For intended parents seeking the perfect egg donor, surrogate, or both, it’s a great time to explore third-party reproduction through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
All individuals and intended parents deserve a chance to bring their children into the world, whether they’re a same-sex couple or struggle with carrying a pregnancy to term. And with advances in modern assisted reproductive technology, such as IVF paired with gestational surrogacy, it’s an exciting journey for both donors and recipient parents alike.
Navigating the logistical, medical, and legal implications of egg donation and surrogacy can be overwhelming and confusing. Let’s start understanding what distinguishes the best surrogacy and egg donation agencies from others with six essential elements of a family-building clinic, and what to consider as you begin planning for your future family!
Intended parents located outside of the U.S. must often turn to the U.S. to access top reproductive care and donors due to legalities. And for intended parents in the U.S., your surrogate and donor may reside in California due to the state’s family-building friendly laws. International intended fathers will likely travel to the U.S. for embryo creation and embryo transfer. In addition, many intended parents like to be present for important doctor’s appointments such as the 16-week ultrasound when intended parents can determine their child’s gender and the birth of their child. If you’re located outside of the U.S., and you’re looking to pursue surrogacy, connect with different agencies to learn about what travel to expect.
Egg donation and surrogacy are expensive. We recommend you look for an agency that provides comprehensive and transparent pricing packages, payment plans, loan financing, and other financial guidance along your journey to parenthood. Your treatment should be sensitive to your financial constraints yet realistic with the scope of treatment needed.
Most family-building agencies have a network of fertility clinics and reproductive endocrinologists to streamline the medical and logistical processes involved. Ask different agencies about their network of IVF clinics, and research their success rates thoroughly. If you don’t yet have an IVF clinic picked, learn about our top IVF clinic recommendations.
Not all surrogate and egg donor screenings are created equal, and you should be comfortable with the level of qualification your potential donors have. Look for an agency that provides legal, medical, psychological, and social screenings to ensure candidates are well prepared and medically cleared to support you during this time of your life.
There are two aspects of an egg donor or surrogate database to consider: candidate quality and database size. Some egg donor and surrogacy agencies are highly selective, only selecting the top 3-5% of candidates who apply. Look for an agency with donors you’re excited about while also keeping in mind how much you’re willing to spend.
We’ve already done the research for you. All you need to do is select the agency (or agencies) you’ll contact to find your future surrogate or donor.
Without further ado, let’s explore our hand-selected top surrogacy and egg donation agencies of 2024!
Founded in 1991, Hatch Fertility (formerly the Egg Donation & Surrogacy Program) was the first egg donor agency in the United States and has connected intended parents, egg donors, and surrogates for over 30 years. Hatch offers one of the largest egg donor databases in the nation, with candidates among the top 5% of applicants across the country. As such, their success rates are over 99.5% due to the extensive screening process required to become cleared and approved to become a surrogate or egg donor. Hatch specializes in providing the perfect match for intended parents. Most of their intended parents and surrogates build life-long relationships (and some intended parents come back for sibling journeys with the same donor and surrogate).
In addition to industry-high success rates, Hatch’s team offers highly personalized, attentive care to intended parents, surrogates, and donors. Everyone receives a dedicated coordinator to oversee the logistical, medical, and financial processes required for surrogacy and egg donation, and the staff is composed of former surrogates and egg donors.
Location | Los Angeles, California
Database | Egg Donors and Surrogates
The Fertility Agency (TFA) has been helping create families since 2004 and is one of the longest-standing family-building agencies in the United States. Headquartered in California, TFA began with the founders experiencing trouble building their families and turning to egg donation and surrogacy to bring their dreams to life.
Since 2004 TFA has helped create over 1100 families (and counting). One of the keys to their success is that their assistance to you comes from the heart. Whether you are a Surrogate, Egg Donor, or Intended Parent this agency knows what you are going through because 100% of their employees have either experienced, assisted with, or will face fertility struggles.
