On this page, we've gathered our most commonly asked questions to help you prepare for the process of donating eggs with Donor Nexus. We do our best to address any concerns and to provide you with a clear understanding of what to expect. We hope this egg donation FAQ will help you find some additional information that may be helpful as well!
Women who are between the ages of 19-29, have a healthy BMI, have no major hereditary or genetic illnesses, and are not smokers are encouraged to apply.
Additionally, you'll need to pass a series of screening evaluations for any genetic risks, medical conditions, or infectious diseases and complete fertility assessments before completing your cycle.
Candidates are subject to additional criteria to determine eligibility. For more information, please visit: Egg Donor Requirements
You must be able to make this your #1 priority throughout your cycle as any mishaps can cause the cycle to be cancelled. The medications and procedures do entail some commitment upfront, but the incredible difference you make for others makes that worthwhile.
What is required of you as an egg donor:
Must be responsible and dependable:
Travel:
Find a more comprehensive look at the process of donating eggs here.
Compensation ranges from $6,500 - $50,000+ USD*
As a one-on-one egg donor, your profile will be added to our online database under our "Fresh Egg Donor" program. You will then wait to be selected by one set of intended parents. We wish we had a definite answer for how long it will take to get matched with intended parents, it could take several weeks, months, or years. We are committed to ensuring the match is right for both parties.
You will likely be working with the clinic of the intended parents choosing. If you’re local to their clinic, you will be seen there for all your appointments. If you’re not local to their clinic, we may need to fly you out once for your medical screening and again for the duration of your stimulation medication up until egg retrieval. However, depending on the intended parent's clinic, they may allow you to be seen at a clinic local to you for some of your appointments. In a one-on-one donation, the intended parents receive all retrieved eggs.
*Compensation will increase with each subsequent donation. Compensation on the higher end of the range is typically for women who have donated eggs before and/or have been accepted into our Premier program.
Compensation ranges from $5,000 - $20,000+ USD*
As an egg banking donor, you do not need to wait to be matched with intended parents. Upon passing the prescreening evaluations, you will complete your cycle and the retrieved eggs will be added to our egg bank and have the potential to be disbursed to 3-4 sets of intended parents.
We partner with HRC Fertility in Newport Beach, California, for all of our frozen egg banking donations. If you are local to Newport Beach, you will be seen there for all your appointments. If you are located outside of California, we will have you seen at a fertility clinic local to you. Then, we will fly you out to Newport Beach for your egg retrieval.
*Compensation will increase with each subsequent donation. Compensation on the higher end of the range is typically for women who have donated eggs before and/or have been accepted into our Premier program.
The pre-screening process can take up to 3 months, depending on where you are in your menstrual cycle. The egg donation cycle (medications and monitoring appointments) can take 1-2 months. For one-on-one donors, this timeline begins once you are matched with intended parents. For egg banking donors, this timeline begins once you are accepted into the program.
The process may be shorter for repeat donors as you can bypass some of the prescreening evaluations since you've already completed them.
Donor Nexus is proud to offer an egg donor referral program to allow you to make more money!
With our egg donor referral program, you can earn a referral fee for every egg donor that you refer – even if you haven't completed a cycle yet yourself!
Refer your friends, colleagues, or hairdresser! Once their cycle has been completed successfully, we will send you a check for $500+*! We’ve had egg donors receive over $10,000 just for referring other donors.
If you have a friend interested in becoming an egg donor, please have her fill out our online application. Don’t forget to tell her to mention your name.
*Referral program payout: you will receive $500 for each egg donor you refer who completes an egg retrieval. There is no limit! Egg donor candidates must be between the ages of 19-29, healthy, non-smoker, and college student/graduate preferred.
The information you provide in your questionnaire will be available for the intended parents to review. We remove all identifying information before uploading your questionnaire to our password-protected database. All donations are nonidentified unless you agree to an identified or Open ID donation.
On occasion, we may contact you for additional information not listed on your profile if an intended parent has shown interest and has questions. For instance, the intended parent(s) may want to see additional photos or request a short video. We encourage you to respond quickly to these requests as it shows the intended parent(s) that you are interested in the match and committed.
The majority of egg donations are nonidentified. However, it is common for intended parents to want to meet you over a Zoom call before officially matching. This is so they can get a better sense of your personality and see what you are like “in real life”. A Donor Nexus team member will be present on the call, and no identifying information (such as names) will be shared.
Please indicate on your questionnaire if you are willing to meet with the intended parent(s).
You will receive your full compensation and reimbursement (gas and mileage to your monitoring appointment) within 5-7 days of your egg retrieval procedure. Compensation is variable depending on whether you are participating in an egg banking cycle or a one-on-one cycle. Compensation will be higher for those who are approved into our premier program.
Most likely you will not. Your monitoring appointments will be between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., are brief, and consist of an ultrasound and blood draw. The egg retrieval procedure will require a full day off for the procedure itself and recovering at home.
If you feel that you cannot adhere to the timing and responsibilities that come with being an egg donor, then we highly suggest waiting until you can make this your number one priority.
Yes! Depending on the type of birth control you are currently taking, the physician may switch you to a birth control pill for the cycle.
