One in six couples in the UK struggle to conceive, but egg donors give loving families a chance. Learn more about who needs your egg donation and why.
Donor eggs are used in fertility treatment for people who can carry a pregnancy, but are missing a piece of the puzzle – healthy eggs.
For these people, no amount of treatment or IVF can help them have a child. For them, the joy of pregnancy and parenthood is only possible with a donor egg.
Reasons people need donor eggs can include:
Being born without ovaries
Premature menopause
Previous chemotherapy or radiotherapy
Having a serious genetic condition
Repeated IVF attempts that didn’t work
Being a same-sex male couple
Every year in the UK, incredible egg donors help around 1,000 people to have a baby - and every donation can help up to two families.
At our clinics, we see first-hand the difference egg donation makes. We match our incredible egg donors with hopeful parents to help create loving families with specialist fertility care and treatments.
Your egg donation is in safe hands with us from start to finish, with our complete team of specialists taking the very best care of everything – including you.
With infertility on the rise and national egg shortages, donor eggs are needed more than ever.
If you meet the following criteria and are interested in becoming a donor, we’d love to hear from you.
Age 21 - 35
BMI between 18 to 35 - calculate your BMI
Non-smoker for 6 months, including vapes
No serious illnesses or infections
Able to share your full medical history and that of your immediate relatives
Sometimes we can accept eggs from an older person, for example, if the donation is for someone you know.
Donor eggs can be used in IVF to help overcome female fertility challenges.
This is usually when the person receiving treatment no longer ovulates or has problems with their eggs or genes.
IVF is a fertility treatment where eggs are mixed with sperm in a laboratory.
Donor egg IVF is one of the most successful types of IVF.
According to the HFEA, one in three people using donor eggs in treatment have a baby, compared to one in five people when using their own eggs.
Your eggs are donated fresh or they’ll be safely frozen using cryopreservation, where they’re stored in quarantine for three months to make sure they’re free from disease. If your eggs are frozen, you'll need to come back three months later to repeat the screening process.
Once they’re approved for use and matched to a person having IVF treatment, they’ll be defrosted.
The eggs are mixed with sperm from the recipient’s partner or a sperm donor.
Any eggs that successfully fertilise become embryos. We let them grow bigger for several days, before choosing the healthiest ones to use.
Usually, only one or two embryos are implanted at a time. They’re placed into the recipient’s womb, where they’ll hopefully go on to become a successful pregnancy.
Any suitable remaining eggs or embryos may be frozen. They could be used for a repeat treatment or to help the same recipient have another child in the future.
After your egg donation cycle has been completed, you'll be given a compensation payment of £986.
This payment will be paid to you on your last day of treatment.
Donating your eggs is an altruistic act and the payment you receive covers expenses you might have gained during donation.
This can include:
Cost of travel
Loss of earnings
Accommodation fees
Childcare
You may be able to claim more if your expenses have exceeded the £986 compensation. You'll need to speak to your clinic about this before you begin treatment and will be asked to provide receipts to show that your expenses have exceed the £986 limit.
Imagine giving the gift of parenthood. If you’re interested in becoming an egg donor and meet the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.