How to donate sperm?

Donated sperm is an essential factor in many fertility treatments, such as intrauterine insemination or IVF to support couples and single women who want to start a family.
All donations through CoParents are used to assist many couples and individuals from a variety of backgrounds and situations to conceive a child.

Why Donate Sperm?

There are many reasons to donate sperm and each individual has his own motivations. However, a man’s first motivation to donate his sperm is usually to help couples who can’t have children of their own become pregnant. Donors can also choose to donate semen in order to give single women or lesbian couples the chance of having a baby.

Sometimes a personal connection to a couple who require a donation can trigger a man’s desire to donate his sperm. Offering semen may also be driven by an awareness of the reduced rate of donation to British sperm banks. Some men donate simply because they want to make a difference and to help people who are less fortunate than they are. For others, donation is inspired by a strong will to pass on their genes to a new generation.

Others give their semen with the intention of becoming a father and a co-parent with the mother of the donor-conceived child.

What are the Candidate Pre-requisites?

To qualify as a sperm donor, you will need to meet these following key criteria before entering the selection process:
• You must be between 18 and 44 years old.
• You must not be adopted (your family’s history must be traceable).
• You should not possess any kind of sexual infection, serious illnesses or other health related issue.
• You should have no family history of genetic diseases or disorders.
• In the UK, if you donate your sperm via a centre, you’ll first have to provide written consent. The donor can decide to change the terms of or withdraw their consent, providing that this takes place before the sperm is used for treatment.

If you are able to satisfy these criteria and are interested in helping to start a family, you should then register your interest with a local laboratory or sperm bank.

How is the Donor Selection Process?

Before donate sperm, you will be required to complete an initial phone call and answer a series of questions to determine your suitability as a donor.

If you are successful, you will then be invited to a local laboratory or sperm bank and asked to complete a questionnaire about you and your family’s personal and medical history.

Next, you will be asked to provide a primary sample at the centre. Your semen will then be tested against its reaction to freezing, as well as the overall sperm count you are able to generate in each delivery.

If your specimen meets all of the criteria, you will then be invited for a final session at your nearest sperm bank, where you will be asked to provide another sample of both urine and semen, respectively.

Your sample will then be further tested for any sexually transmitted infections or diseases and genetic disorders.

Once you have qualified, it’s time to begin your search for couples or individuals in need.

What Questions should I Expect if I Donate Sperm Via the Internet?

Couples or single women looking for a private sperm donor online might ask you plenty of questions in order to select the right candidate to help them to have a baby.

During your search, you should expect to be questioned about your motivations for donating, your lifestyle, medical history, hobbies and interests, whether you have kids from previous donations and whether or not you would like to play a part in the new child’s life.

Everyone is unique so prepare to be asked different kind of questions depending on the people you’re meeting.

Sperm Donor Payment – What to Expect?

In the UK, donation in exchange for payment is prohibited by law. To help cover any expenses incurred during the donation process, sperm donors can be compensated up to £35 per clinic visit. Additionally, they have the right to claim for the cover of higher expenses including accommodation, travel or childcare.

As for non-permanent residents of the UK, foreign sperm donors are entitled to receive the same compensation as UK donors. However, they may not be able to ask for the reimbursement of their overseas travel expenses.

What About Anonymity?

Some men clearly know whether they want to remain anonymous or not. For others, the answer might be a bit trickier. If you decide to donate sperm through a fertility clinic or a sperm bank in the UK, you won’t have any responsibilities or rights towards the child conceived using your semen.

However, you should know that since April 2005, children conceived through sperm donation have the right to ask for certain information about their donor once they turn 16. When they reach the age of 18, they can also have access to the name and the last known address of their donor.

Additionally, sperm donors also have the right to request details about the children born via their donation. Those who donated after 1st August 1991 have the right to apply for information from the HFEA about the gender and year of birth of any children conceived as a result of their donation.

If you chose to donate your sperm using the internet, you will be able to meet and get to know the parents of the future baby. If you want to be part of the child’s life, you can decide to search for single women or couples who are looking for a co-parent.

The CoParents Service

At Co-Parents, we’ll help you connect with the right match, using our advanced search functions, tools and user profiles. We currently have over 20,000 donors from all over the world and United Kingdom already active on the site and our numbers are growing!

When you have matched with a recipient, you will then be able to make direct contact with them via our website and learn more about one another.

If you wish to remain anonymous whilst donating this is also possible, however this may limit the amount of compatible matches that you receive in your search.