Egg Donation: For Intended Parents

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Intended Parents Information

Specializing in meeting the deeply personal and individual needs of our intended parents, A Perfect Match provides warm, personalized egg donation and gestational surrogacy matching services. Incorporated in 2000 and with 16+ years’ agency experience, A Perfect Match has more than 1,000 births attributed to our egg donation and surrogacy programs.

We are not the largest agency, but we don’t aspire to be. Our goal is to provide more personalized services to our intended parents and surrogates and never make you feel like a mere number when you work with us. Our egg donors are located throughout the nation for convenience of intended parents, but we primarily work with southern California surrogates. California has great laws protecting parental rights of those who work with a surrogate. Our close proximity to our surrogates means we can see most of our surrogates on a monthly basis and it means we are close enough to available to help as needed.

We have 10 full-time employees who work in our offices, so you will always be able to reach us during business hours, and once matched you will have access to your coordinator after hours for emergencies. Our intended parents say our staff is very kind and takes the time to listen to their needs - and our office feels comfortable, welcoming, and more like being with family. That is how A Perfect Match chooses to do business - family helping family.

Spend some time exploring our site to learn more about A Perfect Match and our menu of services. Or contact us today for a free individual consultation to discuss how our online, private, confidential registries of egg donors and our personalized gestational surrogate matching—along with the caring and personal services we extend to our clients—can help you create your own perfect match.

If you would like to view our egg donors, and are willing to sign a confidentiality agreement, Contact Us, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call 1-800-264-8828

The Rewards

  • Freedom
    Choose donor attributes most important to you.
  • Choice
    Anonymous or open donation: personal phone calls, Skype meeting or in-person meeting available.
  • Quality
    Committed donors who meet criteria of IVF centers. Education and test scores verified.
  1. Benefits of APM
  2. Types of Egg Donation
  3. Agency Documents
  4. Communication With Donor
  5. Screening
  6. Legal

Benefits Working APM

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The Benefits of Working With A Perfect Match
  • Access to our free online database of donors. Sort by a great number of donor attributes. Ability to place a hold on a donor right from the website.
  • Freedom to choose donor attributes most important to you: View adult and childhood photos, donor profile, and history of previous cycles. Videos are available for most donors.
  • Agency verification of donor’s educational test scores and transcripts: We understand that verification of the donor’s academic history is important to you, so we request official standardized test score reports and transcripts from our donors.
  • Anonymous donation, open donation, and known donation are all accommodated: Personal calls, Skype meetings, or face-to-face meetings with donors available.
  • Personalized matching services: APM employs experienced, full-time staff who are in the office daily to answer questions you may have. We also have private advertising options available to those who are looking for a unique donor match.

A Perfect Match recruits intelligent, talented, attractive women to help those who cannot create a family without an egg donor. The average donor compensation for a first-time donor is $10,000, but some of the harder-to-find ethnicities or repeat donors may request more. A Perfect Match does not set compensation for our donors because we believe the decision of who to work with and what compensation shall be paid is best decided by intended parents and donors. A donor’s requested compensation amount is stated on her online profile. As a note: ASRM no longer has a guideline position on donor compensation and allows for donors and intended parents to negotiate the amount that is best for them and their situation.

tab images ed ip Types Of Egg Donation

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Types Of Egg Donation

A Perfect Match respects an intended parent’s right to determine not only the type of donor characteristics that are most important to them and their family, but also the type of donation that is most important to them. (Note that not all donors on our site are necessarily open to all three types of donations; carefully read her profile or contact an agency staff member to determine her preferences.) There are three types of donation available through A Perfect Match:

  • Anonymous Donation - Anonymous donation is the most common type of egg donation. Intended parents and their donor share no personal contact or other identifying information with each other—in fact, they may even choose to be identified in the contract by only a number or alias.

