Choosing a Donor

Donor Screening

Knowing that your dreams for a happy, healthy baby all begin with your choice of a donor, we screen potential donors with extraordinary care.  With very strict quality control standards, our donor program admits 2-5 percent of donor applicants. Our goal is to offer you a wide range of truly exceptional donors.  It’s no coincidence that our headquarters are in the Boston area, home to the world’s top universities such as Harvard and MIT, from which we draw many of our carefully selected donors.

Choosing the best donors

Our donors are chosen based on several important criteria. Donors must be between the ages of 18 and 38 and meet our required sperm count. They must have a degree from a 4-year college or be in pursuit of one. Excellent health plays a critical role in choosing donors – each potential donor must complete a 20+ page health profile, which includes three generations of family medical history.  Our medical director also evaluates potential donors based on intelligence, physical characteristics, appearance and personality. 

Testing

Prospective donors must pass a thorough physical exam conducted by our medical director, and complete rigorous testing of semen, blood and urine. Once the initial physical and blood work are completed, a donor’s semen specimen is frozen and quarantined for six months, after which the donor is again tested for a variety of infectious diseases, prior to specimen release. Specimens are screened to assure that each vial contains a minimum of 15 million motile spermatozoa for an ICI specimen, or 10 million for an IUI specimen.

No specimen is released until the donor has been tested for the following diseases or disease indicators:

• Hepatitis B surface antigen
• Hepatitis B core antibody
• Gonorrhea (GC)
• Syphilis
• Hepatitis C virus
• Cystic fibrosis
  Please Note: NECC donors are tested for communicable diseases and genetic conditions according to state and federal regulations in effect during their time of active donations, using available testing methodology at that time. Some of the more current tests may not have been performed on early donors, especially those prior to 1995. Please contact an NECC client service representative if you have questions regarding testing performed on specific donors.
• Chlamydia trachomatis
• HIV-1 and HIV-2
• HTLV-1 and HTLV-2
• Tay-Sachs carrier screen*
• Cytomegalovirus (CMV antibody)
• Hemoglobinopathy, including B-thalassemia and sickle cell

 

* These tests are conducted on donors from specific ethnic groups.