How do I get started?
See a Sperm Bank Comparison, where Fairfax Cryobank is compared to other sperm banks.
Visit Must Read Before You Buy to find out answers to commonly asked questions on donor availability, our specimen warranty and our limits on donor distribution.
The first step is to select a physician who is familiar with the donor insemination process to perform your procedure. We also suggest you review our patient information packet and informational Video/DVD. Our information packet is available online in pdf format. If you prefer you can request for the information packet and Video/DVD to be mailed to you by filling out our online form or by calling our customer service department. We have a wide variety of donor information available to you to aid in your donor selection as well as services such as Photo Matching and Donor Selection Consultations. Before you can place an order for semen, you will need to establish a physician account and return a signed Terms of Use letter to us. Please see our Countdown to Insemination section of this website for more details.
What information is available on your donors?
Fairfax Cryobank's free products for our donors include: summary profiles,essays and staff impressions which are available on this website through the donor search feature. All donors also have medical profiles available. Most of our donors have additional personal profiles, childhood photos, and audio interview CDs. Most donors have personality testing results available that can be compared to your own results. A limited number of donors also have Lifetime photos, which include adult photos. These products are available for purchase on this website at a discount or by contacting customer service. Click here for more detailed information on these products including samples of each product.
Does Fairfax Cryobank offer adult photos of its donors?
A limited number of our donors have consented to a release of adult photos. Two types of photo sets will be available.Adult/Child photo sets include a childhood photo and a current adult photo. A second type of photo set, called theLifetime Photo Series, includes a series of photos from infancy through aduthood. Donors with either photo set available have a camera icon on the donor search list. Patients will be required to sign a consent form prior to purchasing these photo sets. Complete instructions for ordering Adult/Child or Lifetime photos sets are available by clicking on this web page: Lifetime Photos.
What is an ID Options donor?
Fairfax Cryobank's ID Options donor is the newest donor category. ID Options donors agree to have identifying information (name, address, phone number and date of birth) released to registered offspring only at age 18. Donors must be at least 21 years old to participate in the program and agree to maintain yearly contact with Fairfax Cryobank. Recipient patients are required to sign a consent form before purchasing ID Options donors. Yet patients may opt to wait and register a child later, once the family situation dictates what they should do. ID Options donors may or may not have adult photos or lifetime photos available.
Are donors who have adult photos or lifetime photos available also ID Options?
The programs are entirely separate, but a few donors have selected to be both ID Options and offer adult photos.
How do I order profiles and other donor products?
You may order donor products on line by accessing the donor search feature. The donor products ordered online are available at a discount and are accessible immediately upon purchase for you to print or save to your hard drive. Or if you prefer you can contact customer service to order donor products over the phone. Products ordered over the phone will be mailed to you through the U.S. Postal Service, which you should receive within 2-3 business days.
What services does Fairfax Cryobank offer to help me select a donor?
Fairfax Cryobank customer service can answer any inquiries that you may have, provide donor availability, and also guide you through the selection process. An informational DVD and patient information packet can be obtained through customer service as well or by completing our online request form. The Fairfax Cryobank Client Services Department provides photo matching and the donor selection consultation. You'll find that the information you receive using these services is a more comprehensive and in-depth look into particular donors.
What is Fairfax Cryobanks privacy policy?
Read our privacy policy here. It defines Anonymous Donors and ID Options donors.
What medical and infectious disease tests do you run on your donors?
See a complete list of all testing performed on our donors as well as view the rigorous screening process all donors must pass.
How is your Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) testing different than the type of testing used by other sperm banks?
In addition to excluding donors with known risk factors and positive physical examinations we test for HPV using a proven technology, DNA by PCR, a reliable Nucleic acid Amplification Test. PCR is significantly more sensitive than traditional testing methods and looks for the actual presence of the HPV virus. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted viral disease worldwide. Some types of the virus cause common skin warts. High risk types (eg, HPV-16 and HPV-18) have been associated with anogenital cancer, particularly cervical cancer. The March 2001 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommended HPV testing of sperm donors. Please click here to read more about our HPV testing.
How do you test for Herpes in your donors?
Instead of just relying on physical evidence of an active outbreak of genital herpes (presence of lesions) we use the molecular genetic (DNA) technique PCR (polymerase chain reaction). This testing is offered through the GIVF Molecular Infectious Disease Lab (MIDL). MIDL is truly a cutting edge facility which is CLIA certified and dedicated to infectious disease diagnostics using exclusively high quality Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) DNA amplification technology. Molecular infectious disease testing by PCR directly detects pathogen-specific nucleic acid, rather than relying on cultures, immunoreactivity or serology to identify the organism. Please click here to read more about our HSV testing.
Should I be concerned about the donor's blood type?
Some patients feel that the blood type of the donor is very important when choosing a donor. By selecting a donor whose blood type matches the husband's/partner's blood type, patients may feel more secure about issues related to confidentiality. The donor's blood type may be medically important to consider if the mother is Rh negative (Rh-). These women may develop antibodies to a fetus that is Rh positive. It is also important to remember that children do not always inherit the same exact blood type as their biological parents. For example, a couple with blood types of A and B could have an offspring with any of the four blood types: A, B, O, or AB. Click here to use our blood type predictor tool. Please keep in mind that if you elect to use the blood type of a donor as one of your selection criteria, you will decrease the number of donor choices available to you.
How often do you get new donors?
