Become a donor

Becoming a sperm donor

What are the types of sperm donors?

At Newlife IVF, there are two types of donors – IR (identity-release) sperm donors and known sperm donors.

What is an IR sperm donor?

IR donor sperm means that the recipient does not know the identity of the sperm donor at the time they undergo treatment. In the future, however, if a baby is born as a result of sperm donation, this person will be able to access the identity of the sperm donor at the age of 18 years. Recipients and donor-conceived people may request the identifying information of a sperm donor at any time prior to the child’s 18th birthday. However, this is only provided if the donor consents to this.

What is a known sperm donor?

Being a known sperm donor means that the recipient(s) of your sperm know your identity. You may know the person(s) you wish to donate to through your own personal connections and networks, such as family, friends or acquaintances, or you may connect with a potential recipient online through social media or online forums.

Reasons to donate

There are many reasons why people decide to become sperm donors. Maybe you don’t plan on having your own children – or perhaps you have children already, and simply want to give those who can’t conceive naturally the chance to also experience the joy of family. You might have struggled with fertility challenges yourself or know someone who has, and would now like to help others in similar circumstances. Donating your sperm can be incredibly rewarding, especially when you know from your own experience how much of an impact you are having on someone else’s life. Whatever your reasons, your sperm donation could be the lifeline a couple or an individual desperately need to start or build the family they desire.

Eligibility criteria

In order for us to give people the best chance of achieving a pregnancy, we need to carefully consider the health of a potential sperm donor. Generally speaking, you are eligible to become a sperm donor if you meet the following criteria:

• You are aged between 21–45
• You are in good physical and mental health, and lead a healthy lifestyle
• You have no family history of inheritable disease.

What does IR sperm donation involve?

At Newlife IVF, we aim to make donating as easy as possible for you.

Our donor coordinator will get in touch with you to arrange an initial intake phone call. After that, an online medical and genetic health questionnaire will be sent to you to complete regarding your and your family’s medical and genetic health. This is followed by a blood and urine screening test, and an appointment with one of our fertility specialists. Providing semen samples for donation takes place at our Box Hill site. Our donor coordinator will arrange these appointments for you as multiple samples will be required.

Counselling is a mandatory part of the process of becoming a sperm donor, to ensure you have considered your decision carefully and are fully informed about the legislation and future implications. There are two individual counselling sessions and if you have a partner, they are also required to attend.

It is important that you are fully aware of the possible outcomes of donating. Therefore, our counsellor will also discuss the consent form with you.

We then ask you to donate your sperm on a few occasions over a short period of time, to ensure we have an adequate supply of your sperm for use. This enables a person or couple to access your sperm on multiple occasions (if needed) to attempt to achieve a pregnancy. We work within your time frames and tailor the number of donations to your specific availability.

After this, we will assist you in creating a profile available to Newlife IVF recipients to view. This profile will include details such as your past medical history, family history, reason for donating and your physical characteristics. This information is designed to help recipients select their donor, but will be presented in a way that ensures you cannot be identified.

For further information on the process, read IR sperm donor arrangements.

What does known sperm donation involve?

If you want to direct your donation to someone you know, the first step is for you and your potential recipient(s) to see one of our fertility specialists and complete the required medical blood and urine screening.

You will then be required to attend our Box Hill site for semen freezing – usually, one or two samples are required. These samples must be quarantined (kept in storage) for 3 months, allowing time for an additional blood and urine sample to be taken three months after your donation.

Counselling is a mandatory part of the process of becoming a sperm donor. Initially, there is an individual (or couple, if applicable) session for recipients, followed by an individual (or couple, if applicable) session for the donor. A group session takes place a fortnight later.

Get started

Call (03) 8080 8933 or email [email protected] to book an appointment. Alternatively, complete the call-back form at the bottom of this page, and we’ll be in touch soon!

Further reading

See these articles from our Fertile Thinking blog for more helpful information on sperm donation:

• Sperm donors: the hidden heroes behind many of today’s families
• Sperm donation: separating fact from fiction

Becoming an egg donor

Becoming an egg donor can help an individual or couple achieve their dream of creating a family. There are many reasons why individuals and couples require an egg donor.