    Still, even with such a donation, there is no guarantee of anonymity. Until recently egg donation was very secretive, and consequently egg donors and intended parents were able to be completely anonymous. With the advances of science and DNA testing, however, A Perfect Match is no longer able to guarantee complete anonymity for you, for the donor, or for the child created through egg donation.

    Even in an anonymous donation all parties may still recognize the need for sharing medical information that can affect the child created through donation, or any future children born to the donor. Parties may agree to maintain and update personal contact information through the agency or other third party. An anonymous donation contract does not preclude a family from asking the donor to meet the child in the future.
  • Open Donation - Open donation is when intended parents and the donor agree to share some limited identifying information, or when they agree to share all personal contact and identifying information with one another once the retrieval is completed. Open donation should be entered into only by those who are comfortable with having contact and identifying information shared with the other parties. APM has no control over whether the parties will respect the privacy of the other, or if they will in fact maintain contact in the future.

    Open donations are common when the parties agree that a future meeting between the child and donor is important. All parties agree to maintain periodic contact with each other either directly or through a third party in order to receive yearly medical updates until the time of meeting occurs.

    Open donation doesn’t necessarily mean ongoing direct contact between the parties is required; a third-party intermediary may still be chosen as the primary contact for future medical updates and messages until the child is ready to meet the donor.

    Open donation is now recommended by most mental health professionals in this industry, and it can be a wonderful option for your family—provided, that is, all parties agree on the level of contact and on appropriate personal boundaries before personal information is shared. While we find that this is a wonderful option for many, and that most parties show true concern and respect for the other, APM cannot guarantee that parties will actually remain in touch or will respect the privacy of the other.
  • Directed Donation - Directed donation is when the parties may already know each other on a personal level (family or friend), or—because of the donor’s FDA ineligibility—all parties may be required to have a level of openness in order to work together. Directed donation should be used only by those who are comfortable with having contact and with sharing identifying information with the other parties. APM has no control over whether parties will actually respect the privacy of the other or if they will remain in touch over time.

    If due to FDA guideline requirements and/or the desire of the parties, the minimal level of “known” requirements is determined by the IVF center, not the agency. Intended parents should consult with their own IVF center to understand its policy. Directed donation may include any or all of these:

    • A phone conversation between intended parents and donor in which full names are shared.
    • A phone conversation or personal meeting in which all personal contact information is shared, including phone numbers and emails.
    • The same as immediately above, though including this: all shared contact information is added to all legal contracts and/or consent forms.
    • If a surrogate is involved, any or all of the above may apply to all parties—or may mean that only the donor and surrogate must meet the minimum requirements and share information.

tab images ed ip matching process

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Agency Documents

Once you find a donor of interest on our database, you may place that donor on a temporary hold either online or by calling APM and speaking with a match coordinator. There is a $1,000 fee to place a donor on exclusive hold for you for one week while agency documents are finalized. The hold fee will be applied to the full agency fee when the match is finalized. In order to place a donor on a full exclusive hold for a cycle, agency documents must be signed and the first installment of the agency fee must be received. The following are documents you will receive:

  • Agency Retainer - This document is sent to you after you place a temporary hold on the donor and it outlines our services and obligations to you and your obligations to A Perfect Match. The retainer explains what happens if a donor doesn’t pass IVF center screening, or refuses to sign a legal agreement, or if the cycle has to be cancelled.
  • Estimate Of Costs - A Perfect Match will provide an excel spreadsheet with each line-item expense we anticipate will be necessary for your cycle with the donor. The only costs we do not include are those due to the IVF center because we are not a party to the services you select through the center.

