Intended Parent FAQ

There are two ways to gain access to our database. You can fill out a quick questionnaire online and a Genesis Group representative will contact you shortly to activate your account so you can view our Donors. The second option is to call our office directly. A Genesis Group representative will be happy to help you fill out the questionnaire and provide you with a name and password to log in.

This means that a Donor is currently in the process of being matched with another client. If you would like to be placed on the Donor's "waiting list" please speak with your Case Manager. Your Case Manager will contact you if the match does not materialize. Another possibility is that this Donor has placed her profile on hold because she is temporarily unavailable to commit to a cycle but plans to in the near future.

If an Egg Donor is available, you can place her on a temporary hold for five (5) business days at no cost to you while you decide if she is the Donor you want to work with. A Surrogate can also be placed on a 3-day courtesy hold if she has approved your profile. She will also be placed on a 3-day hold following your meeting to decide whether you want to secure the match.

We have a special marketing team that will place advertisements for you and will search for your Egg Donor/Surrogate at no additional cost to you.

We highly recommend working with an attorney. The laws in the fertility industry are not settled, and it is not a good idea to move forward without proper representation. Our Egg Donors and Surrogates are REQUIRED to have an attorney in every cycle.

Absolutely not! We strive to give the best customer service possible.

We facilitate cycles for Donors that aren't local to the clinic every day. The Donor will need to come to your clinic location for her initial screening with the doctor. During the injections, she will be seen at a clinic local to her for monitoring. The outside monitoring facility will send the test results to your doctor after each appointment. She will then travel back to your clinic a few days before the estimated egg retrieval date and will remain there until the day after the retrieval.

You should expect to pay actual travel costs, the satellite monitoring coordination fee and the satellite monitoring appointment fees. The approximate cost will depend on travel and the type of blood work your clinic will require for the satellite monitoring appointment. Usually your Donor will attend two to three satellite monitoring appointments. The Agency will work with your clinic to arrange these appointments for your Donor.

We meet every single Donor in person or by Skype. The Donors in our program are located all over the country, so we don't meet everyone in person.

The Genesis Group believes that every single case is unique. Some Intended Parents want to know a lot about a Donor, while others prefer very minimal information. The Donor profile is a starting point for most Intended Parents. If you need additional information, please speak with your Case Manager to find out more about a specific Donor.

The profiles in our database include adult photos, childhood photos, physical descriptions, educational background, medical history, family health history, "12 Things About You" questions, and previous cycle results (if applicable).

Our Donors fill out a 4-page application with specific information about themselves and their family. They also fill out a genetic Q&A that was designed by a geneticist. This form is designed to get as much information upfront as we can about their family health history. We compare these answers to the ones they put on their initial application to make sure there are no differences. The Donor then goes through an interview (either in person or on Skype) and she is asked questions that were written for us by a psychologist to identify any problems that might arise with being an Egg Donor. We also require transcripts or copies of ACT/SAT scores whenever possible. We require Donors in our program to supply a government-issued license, social security number and photos. Only about 5% of all women who apply to be Donors with our Agency actually make it into the database.

No, you do not. The Donor's blood type does not have to match yours or your spouse/sperm Donor. Some Intended Parents pick a Donor with the same blood type for personal reasons, but it is not a requirement and does not affect the outcome of the cycle.

We facilitate anonymous Egg Donor cycles, semi-anonymous Egg Donor cycles and known Egg Donor cycles. We are happy to cater to your individual needs. Each person has their own idea of what 'semi-anonymous' or 'known' means to them. In general, these are the definitions:

Anonymous - you do not know each others' identities and usually have zero contact. In some cases Intended Parents still want to meet the Donor or speak to her on the phone but they do not exchange any contact information or even their real first names so that it remains anonymous.

Semi-Anonymous - for some people this simply means that you meet or talk on the phone, exchange real first names, and leave the option open to be contacted in the future by a third party (Agency, Clinic, Attorney) in case more information is needed or future contact is an interest.

Known - this usually means that you know each other’s full names (though in some cases the Intended Parents just know the Donor's full name), possibly have each other’s contact information, and would like future contact or at least the option for future contact (whether it be between yourselves or between your child at the age of 18 and the Donor).

The type of cycle that you have will be based on your comfort level and the comfort level of the Donor you are interested in.

Yes, we offer this option if both parties agree to it. You can do this and still remain anonymous as well. We have anonymous Skype accounts to use and you do not have to use your name. To Skype with a Donor, there is a $250 fee per Donor that you speak with. To meet with a Donor in person, there is a $350 fee per Donor that you meet with. The meetings will need to be facilitated by a representative in our office or a member of your fertility clinic team if you are not local to us. You will also be responsible for any travel costs needed to arrange an in-person meeting between you and the Donor. With either option above, $250 of the fee will be applied as a credit toward the Agency fee once you move forward.

There are several reasons - the first being that the question may not apply to her (example: SAT scores), the second being that she doesn't know the answer (example: blood type question), and the third being that there are a few questions that have been added to the profile application over time and it may not have been a question that was on the application when she filled it out.

Absolutely! While we know that location sometimes prevents us from being able to meet every Intended Parent we work with, we love to put a face with a name and have you visit our office. If you would like to stop by to meet us prior to choosing our Agency, please feel free to give us a call and set up an appointment. We are located in beautiful Old Town Pasadena (near Los Angeles).

We specialize in "hard to find" Donors such as Asian Donors, East Indian Donors, Jewish Donors, and Donors with very high SAT scores. We are also one of the founding agencies for SEEDS, an ethics group with three other well-respected agencies, in hopes of setting a gold standard for ethics in our industry.

And most importantly, our staff sets us apart. Our team is caring, compassionate, and understanding. We do everything we can to make sure this process is as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Sometimes that means working on evenings and weekends to make sure things are taken care of. We stay by your side every step of the way to make sure that you always feel supported. A good majority of our Intended Parents, Egg Donors, and Surrogates come to us through referrals either by other clients or by their clinic. We pride ourselves on the reputation we have built among our colleagues and the confidence that people have in us to refer their friends, family members, and patients to us.

There are a few ways:

When you sign up, you are given the option to receive our "new Donor" update emails. If you marked 'yes' on that option, you will be sent an email once a month with the new Donors.

If your search is a little more urgent or you wish to know when new Donors are added on a more frequent basis, you can tell your Case Manager to email you when a new Donor goes up that fits a specific criteria or when you log in, you can hit "search" without selecting any options and the newest Donors in the database will show up with 'NEW' next to their information.

Yes! Our clients receive financing through Prosper Healthcare Lending. You can click on the icon at the bottom of the page to submit your application. (We are not directly affiliated with Prosper Healthcare Lending, but we refer our clients.)