Potential donors must pass several health screenings.
Donating sperm seems simple enough -- just drop in on your lunch break, make a deposit and leave with enough cash in your pocket to buy dinner. You do a good deed and you get paid. That's hardly the case. Donating sperm is a long, complicated process with stringent standards and a hefty commitment. In most cases, and if you're accepted, you won't receive a dime until you've made regular deposits during a period of several months.
Making the Cut
Sperm is big business and couples looking to conceive will pay a lot of money for specimens from their ideal man. Such high standards drive the price of sperm up and the number of qualified donors down. In fact, only about 5 percent of applicants make the cut, according to Stanford University. To qualify, you need to be in perfect health with no family history of disease. Once the sperm bank determines you're healthy, they'll screen you to ensure you have the right height, hair color, education, career and personality traits to satisfy the needs of their clients. If you make it through the exhaustive qualification process, your sperm will then be put to the test to make sure it's of the highest quality and that it preserves well.
Meeting Your Comitment
Once a sperm bank puts the time and money into making sure you're a good fit for their clients, they'll ask you to sign a contract. The contract serves two purposes. First, it helps ensure that couples have enough of your sperm because successful fertilization using donor sperm often takes several attempts. Second, it helps the sperm bank keep you, their prize producer, making them money. Typical contracts range from six months to two years. During that time you'll usually have to donate one to two times per week. Read all documents closely before signing.
Cashing In
The average payment per donated specimen runs between $35 and $50 and can increase or decrease depending on the quality of your sperm, the school you went to, your personal achievement, where you live and even your looks. Once the sperm bank assigns a value to your seed, you'll need to complete your contract before you get paid, according to Sperm Bank Directory. That means if you have a six-month contract, you won't receive payment until you've completed six months of regular donations.
Understanding the Impact
Donating sperm means more than a paycheck. Donating sperm means there is a high chance that you'll father a child that you will never meet. Some sperm banks look for donors who are willing to be known so that the children they conceive can contact them later in life for medical information or even for a relationship. Part of your screening process will involve ensuring that you understand what you're signing up for, but it's important to take some time to truly think such issues through before signing a contract.
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