    Intended parents pay the IVF center directly unless you make other arrangements and agreements with APM to pay these items through your trust account. Furthermore, we ask for an additional $1,000 to be held in trust to cover any extra expenses, such as extra birth control, an additional day of travel for the donor, etc. If any cost exceeds the line item on the estimate we provide, APM must obtain your prior approval before incurring that cost increase. Although we are very good at estimating costs, most of our intended parents receive a refund of excess funds at the end of the cycle.
  • Donor Travel Benefits - This document explains the donor’s compensation, medication start fee, and any travel arrangements for the donor. This Benefits package is signed by both the intended parents and donor, then sent to the drafting and reviewing attorneys so they can add the language to the legal agreement between the parties.
  • Fund Management Agreement - We use the services of Reproductive Law Center (RLC) to hold the trust funds for our donor cycles, unless otherwise agreed upon by APM, intended parents, and donor. The holding of intended parent’s trust funds by RLC is to protect not only the anonymity of the parties, but also your funds.

    RLC will send you a fund management agreement, which is a requirement in order for the law office to hold funds for the donor cycle. The funds in trust are based on the estimate provided by A Perfect Match and approved by intended parents. The funds in the trust account are your funds used only to pay for the agreed upon expenses set forth in the estimate, or agreed upon in writing should those amounts change, or a new expense is agreed upon in writing by intended parents and APM. The law office will give you a complete accounting of every penny paid throughout the cycle, and at the end of the cycle you will receive a copy of all redacted invoices as well as a summary of expenses per category. Monthly statements are available upon your emailed request to the law office.

When all the agency and legal documents are received by A Perfect Match, we will send a match sheet to the IVF center so they can begin their screening process of the donor; we will also send a match sheet to the attorneys so they can begin the drafting and reviewing of the legal contract.

tab images ed ip Types Of Meetings

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Communication & Contact With Egg Donor

Most egg donation cycles are anonymous—that is, there is no personal contact between the parties. Many intended parents, however, find it important to know they have chosen an egg donor who is kind and compatible with their family, in which case they may desire more connection with the donor than just a profile and photos provided by the database.

A Perfect Match is willing to facilitate more communication between the parties; there is a $150 fee for facilitating a phone or virtual meeting unless a temporary hold is placed on the donor's profile. The following kinds of communication can be accommodated:

  • Phone call - APM uses a confidential conference line when intended parents and donors want to remain anonymous and do not want to share their personal contact information, but do have an interest in speaking to one another by phone. This option is best for those who do not want their personal and confidential contact information shared, and who are undecided about having the child and donor meet in the future.

    APM will schedule a day and time that is convenient for the parties and will connect the parties through our conference line, so that phone numbers of the parties remain confidential. An APM match coordinator will make the initial introductions and remain available to answer any questions the parties may have. These conversations generally last 15 to 30 minutes. Most people enjoy such personal contact, and consequently choose to work together after experiencing this level of communication.
  • Virtual Meeting - APM’s Zoom account allows multiple parties to attend a joint meeting while at separate computers. This works well for those who may be in different offices, cities, states, or countries. We ask all parties to edit their names to limit identifying information.

    We arrange a meeting day and time that is convenient to all. Virtual meetings are usually for those who desire future contact between the donor and child. Unless otherwise agreed upon in writing, no personal contact information is shared until after legal contracts are signed and a positive pregnancy is confirmed. Virtual meetings generally last 15 to 30 minutes. Most people enjoy this more personal contact with each other and typically choose to work together after experiencing this level of communication.
  • In-Person Meeting - APM accommodates personal face-to-face meetings between the parties, though with some restrictions about the facilitation of the meeting. Intended parents must first sign an agency retainer, and the first installment of the agency fee must be paid before an in-person meeting is arranged. Because such a meeting is much more intimate, a conference call or virtual meeting is required first, followed by a tentative commitment to work together—only then will an in-person meeting be arranged.

    All local in-person meetings are facilitated by an APM staff member; by an IVF staff member if the meeting is held at the IVF center; or by a legal professional or mental health professional if the meeting is held elsewhere. Any costs associated with facilitation by a legal or mental health professional is the responsibility of the intended parents and is not applied towards the agency fee.

