Egg Donation in California
Donor Nexus is a California egg donor agency and California-licensed, FDA-registered egg bank serving intended parents and egg donors across the state.
Choose your path with our California egg donor agency and egg bank
Find an Egg Donor in California
Choose from more than 500 donor profiles, many of them in California. Your donor can cycle at your own clinic through our Fresh Matching Program, or frozen donor eggs can ship from our Newport Beach egg bank straight to your clinic.
Becoming an Egg Donor in California
Donate eggs in California with screening at a provider near you, compensation you set yourself, and travel costs covered. Many of our donors come back to donate again because of how we treat them along the way.
How egg donation works in California
California intended parents and egg donors work with Donor Nexus, a California egg donor agency and FDA-registered egg bank, through two programs. In the Fresh Matching Program, a donor is matched with one family and completes her cycle at that family's IVF clinic. In the Frozen Egg Bank, donors complete their retrieval at our partner site in Newport Beach, and the frozen eggs ship directly to clinics across California and throughout the United States. In either program, our intended parent team and our donor team stay in touch with the clinics involved and with each other at every stage.
Donor eggs for California intended parents
If you live in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, or anywhere else in California, you can use donor eggs from Donor Nexus without changing doctors. You keep your California fertility clinic and physician, and you can choose any donor from our egg donor database of more than 500 profiles, wherever she lives. Through our Fresh Matching Program, we arrange your donor's travel so she can complete her cycle at your clinic, with her travel expenses included in the program pricing, and many of our donors already live in California. Through our Frozen Egg Bank, eggs retrieved at our Newport Beach partner site ship directly to your clinic anywhere in the state. Each of our egg donor profiles lists where the donor lives, so you can look for a donor in your part of California if that matters to your family.
Pricing depends on the program you choose and, for a fresh match, on the compensation your donor sets for herself. Every Donor Nexus donor sets her own compensation with guidance from our team, and our budget tiers show how that shapes your total: Core donors set compensation under $20,000, with total fees from $29,600 to $50,000; Select donors set $20,000 or more, with totals from $50,000 to $80,000+; and Signature donors, who set the highest compensation, have total fees from $100,000 and are priced individually. A cohort of six eggs from our Frozen Egg Bank ranges from $19,500 to $29,500. You'll receive a detailed cost estimate before you confirm a match, and your clinic's IVF and medical fees are billed separately. You can compare our donor egg programs side by side, register for free to browse the donor database, or book a complimentary call with one of our case managers, who will answer your questions and help you work out which program fits your family.
Does California insurance cover donor eggs?
Some California plans now cover part of the cost. Under SB 729, which added Health & Safety Code §1374.55 to state law, fully insured large group plans (employers with more than 100 employees) issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026 must cover infertility treatment, including up to three completed egg retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers, and a plan cannot deny coverage because you are using a donor. Who pays for third-party costs such as donor compensation and agency fees is still unsettled, small group plans only have to offer the coverage, and self-funded plans and religious employers are exempt, so ask your insurer or HR team exactly what your plan includes. Our guide to the cost of donor eggs walks through every fee.
Is an egg donor a legal parent in California?
In almost every case, an egg donor is not a legal parent in California. Under California Family Code section 7613, a person who provides eggs for assisted reproduction by someone other than her spouse or partner is not a parent of the resulting child unless a court finds that the donor and the recipients intended for the donor to be a parent. Donor Nexus is also an FDA-registered egg bank with a California tissue bank license, and every fresh match includes legal agreements between the donor and intended parents, with those legal costs included in the program fee. Your reproductive attorney can explain how these rules apply to your own agreement.
How the Fresh Matching Program works for California families
In a fresh cycle you are matched one to one with a donor. She travels to your California IVF clinic for her final monitoring and retrieval, and you receive every viable egg from that retrieval. Donor Nexus fresh cycles average 28.9 eggs retrieved and 22.6 mature eggs. A fresh cycle usually takes four to six months from match to retrieval, with most of that time spent on the donor's medical, genetic, and psychological screening.