Website | thefertilityagency.com
Location | Los Angeles, California
Database | Egg Donors and Surrogates
Circle Surrogacy sets out to educate, lead, and guide intended parents through their journey to help them achieve success and fulfill their dreams. Circle’s programs and staff help ensure that everyone who joins the Circle Family has the same delightful and personalized experience.
Circle Surrogacy was founded by John Weltman, a lawyer and gay dad of two children through surrogacy. Circle also offers one of the nation’s largest egg donor databases and continues to deliver high success rates for intended parents.
Website | www.circlesurrogacy.com
Location | Boston, Massachusetts
Database | Egg Donors and Surrogates
Same Love Surrogacy was founded by three gay dads who created their families with surrogacy and egg donation. After their experiences, they set out to provide egg donation and surrogacy services specifically designed to serve the needs of LGBTQ+ community members. Same Love Surrogacy offers person-to-person guidance for LGBTQ+ individuals pursuing parenthood, backed by 25 years of combined experience with surrogacy and egg donor services (and their perspectives as LGBTQ parents).
Same Love Surrogacy provides detailed fee breakdowns according to services offered (such as egg donation, surrogacy, or both) and a unique wellness program for surrogates during pregnancy, including acupuncture, nutritional counseling, birth coaching, and more to promote health and well-being during the pregnancy.
Website | www.samelovesurrogacy.com
Location | Los Angeles, California
Database | Egg Donors and Surrogates
Founded in 1996 by Nazca Fontes, the ConceiveAbilities team has facilitated thousands of pregnancies with individuals and couples seeking to create their families with egg donors and surrogates. Committed to maintaining an elite surrogate network, the agency is dedicated to cultivating an open and compassionate environment for surrogates and their families before, during, and after the pregnancy.
Their Matching Matters® program is designed to connect intended parents with surrogates meant to help them along their journeys. 97% of their intended parents are matched with the first surrogate they are presented with. ConceiveAbilities also provides financial and personal resources to charity partners who are committed to helping those in need.
Website | www.conceiveabilities.com
Location | Chicago, Illinois
Database | Egg Donors and Surrogates
Founded in 1996 to help gay men on their paths to parenthood, Growing Generations has some of the field’s most qualified egg donors and surrogates among the top 1% of applicants. In addition, Growing Generations was one of the first agencies to utilize breakthrough assisted reproductive technologies to help HIV+ men become biological fathers to their children. Since then, Growing Generations has welcomed more than 50 babies into families with parents experiencing HIV.
Location | Wheeling, West Virginia
Database | Egg Donors and Surrogates
Established in the 1980s, IARC is one of the most experienced surrogacy agencies in the U.S., with 35 years of experience connecting and facilitating surrogacy journeys. Their team includes experts with decades of experience supporting the different aspects of your journey to parenthood, from emotional, legal, administrative, financial, and medical considerations.
IARC Surrogacy has been owned and directed by Attorney Steven Snyder since 2003. His life’s passion is helping families come together to create new families through surrogacy, and that passion defines the company’s values and mission. With services including personalized coordination, financial management, legal support, and medical insurance support, IARC is perfect for intended parents that wish to pursue surrogacy but don’t wish to find an egg donor.
Location | Maple Grove, Minnesota
Database | Surrogates
Roots is a professional mid-sized surrogacy agency that connects and supports individuals, couples and surrogates to help create families. Founded by reproductive attorney Cassie Wright, the agency is established around the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to share in the gift of parenthood no matter what your circumstance.
As a mid-sized surrogacy agency, Roots maintains high standards and prioritizes the personal connections between intended parents and surrogates. Due to current laws and legal restrictions, surrogacy is still not an option for everyone. Because of this, Roots is dedicated to being a beacon within the industry by extending parenthood pathways to anyone regardless of geography or sexual orientation.
Location | Lincoln, California
Database | Surrogates
Every individual and intended parent is different. There’s no one ‘top’ family building agency, as it’s tailored to what you feel comfortable with along your path to parenthood.
At PFCLA, we help intended parents considering gestational surrogacy and IVF find the donors required along their journeys. If you’d like to learn about your recommended agency tailored to your needs, please contact us.