    In-person meetings are less frequent than other modes of communication, typically used by those who desire future contact between the donor and child—and often desire ongoing contact directly with each other. Most people tell us that an in-person meeting is a very positive and comfortable experience—more like meeting with a family member or friend. Personal contact information, however, is not shared by the parties until after legal contracts are signed and a positive pregnancy is confirmed. In-person meetings generally last an hour. Most people enjoy this much more personal contact with one another and consequently choose to work together after experiencing this level of communication.

Whatever level of communication you choose, we have found that some level of contact between the parties is very positive for all involved. Whether you meet via phone call, Skype call or personal meeting, it is a time for intended parents and donor to learn more about each other. It is not a time to discuss compensation or negotiate any contract terms. Nor is it a time to share any personal and confidential contact information, which occurs only after a legal contract is signed between the parties and a positive pregnancy result is achieved—and then only if all parties agree.

If after a call, Skype, or in-person meeting you feel more comfortable with a less personal donation, A Perfect Match will accommodate the change. Remember, however, that no personal contact information is ever shared by the parties until a legal contract is signed between the parties—and in most cases the information is not shared unless and until there is a confirmed pregnancy. For more information about viewing our donors or about APM’s services contact us at 1-800-264-8828.

tab images ed ip Screening

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Donor Screening & Eligibility

A Perfect Match carefully screens donor candidates only for acceptance into the agency donor program; the IVF center, on the other hand, screens donor candidates to determine the final eligibility of women who meet federal, state, and IVF criteria for undergoing an egg retrieval.

A Perfect Match is a matching service only—we do not claim to have medical, mental health, or genetic expertise. Nor is APM licensed to provide mental health, medical, or genetic services. The questions on our in-house donor profile and genetic questionnaire are extensive, and we provide a copy of the profile and genetic questionnaire to your IVF center once a match is made. These documents are provided to A Perfect Match directly by the donor and are intended for use by APM for prescreening in our program and matching purposes only.

A Perfect Match does not guarantee the accuracy of information on documents received from donor, nor are they intended to be used as a medical or genetic screening tool for the IVF center, nor should they be relied upon by the IVF center when determining final eligibility of a donor for an egg donation cycle.

  • Prescreening Of A Donor Candidate by A Perfect Match - A Perfect Match conducts its own prescreening of donors for the sole purpose of determining acceptance into our donor program. Our donor prescreening includes the following:

    • A profile completed by donor.
    • A genetic questionnaire completed by donor.
    • Photos of donor and her family.
    • Official test scores and transcripts. On our database of donors, we note any educational claims that are unverified.
    • Documents of donor’s personal identity—driver’s license, school ID, passport.
    • Records of any cycles (directly from the IVF center).
    • Results of recent Pap test (if more than a year old, a new Pap test is required).
    • Any other documentation deemed necessary to make APM’s final decision to list or not list a donor candidate in our program.
    When a donor is matched with an intended parent APM will provide the following to the IVF center:

    • Donor’s profile and genetic questionnaire provided to APM by donor.
    • Copy of donor’s driver’s license and photo (so the IVF center can verify the identity of the donor you chose).
    • All previous cycle records received from IVF centers.
    • Pap test results.
    • Psychological clearance (as applicable).
    A Perfect Match does its best to select candidates based on our experience with IVF center donor criteria. If a candidate states she smokes; takes illegal drugs, has a family history of mental illness, primary cancers, heart disease, or diabetes; then she is generally not accepted into our egg donor program. The final determination of eligibility for your chosen donor, however, is always made by your IVF center.
  • IVF Center Screening Of Donor - Only an IVF center determines the final eligibility of the egg donor for a retrieval cycle. Only an IVF center can provide or request medical and genetic testing and screening of the egg donor. Because each IVF center has its own donor criteria, a center requires a donor to complete its own documentation to determine the donor’s eligibility. The IVF center conducts a personal interview with the donor to obtain her family history, infectious disease history, and to complete a genetic and risk assessment. All egg donor screening requirements—including medical, genetic, and psychological screenings—are determined by the IVF center only, and only the IVF center can order any medical or genetic testing of the donor. The following are required by the majority of IVF centers:

    • Genetic Consult And Genetic Screening: Most IVF centers require genetic counseling for egg donation cycles, unless they intend to do the more extensive genetic testing through Counsyl, Good Start, or similar companies that provide genetic counseling as a part of their testing services. All parties involved in the egg donation cycle will undergo some genetic testing; however, the actual genetic testing completed is determined by the IVF center. Intended parents should discuss all genetic testing concerns or genetic family history directly with the IVF center. Some genetic test results may take up to two weeks, and IVF centers will not begin medications for the egg donor until all genetic test results are finalized.

      A genetic counselor reviews the donor’s profile and genetic questionnaire, conducts a phone conversation with the donor to discover as much genetic family history as possible. The genetic counselor then creates a pedigree, writes a report describing the findings, recommends any additional genetic tests based on the pedigree,and submits the full report to the IVF center. Note that it is the sole responsibility of the IVF center—not APM or the genetic counselor—to determine which actual genetic tests are ordered for the donor.

      The cost of a genetic consult is about $350 for the donor and is paid for by intended parents. Some counselors will discuss the donor’s consult with intended parents, but others charge an additional fee (around $150) to discuss the findings with intended parents so it can be determined if the donor and intended parents share any potential genetic traits that could cause an issue for a child. Any genetic testing of the donor or the intended parents is determined by and ordered by the IVF center. The cost of genetic testing is paid by the intended parents through the IVF center.
  • Psychological Screening - This evaluation detects psychological issues of a donor, as well as ensures that the egg donor fully understands the long- term and emotional aspects of donation. Although all IVF centers require such psychological screening of donors, some centers have their own, in-house psychologist who determines whether or not to accept the donor candidate. Centers that do not have their own psychologist on staff require this screening to be done by a licensed mental health professional acceptable to the IVF center. A previous evaluation may be accepted by the IVF center if it is less than a year old.

    A PAI, MMPI, or similar personality assessment is conducted with the donor during as part of the psychological screening. The mental health professional meets with the donor after testing for a personal evaluation, during which they may discuss the donor’s history, her understanding of the egg donation process, and her commitment to the process. The mental health professional then generates a written assessment of the donor’s psychological suitability for a donor cycle. This assessment is submitted to the IVF center for their final approval and determination of the donor’s eligibility. Intended parents will not receive the actual test results or assessment.
  • Medical Screening - This screening is performed by either the primary IVF center or a monitoring physician approved by the primary IVF center. The IVF physician will review the donor’s existing medical records and conduct a medical history interview with her. The actual medical screening will be based on the donor’s history and the IVF center’s specific protocol. An ultrasound will be performed by the IVF center to determine both the number of eggs the donor has during a normal, unstimulated cycle, and the health of the ovaries. The donor may have her FSH or AMH levels tested, as well as other additional testing to determine if she is physically capable of undergoing the egg donation process. The center will also do blood testing to determine whether or not the donor meets FDA eligibility requirements.

    Each IVF center has its own protocol for the screening of egg donors and is responsible for determining what tests to perform on the intended parents, the donor, the eggs, and the embryos. This is in addition to the FDA’s requirements for specific testing of each gamete contributor.

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Legal Documents

APM insists that every donor and intended parent has separate legal representation concerning an egg donation cycle. A legal contract must be finalized and legal clearance sent to the IVF center before a donor can begin injectable medications.

  • Legal Contract - Once you are matched with your egg donor and final compensation has been agreed upon, A Perfect Match will send the attorney referral to the attorney who will represent the intended parent and to the attorney who will represent the donor. The legal contract will covers compensation, legal obligations of the parties, egg donor’s conduct, legal possession of eggs/embryos, and future communication or contact between donor and intended parents, or between donor and child when of legal age. The contract may furthermore set limitations on the use of the donor’s eggs and resulting embryos.

