Choosing a sperm donor is a personal process. Cryobio provides the tools you need to help you make the best choices to build your family.

Donor Search: You can do a general search using our Donor Search function and filter donors according to traits that are important to you. You can do this without registering or creating an account.

Donor Information Packages: If you want more information to make your selection, we offer three different Donor Information Packages.  Just create an account, select a package, and you will have access to the information included for 90 days:

Starter: Includes basic information, including a short description of the donor, medical history, genetic testing, and ability to save favorites. Free! 

Enhanced: Everything in Starter, plus handwritten responses to questions, additional baby photos, an enhanced profile including appearance, personality, hobbies and interests, and staff impressions. Free!

Advanced: Everything in Enhanced, plus Kiersey personality tests, audio interviews with the donors, and access to available adult photos. $25.00

Note: Donors must give written consent for the release of this information; therefore, not all additional information is available for every donor.

Genetic Testing: All of our donors have undergone some form of genetic screening and testing, however, the level of testing varies by donor.  Some of the donors have had more advanced genetic testing than others. You should consider what level of genetic screening and testing you want the donor to have undergone and look in their profile to see if they have had this screening and testing done.  Genetic screening and testing are particularly important if you are a carrier for any genetic disease.  If you don’t know if you are a carrier of any genetic diseases, you should consider undergoing genetic screening and testing before selecting a donor. Please see the genetic testing and screening page for more information, and contact us if you have any questions.

Open or Non-ID Release Donors:

Cryobio believes there is no one-size-fits-all family. Each person can create their family with donor sperm in the way they want to.

Cryobio historically offered what we called Open and Anonymous donors. However, identifying people has become much easier than in the past due to the increasing use of technology such as direct-to-consumer genetic testing (23 and me, Ancestry), social media, and the general internet. Additionally, many people are curious about themselves and their families, whether social or biological. Donor-conceived people are curious, intended/recipient parents are curious, and even donors are curious. For these reasons, we have made a change in the terms we use to describe our donors and the types of donors we offer.

It has never been our policy to restrict donor conceived people, parents, or donors from connecting if that is what all parties want. We have only asked and we continue to ask that everyone involved, including intended parents, offspring, donors, and associated friends and family members, be respectful of each other and their right to connect or remain private, whichever they wish.

So for now, Cryobio will continue to offer Open Donors and Non-ID Release (previously Anonymous) donors on our website, and all new donors will have the option of becoming ID Release or ID Release Plus donors. Our general policies and the information available about Open and Non-ID Release donors remain the same. We have always and will always provide the donor’s non-identifying information we have available—this includes personal and family health history, social background information, and results from the infectious or genetic disease screening or testing that was performed—to the donor conceived person if they contact us after they turn 18. We have always and we will always review all medical concerns we are alerted to in offspring with our genetic counselor and reach out to donors when we believe the donor could be a contributing factor.

Cryobio’s Donor Categories:

Open Donors. These donors have agreed to have Cryobio help mediate initial contact between the donor and the donor-conceived person when they reach 18. Because of the amount of time that passes between when the donor originally enters the program and when any donor conceived person will turn 18, this original agreement is not a guarantee that the donor will be open to communication. We cannot force donors to engage in communication. However, we understand the value of this potential contact and will make multiple attempts to make this happen. We will not give the donor the name or contact information of you or your child without written permission, and not until the child turns 18 and requests it.

Non-ID Release. These donors’ identifying information is confidential, meaning we won’t release certain information—name, date of birth, and address—without their consent. We previously called these donors Anonymous donors. We made a name change because, while we have always kept these donors’ names and contact information confidential, we think that calling them Anonymous donors is confusing. These donors can always switch to ID Release or ID Release Plus donors.

ID Release. These donors have agreed to release identifying information—name, date of birth, and address—when a donor conceived person turns 18 and requests it. These donors can switch to being ID Release Plus donors but cannot switch to being Non-ID Release donors.

ID Release Plus. These donors have agreed to release identifying information—name, date of birth, address, email, and phone number—when a donor conceived person turns 18 and requests it. These donors cannot switch to being another category of donor.

Each Cryobio donor goes through a thorough medical qualification process to enter our donor program.

