How to choose a sperm donor: Your step-by-step guide
How do I find the perfect donor, and where do I start?
Here are the factors that are important when choosing your sperm donor.
It's a big decision – a daunting yet exciting one. With this guide, we try to take the overwhelm out of the equation and make it transparent so you can focus on what's important for you.
What if you know how you feel about donor identity release but haven't decided on physical traits? You can still use the guide as a checklist and do the steps in a different order.
If there's anything you're unsure about, click the supporting links, use our chat, or talk to our support team.
Step 1: Create an account and start filtering – your personal preferences matter
Whether you’re a single woman or exploring fertility treatment options with a partner, selecting the right sperm donor is a deeply personal choice. At Donor Network, we have a wide variety of donor profiles, and we are pouring our hearts and minds into being the Danish sperm bank with the highest standards and most extensive donor information so you can find a sperm donor that's right for you.
We collaborate with top fertility clinics, and all our donors are personally recommended by the staff in our partner clinics – meaning they would recommend the donor to their own patients. How do staff recommendations work?
Create a free account with us and sign in – you'll have access to our full donor catalogue.
Step 2: IQ, cognition & criminal background check
Filter: IQ
All our donors have clean criminal records, so you don't have to filter for that – we've already done it for you.
We prioritise recruiting donors with normal or higher IQ score*, and we encourage you to take IQ into consideration at an early stage.
Why? While IQ doesn't account for all aspects of human intelligence, it's associated with decision-making, problem-solving, and mental health – important aspects for the well-being of your child. Recent studies show a heritability rate of 50-80%, meaning the higher the IQ of the biological parents, the lower the risk of clinical retardation in the child and the better the chances of improved problem-solving skills, allowing the child to navigate complex situations effectively throughout life.
*Generally, two thirds of the population scores within an IQ range of 85-114, so this is what we consider a normal score.
- IQ 100 is the average
- IQ 85-114: Normal
- IQ above 114: High
- IQ above 130: Very high
- IQ above 140: Exceptional
There is no support for any downside to higher cognitive ability and no evidence for a threshold beyond which greater scores cease to be beneficial. Thus, greater cognitive ability is generally advantageous – and virtually never detrimental.
Find out more about donor IQ screening and criminal background checks.
Questions you can ask yourself: Are there specific cognitive skills I appreciate in a person? Will I accept a risk of my child being mentally retarded? Do I wish my child has an IQ score within my own IQ range? Is it important for me that my child has the best possible genetic potential for cognitive skills like critical thinking, learning ability, and adaptability?
Step 3: Personality
It can be useful to align personality and values of the donor with your own. These qualities go beyond filtering. Reveal the donors' full profiles by clicking the profile picture.
The donor's personality profile is based on "The Big Five" personality test. It visualises where the donor is placed on these five scales of the personality traits (found to be the most heritable of all traits – approximately 40–60%):
- Emotional Stability
- Extraversion
- Openness to Experience
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
The profile also contains a wealth of characteristics and details such as a Q&A about hobbies, diet, favorite foods etc. Listen to a voice recording, read the psychologist's opinion and much more.
If you prefer to move on to some other filters (health, quality, ID release etc.) first, you can save this deep dive into personalities for later. Or, if you feel ready to know more about the donors, start exploring and saving your favorites to your wishlist. You can continue filtering afterwards.
Questions you can ask yourself: Which personal traits do I value? Which personal qualities reflect my own or my partner's? What hobbies and interest do I find captivating in a person?
Step 4: Education & occupation
Now you can consider the donors' education – use the level or type of education to get a sense of the donor's interests, capabilities and ambitions. Donor's occupation can be useful for this as well.
Questions you can ask yourself: Do I want my donor to be ambitious in a certain area of life, and which? What does the donor's career mean to me?
Step 5: Physical traits
Filters: Eye colour, Hair colour, Height, Weight, Ethnicity, Ancestry, Adult gallery
You may want to align your preferred physical traits with how the donor looks.
Why? Whether for aesthetic or ethical reasons, finding a donor with similar physical traits as you, your partner or existing children of your own helps alleviate any questions you or your child may be asked about who their biological father is – leaving the topic in your control to talk about when you are ready.
Use the filters for physical traits, or filter for donors with photos of themselves as an adult if you want a fuller understanding of his appearance.
Find more details in each profile – whether they wear glasses, are right or left handed, body silhouette and much more.
Questions you can ask yourself: Do I want my own and/or my partner's appearance to be reflected in my child? Do I want access to adult photos of the donor or not?
Step 6: Health & medical
Filters: Donor CMV status, Genetic matching, Donor blood type
Use these filters if you know from your fertility tests at the clinic that you need a donor with a certain CMV status or blood type. You can also filter donors with Genetic matching available. What is genetic matching?
The profile contains details about the donor's health, family history and medical record. If certain diseases or conditions are prevalent in your family history (e.g. diabetes), you can make sure they are not in the donor's to reduce the risk of transmitting the condition to your child.
Questions you can ask yourself: Are there any diseases or conditions in my family history that I want to reduce the risk of passing on to my child? Would I like to further reduce the risk of inherited genetic conditions by choosing a donor with a genetic profile that fits mine?
Step 7: Sperm quality and availability
Filters: Straw type, Exclusive donor
Quality: Take into account the available sperm quality. Your treatment type (IVF, IUI etc.) generally dictates the quality of sperm you would need and therefore which donors you can choose between. Some donors have all qualities available while others might not. Dive into facts about sperm quality (MOT) and treatment in our Beginners' Guide, or get a quick overview in our FAQ about donor sperm.
Quantity: Make sure your donor has enough straws available if you would like to use the same donor for all of your cycles and for potential future siblings. Availability for each donor is visible in the donor overview under 'Available straws'.
Sperm donor exclusivity: If you want a donor that is only used for your family (globally or regionally), use the Exclusive donor filter. Please note that a donor may have children of his own.
Questions you can ask yourself: Which type of fertility treatment am I going to receive, and which straw type matches that treatment? How many children do I hope to have? Would I like for my child or children to potentially have half-siblings, or do I prefer if my donor is exclusively the father of my children and no other?
Step 8: ID release donor or non-ID release
Filter: ID release
Decide whether you want your donor's identity type to be ID release or non-ID release.
Make sure to check legislation in your treatment country – some countries allow both ID Release and Non-ID Release donors, while other countries only allow one or the other. As experts in international fertility compliance, we are happy to assist you in this research.
Questions you can ask yourself: What relationship do I want my child to have with the donor when they grow up? Would I like my child to have the chance to establish contact to their donor if they wish so when they reach the legally adult age? What are the rules for sperm donor anonymity in the country where I will receive treatment?
Not sure yet?
If you did't find your perfect donor the first time around, check in with us and let us know if you have any specific combination of preferences that are not represented in the current selection.
We are joined by several new unique donors every month, so the perfect donor might just be deciding to become a donor.
Any other questions about using donor sperm?
Our FAQ about donor sperm provides a good overview on the most important things to consider when exploring options of fertility treatment with donor sperm.
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We're available Monday-Sunday 8:00-21:00 on chat, phone (+44 (0)20 7154 1042) or info@donornetwork.com
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