    Some donors allow intended parents to make all decisions regarding disposition of eggs or embryos; other donors have strong feelings about embryos donated to another family or research without her knowledge or permission. Although such terms are generally agreed to during the matching phase, a donor or intended parent can change their minds once they have legal counsel.

    Similarly, an egg donor may cancel the contract for any reason—until the day she begins injectable medications. Such cancellations are rare, however, and typically due to difficult personal situations—death of a family member, her own medical issue that precludes her from donating, etc. Egg donors rarely cancel a cycle after the legal consult and she understands the level of commitment that is expected in the process. Once the legal contract is signed and medications begin, however, a donor may cancel only for medical reasons substantiated by the primary physician; otherwise, she will be in breach of contract.
  • Legal Representation - The egg donor and intended parents have separate legal counsel. Attorneys will send their own clients an engagement letter that specifies the attorneys’ services and fees. Legal costs for both donor and intended parents are paid by the intended parents. The intended parent’s attorney is the drafting attorney, and the egg donor’s attorney is the reviewing attorney.

    A Perfect Match generally requires Reproductive Law Center to represent one of the parties in the contract negotiations. This ensures that the contract’s terms reflect both APM’s donor program and the documents signed by the donor and intended parents at the time a match was agreed on. If you are already working with a reproductive attorney—who has at least three years’ experience in drafting egg donation contracts—you are free to be represented by that attorney, in which case RLC will represent the donor.

    The drafting attorney sends an initial draft of the contract to the intended parents for approval, after which the contract is sent to the reviewing attorney. The reviewing attorney discusses the contract’s terms with the donor, noting any changes the donor may desire. The reviewing attorney then notifies the drafting attorney of any change requests in the form of a redline document. Once the the terms of the contract are finalized, all parties are required to sign the contract, at which time a legal clearance letter is finalized and issued to the IVF center. The donor will not start any injectable medications until all parties sign the egg donation contract and the drafting attorney sends a legal clearance letter to the IVF physician. Upon receipt of a copy of the final agreement, APM will request payment of funds to be placed in trust to cover expenses based on the terms of the final contract.
  • Trust Account - As part of the legal agreement, the full amount of funds for the egg donor cycle—Including cost of retrieval, medications, travel, and egg donor’s compensation—are placed in a trust account prior to when the egg donor begins injectable medications for retrieval.

    The trust fund is required in order to protect the identities of all the parties. Invoices will be redacted to remove the names or other identifying information of the parties. Our preference is to use the services of Reproductive Law Center as they have more than 25 years’ experience in handling client funds, with two employees devoted to working with such trust accounts. On rare occasions APM will allow the use of a trust account service other than RLC, but only if we have previously worked with that attorney or escrow.

    Our goal is to have all invoices paid promptly, to protect client and donor identity at all times,and to ensure that our clients receive a full accounting and access to reports and statements concerning their funds. Unfortunately, not all companies provide this service to the degree that APM requires.
  • Results - Every donor should have access to information about her cycle results. This is not to invade your privacy as intended parents, but to inform the donor so she can make decisions about her future family planning. We ask our intended parents to sign a medical release authorizing the IVF center to let APM know the number of eggs retrieved, the number of eggs fertilized, the number of embryos created, and if there was a pregnancy. Such information is valuable to the donor not only for her family planning and future egg donations—but it can confirm for her that her hard work resulted in a positive outcome and her efforts made a difference in the lives of others. Donors are indeed compensated financially, but they donate also to help others create families—and they want the best for you and for any children created through their donation.

    Finally, we ask that you and the donor both agree to notify each other of any medical or genetic issues that may become known to the donor’s family or to the donor child. This can be done through the agency, the attorneys, or the IVF center.

We wish you the greatest success as you navigate through this journey toward parenthood!

To view our database of donors or to ask us questions email us at: [email protected] or call 800-264-8828 (toll free) or 619-464-1424. We are available Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm (Pacific Time).

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