All donors:

• Provide a personal health history and a three-generation family health history to evaluate if there are diseases or conditions that could be passed along. A history of certain diseases in the donor or his immediate family excludes him from becoming a Cryobio sperm donor, some examples of these diseases are Type 1 Diabetes, schizophrenia, and Huntington’s Disease.
• Complete a screening questionnaire to determine if he has any lifestyle, health, or even travel history factors, that suggests that he may be at an increased risk for communicable diseases.
• Undergo initial and periodic communicable disease testing.
• Undergo basic genetic screening and testing, chromosome analysis, and some donors have also had expanded carrier screening for certain recessive genetic diseases.
• Have a physical and his personal and family health history reviewed by our physician.
• Have a consult with our genetic counselor to review his personal and family health history and the results of his genetic screening and testing to determine his acceptability for our donor program.
• Undergo a psychological evaluation with a licensed mental health professional. This includes a clinical  interview, psychological testing, and a discussion about what it means to be a sperm donor.

Note: Cryobio believes that the medical qualification process each donor goes through and the required sperm quarantine help us to select healthy donors and provide safe to use sperm.  However, there is no guarantee that the donor is perfectly healthy or that he will not go on to develop health issues in the future.  All testing and screening have the potential for error and even without testing error many diseases and conditions are either undetectable with current testing methods, or of uncertain heredity or are the result of either a spontaneous mutation or the natural reproduction and aging process.  We cannot guarantee that a child born after using donor sperm will be perfectly healthy and disease-free.

Cryobio understands that you want to start your future family as soon as possible. To order sperm vials you need to be under the care of a physician or other health care provider. We require a physician authorization form before we can ship sperm vials to your house or physician’s office.

Your physician is a valuable part of your family formation process, before attempting to become pregnant please contact your health care provider to discuss:

• Preconception screening and testing. This can include whether you would benefit from any or all of the following: a physical, a review of your personal and family health history, vaccinations, prenatal vitamins, fertility medications, disease and condition screening and testing, genetic carrier screening, and testing, and a referral to a genetic counselor.
• Treatment policies. Each physician’s office has its own policies and procedures for inseminations. Your physician should go over the timing of your insemination, the number and type of vials you should order for each insemination, and how far in advance of your procedure the vials should arrive at the physician’s office.
• Infertility treatment. If additional interventions or a visit to a fertility specialist may be beneficial in order to help you achieve a pregnancy. You can use donor sperm in more advanced fertility procedures.
• Additional necessary care. Care during and after your pregnancy.

Note: Cryobio is happy to assist you with the donor selection process, answer your questions about our donors, and set up an appointment with our genetic counselor. However, we are not providing medical advice and we do require you to be under the care of a physician in order to use our services.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates which communicable diseases reproductive donors are tested for and how often they are tested. Most of these diseases are sexually transmitted and could cause health issues in you or your child if you were to be infected. As the FDA requires, Cryobio’s donors are tested for communicable diseases when they apply to be a donor and also periodically while they are in the program. Every sperm sample is quarantined for at least 180 days, and the donor is retested before the vial is released for sale.

All donors are tested for the following communicable diseases:

• • HIV 1 and 2 including NAT (Nucleic Acid testing)
  • HTLV 1 and 2
  • Hepatitis B Antigen and Core Antibody including NAT
  • Hepatitis C Antibody including NAT
  • Syphilis
  • Gonorrhea
  • Chlamydia
  • Cytomegalovirus (CMV Total; if positive, CMV IgM is performed)
  • West Nile Virus (WNV)

The FDA periodically updates the list of required tests for sperm donors. If a donor is not available to undergo a newly required test, this may affect the availability of his sperm.

Shipping

Provider Authorization Form

• We will ship to your physician’s office or to your home if your physician will submit a prescription order or the Provider Authorization Form indicating you are under a physician’s care.
• Vials are shipped in a specialized nitrogen vapor tank that can keep the vials frozen for 7 days from the ship date.
• Before shipping the vials, we require payment in full and a current completed and signed Sperm Use Agreement from you, and your partner if applicable, on file. Some donors have undergone additional genetic screening, if the donor you select is one of these donors, we require a current completed and signed Additional Agreement from you and your partner, if applicable, on file.
• We accept all major credit cards for online orders. Please call if you want to use cash, check, or money order.
• Orders placed online by 12 pm EST can be shipped that same business day. Orders placed by 2 pm EST by phone can also be shipped that same business day. Orders generally arrive 1-2 business days after they are shipped. We do not ship orders out on the weekend or during major holidays.
• We recommend that you plan to receive the vials the day before they are needed. We ship the vials on the date you request when you checkout if it is a business day.  If it is not a business day, your shipment will go out the next business day. Please be aware of weekends and holidays, as we do not recommend shipping on a Friday or before major holidays.  You should also check with your physician’s office to confirm their schedule for accepting sperm shipments.
• Your doctor’s office should check the tank when they receive it and make sure your vials are still frozen. If the vials are thawed, they need to be used immediately or discarded, they cannot be refrozen. Please contact Cryobio immediately if you have any concerns when your doctor receives your vials.
• Shipping fees include the return of the tank to Cryobio, instructions about tank return will be included with your shipment.