We typically add about 1-10 new donors each month. The donor register is updated daily online in pdf format or through our donor search feature and reflects the addition of any new donors. Also visit out Meet our Newest Donors page for a summary of our latest additions to the list.
Why do donors choose to donate?
During the required face to face interview with our experienced staff, donors often express the desire to help those who are unable to have children of their own. They may have observed similar experiences with family or friends and are therefore looking for a way to make a difference. Donors also receive monetary compensation for their time.
What is Fairfax Cryobanks acceptance rate for donors?
A rigorous evaluation process screens all donor applicants. Fairfax Cryobank accepts only about 1% of applicants.
What is the age range for your donors?
Fairfax Cryobank accepts donors between 18 and 39 years of age.
How many pregnancies is each donor permitted to have?
Read our most up to date policy on limiting donor pregnancies here.
Can I be contacted when a donor I've used has low inventory?
Unfortunately we do not have the technology to automatically notify patients of donor availability. Please contact customer service to check on a particular donor's availability. You can also check availability online through our donor search feature which is updated daily. Under the Availability column a "yes" indicates there are more then 20 units available, "no" indicates there are 0 units available, and "call" indicates there are less then 20 units available. Units release monthly from quarantine, so a donor with a "no" now may have availability in the near future. Any donor listed on our register today has units currently available or will have them available after a release from quarantine. The best way to ensure donor availability is to purchase and store units for future cycles or family building.
Does Fairfax Cryobank offer waitlists for the donors?
As a courtesy, Fairfax Cryobank does offer waitlists for donors who do not have any inventory currently available but are expected to release units from quarantine sometime in the future. Please see our waitlist FAQs.
Can I reserve samples for future offspring?
Yes - you can purchase extra units and open a storage account. Please click here for more information on storage at Fairfax Cryobank. If you later decide you no longer want donor sperm units you can return them for 50% reimbursement of the original purchase price if the units have never left our facility.
How do you verify information provided by the donors?
During the rigorous screening process we ask many of the same questions in several different formats to assess the validity of the donor's answers. We also make a copy of the donor's drivers' license and school transcripts. Any inconsistencies in the donor's answers exclude him from the donor program.
Is there a quality standard that Fairfax Cryobank sets for all of the donors?
ICI and IUI-ready specimens must meet the minimum post thaw standard of 20 million total motile cells per milliliter (ml) concentration or 10 million TMC per vial. The IVF specimens must contain a total of 5 million motile sperm per vial. See our specimen warranty for more information.
Can I choose the sex of my baby?
Fairfax Cryobanks parent company, Genetics & IVF Institute, has a department called MicroSort that specializes in gender selection for prevention of X-linked genetic diseases and family balancing. Donor sperm from Fairfax Cryobank is also available for gender selection by MicroSort under certain circumstances. The process is currently in clinical trial and its use by couples requires their informed consent. To see if you qualify for the MicroSort trial, please contact MicroSort at 800.277.6607. Click here for more information on MicroSort.
May I speak to a staff member who has worked closely with the donors?
Due to many requests from patients to talk to a staff member who has worked with a particular donor we now offer Staff Impressions free of charge through our donor search feature. Laboratory staff members who have worked closely with the donors write staff impressions. Donors who do not have staff impressions available are no longer active in our program and we do not have staff members familiar with the donors.
Whom do I notify to report a pregnancy?
Either you or your physician can report a pregnancy or birth to us. An online form is provided to simplify the reporting process. View our online pregnancy reporting form. A printed pregnancy report form is also included in the shipping tank with every order. We accept this completed form by mail or fax, if your physician prefers this method.
What do you do if you receive a report of a medical condition in a donor's offspring?
Fairfax Cryobank is committed to providing donor sperm that produces healthy babies, of which there are thousands over the twenty years of our operation. However, in the general population, every pregnancy has about a 3%-4% risk of producing a child with a birth defect or mental deficiency. Our extensive screening and testing reduces this risk, but cannot eliminate it.
We ask physicians and clients to notify us whenever they believe a child born by donor sperm has any medical condition. In the rare cases when we receive such notice, we immediately remove that donor from sale and investigate the report. We carefully gather as much information as we can on any reported condition, asking for a physician’s diagnosis, and a family history on the mother. Unfortunately, in many cases, we never receive a physician’s diagnosis that is essential to properly investigate the report.
Fairfax Cryobank’s Medical Director is a physician who is Board Certified in pediatrics and clinical genetics. He carefully evaluates all adverse clinical reports. If additional testing of the donor can be done (not all medical conditions have a simple blood or specimen test) that can identify or help to clarify a donor’s role, he orders it. If our Medical Director determines that using the donor could increase the risk of the occurrence of a medical condition and/or birth defect above the risk in the general population, we will restrict that donor, meaning that his sperm is no longer available for sale to the general public.
In certain circumstances, however, we will allow this donor to remain available only to clients who already have a child by the same donor, thus allowing them the option to attempt to have a biological sibling to their child. Those individuals who wish to have a biological sibling for their child must sign an informed consent that describes the clinical condition and the risks associated with it before they can purchase or ship any of this donor’s units for future inseminations. Genetic counseling is recommended so that those who want to use a restricted donor can have their questions answered before making a decision to sign the informed consent. Clients and their physicians can then evaluate if it is appropriate to use this donor.
Fairfax Cryobank is an industry leader in the screening and testing of its donors. We do everything possible to provide information to prospective mothers and the mothers of children conceived through donor sperm to ensure that they and their physicians can make the best decisions about the selection of donor sperm and the future health of their children.