Usually, doctors will have you take BCPs for 7 to 10 days before starting stimulation medications. This has been shown to help the follicles (egg-containing structures) grow at a similar rate which leads to a greater number of mature eggs retrieved.
If you do not take your birth control pills at the same time every day, your body could respond by starting to grow a dominant follicle or cyst. This is called a “flare-up”.
When this occurs, the cycle has to be delayed as you cannot start medications if there is a follicle already growing on your ovary.
An egg donor can expect to be placed on birth control pills before starting stimulation medications. Most egg donors will take a combination of medications including FSH (Gonal-F or Follistim) an LH (Menopur), and an antagonist (Ganirelix or Centrotide). Every egg donor will take a final injection called a trigger shot.
The type of stimulation medication is dependent upon the physician and your hormone levels.
The injections are self-injections, into the lower abdomen area, with a needle about the size of an insulin needle.
If you have received your cycle medications, please contact your clinic coordinator to schedule an in-person appointment or phone call to do injection teaching. You can also watch instructional videos via Freedom MedTeach.
Toward the end of the stimulation phase, when your hormones have reached the appropriate level, the doctor will instruct you to take your final injection, called the trigger shot.
The trigger shot will be Lupron/Leuprolide, hCG, or a combination of the two. This gets your ovaries ready for your egg retrieval procedure. The day after you trigger, you will have a blood test to make sure the trigger shot worked. This is called an “LH test".
About 34-36 hours after you give yourself the trigger shot, it will be time for your egg retrieval procedure. The egg retrieval itself only takes about 20-30 minutes and is done as an outpatient procedure under monitored anesthesia care to keep you comfortable. You will be given a detailed explanation of the process from your nurse when you arrive. You are closely monitored by both your physician and anesthesiologist throughout the procedure.
As a one-on-one donor, your egg retrieval will be done at the intended parent's designated fertility clinic. As an egg banking donor, your egg retrieval will take place at HRC Fertility in Newport Beach, California.
Common side effects of egg donation are mild symptoms very similar to premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
You may experience some side effects from the ovarian stimulation medications that you will be taking during your cycle. The most common side effects from these medications include headache, nausea, mood swings, or abdominal tenderness. For most women, these symptoms are mild.
Towards the end of your cycle, you may experience tenderness in your lower abdomen area from the injections, as well as bruising in the injection site.
It's common for egg donors to feel bloated leading up to and after the egg retrieval.
After your egg retrieval, you may also experience slight soreness in the vaginal area, mild abdominal cramping, or spotting. Although these side effects can last a couple of days, most women feel normal by the next day. You will be provided with post-op instructions to help alleviate any discomfort or other symptoms you may be experiencing.
While some women may not experience any side effects at all, others may experience varying degrees of symptoms listed above. Ultimately, it depends on how your body responds to the hormone and stimulation medications and the egg retrieval procedure.
The egg retrieval procedure itself is not painful as you are under monitored anesthesia care, in which medication is given through an I.V., for the duration of the procedure.
You may experience side effects from the medications, injections, and egg retrieval procedure, as listed above. However, overall, egg donation is not typically described as being a painful experience.
If you're feeling nervous, check out stories by previous egg donors to get a better understanding of the process.
Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS) is a very rare syndrome that can occur from egg donation; however, only one to six percent are affected in the IVF industry. Your physician will monitor you closely to avoid OHSS and prescribe a “diet” to avoid OHSS. OHSS symptoms are similar to the flu and can last for several days. In severe cases, medical attention is necessary to ensure symptoms subside. If an infection does happen, antibiotics will be prescribed.
It is best to take good care of yourself during your cycle. Be sure you are getting an adequate amount of sleep, eating healthy (lots of protein), and not partaking in any strenuous activities/exercise.
Research does not show an increased chance of fertility issues for women who donate eggs. The medications you will take during your cycle are similar to those widely used for other fertility treatments and are typically considered low-risk. Visit this blog post for additional information.
For donors who are interested in egg freezing, our Futures Egg Donor Program gives you the opportunity to freeze your eggs for free when you donate half to be used by another family.
The results of multiple scientific studies have not shown that fertility medications increase the risk of cancer. If you have concerns about potential long-term risks, we encourage you to discuss these concerns with your physician, as they can offer guidance specific to your unique health background.
Have a question that wasn't covered? Please reach out to our team and we'll be happy to help in any way we can.
Our Egg Donor Programs → Donating Eggs: Step-by-Step → Online Application →
Egg Donor Blog → Egg Donor Experiences →
Apply online today and our team will be in touch to discuss the next steps!
“I am so blessed to have been able to work with Donor Nexus. My coordinator Lauren was amazing and so sweet throughout every donation I have done. Made the entire process extremely easy! Even after I donated, I received sweet text messages checking up on me to make sure everything went well and how I was feeling. The first family I was matched with was seriously life-changing to me and I was so honored I was able to be chosen by that family. I HIGHLY recommend Donor Nexus if you're looking to donate or even become a family to receive.”
– Donor H.G.
“I was a first-time egg donor and really had no clue what to expect. The staff at donor nexus was super helpful in answering my questions, and updating my profile when I was unavailable or available for a cycle. During my cycle, they checked in on me a ton, and made sure I felt comfortable and was doing okay! I recommend Donor Nexus to anyone interested in donating their eggs.”
– Donor P.B.
