still don’t see what you’re looking for in a donor? Send us an email at support@cofertility.com and we can discuss how we can help.