Frozen donor eggs from our Newport Beach egg bank
Frozen donor eggs are available in cohorts of six and ship from our Newport Beach egg bank directly to your California clinic, usually within four to six weeks of completed paperwork and payment. Each cohort comes with the blastocyst guarantee described on the Frozen Egg Bank page, and every shipment travels in a Cryoport dry shipper with continuous temperature monitoring from our lab to yours.
Is the Donor Nexus egg bank regulated in California?
Donor Nexus is registered with the FDA as an egg bank and holds a California tissue bank license, so donor screening, testing, and egg storage follow both federal and state rules.
Fresh vs. frozen donor eggs for California families
| Fresh Matching Program | Frozen Egg Bank |
|---|---|---|
For intended parents | All viable eggs from one retrieval (average 28.9 retrieved), four to six months, donor travels to your California clinic | Cohort of six frozen eggs, four to six weeks to your California clinic, blastocyst guarantee |
For donors | Matched with one family, you set your compensation with no cap, cycle at the family's clinic with travel covered | Retrieval at our Newport Beach partner site with travel covered, standardized compensation that rises with each donation, no family match required |
Donation types | Non-identified, identified, Open ID | Non-identified, Open ID |
California fertility clinics we have worked with
We have coordinated fresh donor cycles or shipped frozen donor eggs to the California IVF clinics below. If your clinic is not listed, let us know, because we work directly with any licensed IVF clinic that accepts outside donor eggs.
Los Angeles: HRC Fertility Encino, HRC Fertility Pasadena, UCLA Fertility, USC Fertility, Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC), and more on our Los Angeles egg donation page
Orange County: HRC Fertility Newport Beach, CCRM Orange County, and more on our Orange County egg donation page
San Diego: HRC Fertility La Jolla, San Diego Fertility Center, and more on our San Diego egg donation page
San Francisco Bay Area: Stanford Fertility, UCSF Center for Reproductive Health, CCRM San Francisco, and more on our San Francisco Bay Area egg donation page
You can see every clinic we have worked with on our IVF clinic partners page. For our Donor Embryo Program, we partner exclusively with HRC Fertility in Southern California, and our step-by-step guide to the donor egg process shows what happens from registration through transfer.
Browse donors whenever you're ready
Creating a free, password-protected account takes about a minute, and once you're in you can look through every profile in our donor database from home. If you'd like to talk things over first, our team is glad to answer questions on a complimentary call and help you sort out which program fits your timeline and budget.
Become an egg donor in California
Women in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the Bay Area, Sacramento, and across California ages 19 to 30 (exceptions considered for healthy applicants in their early 30s) with a BMI of 24.9 or under who don't smoke can apply online, and you can read more about how to become an egg donor with Donor Nexus before you start. Our egg donor requirements page explains each qualification and why it matters. Your screening labs and ultrasounds happen at a provider near you in California, so travel is limited to the final days of your cycle. In the Fresh Matching Program you set your own compensation with guidance from our team and no cap, all of it goes directly to you, and travel, lodging, and a companion's costs are covered separately. Payment is held in escrow and released within five to seven days of retrieval.
Our team is made up of women close in age to the donors we work with, and many of them have donated through Donor Nexus themselves, which is a big part of why about 70% of our cycles come from repeat donors and referrals. If you don't have a companion for your retrieval, we can arrange a private nurse through our NurseRegistry partnership.
Egg banking for California donors
Egg banking means donating to our Frozen Egg Bank instead of matching with one family. You complete your monitoring near home and then have your retrieval at our partner site in Newport Beach, usually a short drive from Southern California or a short flight from Northern California, with travel and lodging covered, and your eggs are frozen for intended parents to select later. Banking compensation is more standardized than fresh matching and increases with each donation; our egg donation page lists current figures. Many women keep donating eggs with us after their first cycle and go on to complete both a banking cycle and a fresh cycle.
