Finding the right Egg Donor for you can be a daunting process. There are many things to even consider when selecting your Egg Donor and making sure that the cycle is successful. This is one of the biggest decisions of your life, and you should feel completely secure with the Donor and agency you choose to work with! We encourage potential clients to speak with our competitors, because there are many options out there. Regardless of the Egg Donation Agency you choose, here are some helpful questions you should ask them before you commit.
What costs do your consulting fees cover?
There are many different costs involved in egg donation, and we recognize that the different payments you need to make and manage can be extremely confusing. Our Egg Donor Intended Parent Handbook contains a breakdown of the basic costs you can expect throughout the process, including our fees. But what exactly do your Agency’s consulting fees cover? At Fertility Match, we strive to be as transparent as possible.
Our consulting fee covers our management of the egg donation process for both the Intended Parents as well as the Donors they select. We work with the fertility centre(s) to organize your Donor’s treatment and appointments, as well as her donation medications when necessary. Our fees include the administration of your Egg Donor’s travel expenses trust, as well as booking and managing any of her necessary travel. We are also responsible for the management of your Egg Donor’s general reimbursable expenses trust, ensuring that all expense amounts she submits are permittable under the Canadian Assisted Human Reproduction Act. Finally, our fees cover the organization of your legal referrals for your contract with your selected Donor (legal fees themselves are payable to appointed lawyers), the organization of you and your Egg Donor’s mandatory counselling and troubleshooting any issues that arise during the donation process.
What does “reimbursable expenses” mean at your Agency?
While Egg Donors in Canada are not paid, donating eggs does involve some extra expenses for the Egg Donors and it is important that Donors not experience any negative financial effects from their donation. Any expenses that an Egg Donor incurs related to her donation are eligible to be reimbursed. At Fertility Match, we allow Donors to claim expenses up to a maximum of $8000.00 related to her donation. These expenses include things like a Donor’s missed wages in relation to the donation, child and pet care required to attend appointments, nutritious food and vitamins to ensure that she is as healthy as possible. A Donor’s expenses can also include a companion’s missed wages and meals on the day of her retrieval, as an adult caregiver is required to assist the Donor to get home safely after the procedure is complete. Anything that an Egg Donor has already paid for and cannot make use of during her donation (for example, a gym membership) is also eligible for reimbursement.
How do you make sure your Egg Donors are dedicated to donating?
Signing up to be an Egg Donor should involve more than clicking a link and providing your basic physical characteristics. At Fertility Match, our Egg Donors reach out to us and complete an extensive application that includes the medical and family histories, as well as short essay answers about their personality, hobbies as well as their motivation to becoming an Egg Donor. After this application is completed, we have one-on-one interviews with each and every Egg Donor. Every Fertility Match Egg Donor signs a contract with us stating that they are dedicated to donation and ready to move forward with a donation immediately before their profiles are activated. We accept less than 2% of the Egg Donors who contact us, restricting our program to those who are truly dedicated to donating.
How do I know the Egg Donor I select is qualified to donate?
All Egg Donor Agencies have basic qualifications for Egg Donors – most commonly, age requirements. However, a young woman isn’t necessarily guaranteed to be fertile or have appropriate hormone levels to be an Egg Donor just because of her age. This program is based on the flaws she saw first-hand with that processes. So, that is why at Fertility Match, we have Egg Donors medically pre-screened before we collect program fees or trust amounts from Intended Parent(s). We assess our Egg Donor candidates with important medical tests used by fertility doctors to determine if they are fertile. These tests include an Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) level, as well as a day 2-5 Antral Follicle count (AFC), estradiol and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level. These results combined give us a very good picture of a Donor’s fertility and her likelihood of her donation being successful. Any Egg Donor on our database with a lotus in the corner of the photo has been successfully pre-screened and has hormone levels and an ovarian follicle count compatible with egg donation. If you are interested in a Donor and she does not have a lotus, please let us know. We can let you know the status of her pre-screen and when results are expected.
How can I be sure the Egg Donor I select is a good person?
In Canada, Egg Donors are not paid. Canadian Egg Donors are women making the choice to donate for altruistic reasons – because they have friends and coworkers struggling to conceive, because they family members who are dealing with cancer-related infertility or because they feel for LGBTQ+ couples trying to start a family. At Fertility Match, we ask our Donors about why they want to donate their eggs and make that answer available to you, so you can see what we see in the young women in our program.
How do you make sure my information is secure?
There are a few ways to ensure the security and privacy of your information. At Fertility Match, our Egg Donor database is secured in several ways. Technologically speaking, we ensure that we always have up to date security certificates as recommended by Google and other Internet security companies. This means that our database only opens secure sessions with users, so your information is safe with us. When you register for an Intended Parent profile on our database, we are the only ones who can see that information.
We only work with professionals who are used to dealing with semi-anonymous egg donations. All of the counsellors, physicians, clinics and lawyers we work with are aware of the type of donation occurring at all points in the process at take the utmost care to ensure that your information – and the information of your selected Egg Donor – remains confidential.
How do you choose the clinics your Egg Donors cycle at?
Every Egg Donor Agency should work with clinics where they know that Egg Donors will have a good experience. At Fertility Match, we work with trusted clinics across Canada and find the best solution for your unique situation and the Egg Donor you select. It is typically more cost-effective and easier for an Egg Donor to cycle at a clinic near her home, though many of our Egg Donors are willing to travel within their province of residence or neighbouring provinces to donate. We will work with you to find the best solution for the Egg Donor you select.
An Egg Donor Agency can make a huge difference in your experience of building a family. Whichever Agency you select to work with, you should feel comfortable asking the necessary questions to fully understand the process of starting or growing your family through Egg Donation. At Fertility Match, we are always here to answer your questions!
Learn more about our Egg Donation Intended Parents program today!