Pick-Up

• If you are in the Columbus, OH area, you can pick up your vials to save on shipping costs. To take advantage of this option, you need a written request from your physician and a scheduled pick-up time. We charge a $200 per week rental fee if the tank is not returned within 14 days.

Note: Cryobio is not responsible for shipments that are delayed due to inclement weather, FedEx’s schedule, or other shipping issues beyond our control.

Cryobio believes there is no one size fits all family. Each person can create their family with donor sperm in the way they want to.

Cryobio historically offered what we called Open and Anonymous donors. However, identifying people has become much easier than in the past due to the increasing use of technology such as direct-to-consumer genetic testing (23 and me, Ancestry), social media, and the general internet. Additionally, many people are curious about themselves and their family, whether social or biological. Donor conceived people are curious, intended/recipient parents are curious, even donors are curious. For these reasons, we have made a change in the terms we use to describe our donors and the types of donors we offer.

It has never been our policy to restrict donor conceived people, parents, or donors from connecting if that is what all parties want. We have only asked and we continue to ask that everyone involved, including intended parents, offspring, donors, and associated friends and family members, be respectful of each other and their right to connect or remain private, whichever they wish.

So for now, Cryobio will continue to offer Open Donors and Non-ID Release (previously Anonymous) donors on our website, and all new donors will have the option of becoming ID Release or ID Release Plus donors. Our general policies and the information available about Open and Non-ID Release donors remain the same. We have always and will always provide the donor’s non-identifying information we have available—this includes personal and family health history, social background information, results from the infectious or genetic disease screening or testing that was performed—to the donor conceived person if they contact us after they turn 18. We have always and we will always review all medical concerns we are alerted to in offspring with our genetic counselor and reach out to donors when we believe the donor could be a contributing factor.

Cryobio’s Donor Categories:

Open Donors. These donors have agreed to have Cryobio help mediate initial contact between the donor and the donor conceived person when they reached 18. Because of the amount of time that passes between when the donor originally enters the program and when any donor conceived person will turn 18, this original agreement is not a guarantee that the donor will be open to communication. We cannot force donors to engage in communication. However, we understand the value of this potential contact and will make multiple attempts to make this happen. We will not give the donor the name or contact information of you or your child, without written permission and not until the child turns 18 and requests it.

Non-ID Release. These donors identifying information is confidential, meaning we won’t release certain information—name, date of birth, and address–without their consent. We previously called these donors Anonymous donors. We made a name change because, while these donors’ name and contact info have always been held confidentially by us, we think that calling them Anonymous donors is confusing. These donors can always switch to being ID Release or ID Release Plus donors.

ID Release. These donors have agreed to release identifying information—name, date of birth, and address—when a donor conceived person turns 18 and requests it. These donors can switch to being ID Release Plus donors but cannot switch to being Non-ID Release donors.

ID Release Plus. These donors have agreed to release identifying information—name, date of birth, address, email, and phone number—when a donor conceived person turns 18 and requests it. These donors cannot switch to being another category of donor.

Yes, but to ensure this is possible it is important that you purchase and store enough of the same donor’s sperm to complete your family.  Some circumstances to consider when trying to determine how many vials to purchase and store:

• Siblings. If you want to use the same donor for future pregnancies, you should order additional vials and store them with Cryobio to make sure that you have the opportunity to do this.
• Limited availability. When the supply of vials for a donor becomes low, Cryobio will indicate Limited Availability on the donor list. Once all vials are sold, they will not be available anymore.
• Donor waitlist. if your selected donor is no longer available, please add your name to the waitlist to be notified in case any vials become available.
• Repeat treatments. Unfortunately, sometimes you may not get pregnant on your first try, so it is important to consult with your physician so that you order enough vials and also the appropriate vial type for your treatment, whether it is an insemination or an ART procedure.

If you have chosen to be open about your decision to use donor sperm or do not have a partner with sperm, the blood type may not be as important in donor selection. However, Rh factor is something to consider and you should discuss this with your doctor. If you have an Rh negative blood type, your doctor may recommend that you choose a donor that is Rh negative, if possible. In any case, if you are Rh negative, you should notify your obstetrician of the donor’s blood type, as specialized treatment may be required when there are differing Rh Factors.

Note: Matching of blood types does NOT necessarily guarantee that either partner will be able to donate blood and/or tissue to the offspring. Rh factors will be the determining factor in those situations. Inheritance of Rh factors is difficult to predict without complete family histories of both partners.