At Newlife IVF, we regularly facilitate known egg donor arrangements with confidence and experience.

Who needs donor eggs?

There are several instances where an egg donor can help a person or couple have a baby. For instance, a woman may have a restricted ability to produce eggs, have poor egg quality or have a genetic disorder they do not wish to pass on to a child. Egg donors are regularly accessed by single women, same-sex female couples, same-sex male couples and heterosexual couples.

Eligibility criteria

Egg donors must meet the following eligibility:

• Aged between 21 to 40
• Ideally have had their own children
• Both physically and mentally healthy, with no family history of serious genetic disorders
• Must have a permanent address
• Ideally have full Medicare benefits in Australia
• Must be motivated by a desire to help others.

The above list is not exhaustive. For more information on eligibility, read more on becoming a donor on the VARTA website. 

What happens once I have connected with a potential recipient?

Once you have identified a potential egg donor-recipient, please contact one of our fertility specialists to arrange the necessary screening tests for both you and your recipient. You, and your partner if you have one, are also required to attend an individual counselling session, as well as a group counselling session with your potential recipient. These are to discuss the potential implications of becoming a donor and how your fertility team will navigate your relationships.

For more information, read known donor egg arrangements.

Once all the required steps have been completed and you are ready to start treatment, you will commence an IVF-stimulated cycle. This cycle aims to stimulate your ovaries with the intention of producing and retrieving several mature eggs – a process known as egg collection. The procedure involves light sedation and occurs in our purpose-built day procedures hospital in Box Hill.

The collected eggs are then fertilised with sperm and the resulting embryo(s) are placed in an incubator in our lab to develop and grow. Following these steps, the embryo will then be transferred into the recipient woman’s uterus (or the surrogate’s uterus, in the case of single men or same-sex male couples). This can be done either as a fresh embryo transfer or as a frozen embryo transfer down the track. Hopefully, the transferred embryo will implant in the wall of the uterus and lead to a successful pregnancy.

For more information on IVF, read how the IVF process works.

Get started

Call (03) 8080 8933 or email [email protected]. Alternatively, complete the call-back form at the bottom of this page and we’ll be in touch soon!

Where can I find more information?

Our donor and surrogacy team are available to assist with any queries or questions you have about egg donation. Please contact them at [email protected] for further information.

The Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) also provides helpful resources regarding egg donation.

Becoming an embryo donor

Using donor embryos is a suitable option for those unable to use their own sperm and eggs. The embryos may be obtained from a known or unknown donor and are used as part of the regular IVF process.

Who may need donor embryos?

There are several reasons why an embryo donor can help an individual or couple to have a baby. Embryo donors are accessed by single women, same-sex female couples and same-sex male couples. Heterosexual couples may also need donor embryos if they have fertility concerns.

Factors affecting an individual or couple using their own gametes:

A heterosexual couple who cannot use their own gametes due to male and female fertility concerns

There are cases where both the female and male cannot use their own gametes. Therefore, accessing an embryo from an embryo donor may be their best option to have children.

Where the woman has a restricted ability to produce her own eggs

A female may be unable to produce her own eggs due to her age or her hormone levels. This may also occur as a result of cancer treatment, with chemotherapy and radiotherapy potentially causing permanent damage to the ovaries.

Declining egg quality

Egg quality is one of the most important factors affecting IVF outcomes. As egg quality declines with age, older women may require donor embryos to have a baby.

Presence of a genetic disorder

Some women carry a genetic disorder that they do not wish to pass on to their children. Genetic testing of embryos is often sufficient in order to screen for and prevent inheritance of the disorder. However, in the event that genetic testing is not suitable, the use of donor embryos can be an appropriate alternative.

Single men and same-sex male couples

Men can also access embryo donors to build their families, particularly if they cannot use their own sperm.

What happens once I have connected with a potential recipient?