What California donors ask us
Where do I go for monitoring? During stimulation you have early-morning ultrasounds and blood draws at a clinic near you in California, and Donor Nexus arranges the referral.
How much time away will I need? A fresh-cycle retrieval trip usually runs five to seven days, and many California donors are matched with families whose clinics are within driving distance. A banking retrieval in Newport Beach is often a day trip or one night for Southern California donors.
Can I get paid to donate eggs in California? Egg donors in California are compensated for their time and the medical process, and in our Fresh Matching Program you set that amount yourself with guidance from our team.
Can I refer a friend? You can, and our refer-a-friend program pays $1,000 once a donor you refer completes a retrieval, there is no limit on referrals, and you don't need to have donated yourself.
Egg donation in California: frequently asked questions
These are the questions we hear most often from California intended parents and egg donors. For program details and pricing, visit our donor egg programs page, or if you are thinking about donating, start with how egg donation works.
You can, and you keep your own California clinic and physician throughout. In our Fresh Matching Program, your donor travels to your IVF clinic for her retrieval, and her travel expenses are included in the program pricing. In our Frozen Egg Bank, the eggs ship directly to your clinic in a temperature-monitored dry shipper. We work with any licensed IVF clinic that accepts outside donor eggs, including California clinics we have worked with across Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and the Bay Area.
It depends on the program you choose and, for a fresh match, on the compensation your donor sets for herself. Fresh Matching Program fees start at $29,600, and our Core, Select and Signature budget tiers show how the total changes as donor compensation goes up. A Frozen Egg Bank cohort of six eggs ranges from $19,500 to $29,500, and you'll get a detailed estimate before you confirm a match. Your clinic bills its own IVF, embryo transfer, and medication costs separately, and our financial breakdown page lists every line item.
For fully insured large group plans (employers with more than 100 employees) issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, SB 729 requires coverage for IVF, including up to three completed egg retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers, and these plans cannot deny coverage because you are using a donor. The law is codified at Health & Safety Code §1374.55. Who pays for donor compensation and agency fees is still unsettled, small group plans only have to offer coverage, and self-funded plans and religious employers are exempt, so confirm the details with your insurer or HR team.
In the Donor Nexus Fresh Matching Program you set your own compensation with guidance from our team, there is no cap, and all of it goes directly to you. Frozen Egg Bank compensation is standardized and increases with each donation. Travel, lodging, and a companion's costs are covered separately, and payment is released within five to seven days of retrieval. Current figures are listed on our Become an Egg Donor page.
Women ages 19 to 30 who have a BMI of 24.9 or under and don't smoke can apply, and we consider healthy applicants in their early 30s case by case. Every donor completes medical, genetic, and psychological screening before she is matched or begins a banking cycle, and your screening labs and ultrasounds happen at a provider near you.
Yes. Our Frozen Egg Bank is in Newport Beach, which makes Donor Nexus a California egg bank as well as an FDA-registered one, and it holds a California tissue bank license. Cohorts, which generally include six frozen eggs, ship to clinics across California, usually within four to six weeks of completed paperwork and payment, and each cohort comes with our blastocyst guarantee.
Ready for the next step?
+1 (949) 433-5635 (Available M-F 8AM to 4PM PST)
Donor backgrounds available to California families
Asian, Black, Blonde, Caucasian, Hispanic, Indian, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Middle Eastern
Egg donation across the U.S. and worldwide
Donor Nexus coordinates egg donation cycles throughout California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Across the United States, we work with families and donors in New York City and Brooklyn, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Boston, Chicago, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Atlanta and Georgia, North Carolina, Miami and Florida, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Las Vegas and Nevada, Utah, Seattle, and Oregon. As an international egg donation agency, we also work with intended parents and egg donors in Australia, Canada, and worldwide.