Once you have connected with a potential recipient, the following steps will commence:

Step 1: Eligibility

ART clinics have guidelines about the parameters for embryos to be donated. To become an embryo donor, the following eligibility is required:

• Embryos must have been stored on Day 5 or 6
• Embryos must not have exceeded legal storage limits (often donors are requested to extend their storage limits)
• If embryos have undergone PGT-M or PGT-SR testing, approval from the
• Newlife IVF Medical Advisory Committee is required
• Embryos can be either PGT-A tested or not PGT-A tested. If the woman who contributed eggs to the embryos was aged 40 or over at the time the embryos were created, it is strongly recommended that the embryos be thawed, PGT-A tested and re-frozen prior to transfer
• It is strongly recommended that embryo donors have reproductive genetic carrier screening and banded karyotyping
• You are required to see a Newlife IVF fertility specialist
• You are required to update your screening blood tests for post-quarantine requirements
  You will not be paid for your donation

Step 2: Medical and Genetics Review

The next step is for each gamete provider (egg and sperm provider) to complete the ‘Genetic and health questionnaire for donors’, to ensure our genetics team can review your health information.

Following this, we ask that you attend a consultation with one of our fertility specialists, to ensure we have the most up-to-date health Information for you. Please be aware that the fertility specialist will charge a consultation fee for this appointment. It is important that potential embryo donors have medical records (including medical records from previous clinics, if applicable) for this appointment.

You will have an appointment with a genetic counsellor or clinical geneticist to review your medical genetic health questionnaire and arrange reproductive genetic carrier screening, where indicated, to assess the risk of genetic conditions in your offspring. It is important to note that if you undergo further testing, there is a possibility that this may reveal potential risks for you and your offspring (if relevant) and our genetics team will discuss this risk with you.

Step 3: Counselling and Consent

Under Victorian legislation, donors must attend at least 3 counselling sessions prior to donating embryos (one of these is a group session with the recipient/s). To understand what is covered in these sessions, we have included a counselling guide to give you an overall idea of what to expect. A counsellor will also provide and explain the consent forms involved.

Get started

Call (03) 8080 8933 or email [email protected]. Alternatively, complete the call-back form at the bottom of this page, and we’ll be in touch soon!

Where can I find more information?

The information on this page is certainly not exhaustive, and we recommend that you refer to the information provided by the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) to gain a more complete understanding of the issues pertaining to the use of donor embryos. If the use of donor embryos is a suitable option for you, our fertility specialists will also dedicate time to helping you navigate this process.

What should I consider before donating my sperm or eggs?

Donating your sperm or eggs is a generous act, but there are some things to keep in mind:

Legal

Donors do not have any parental rights or responsibilities to any child born from their donated sperm or eggs. However, children conceived from donor sperm or eggs are legally able to obtain identifying information about their donor once they reach the age of 18.

Financial

Your donation must be altruistic – that is, you cannot be paid for the donation. However, you can be reimbursed for reasonable costs associated with providing the donation, such as medical or travel expenses (as long as this expenditure is documented. You also have no financial responsibilities to any child conceived from your sperm.

Emotional

Before donating, you will be required to attend two mandatory counselling sessions to ensure you understand your legal rights, as well as the social and emotional implications of your decision: How would you feel about someone else raising a child that is genetically linked to you? How do you feel about the possibility of future contact with one or more children or adults born as a result of your donation? If you have a family, how will your donation possibly impact on them? Our counsellor will discuss these issues with you, so you feel fully informed and reassured about all possible future outcomes.

Physical

To donate eggs or sperm, you must undergo mandatory testing. This will include a sperm analysis for males, as well as blood tests for both males and females. You should also take into consideration the process for collecting eggs and sperm, which is obviously more involved for females than males.

Where can I find more information?

The information on this page is certainly not exhaustive, and we recommend that you refer to the information provided by the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) to gain a more complete understanding of the issues pertaining to the donation of eggs, sperm and embryos. If it is something you are considering, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information and to learn how we can assist you in this process.

Ready to become a donor?

Call (03) 8080 8933 or email [email protected] to book an appointment. Alternatively, complete the below call-back form, and we’ll be in touch soon!

call-back form