Imagine giving the gift of parenthood. For the 1 in 6 couples in the UK affected by infertility, donating your sperm can be life-changing.
It only takes a moment
Sperm donation is when a man donates sperm at a licensed fertility clinic so it can be used to help someone else conceive. In the UK it is regulated by the HFEA. Donors are screened, counselled and registered, receive expenses rather than payment, and have no legal or financial responsibility for any child born.
Donated sperm is used in IVF and IUI treatment by people who cannot conceive with their own sperm, by same-sex female couples, and by people pursuing solo parenthood.
Looking for a sperm donor rather than donating?
If you are considering treatment with donor sperm, our patient page walks you through the process. Using a sperm donor ›
For many individuals, couples and co-parents, the only hope of having a child is to use sperm donated by someone like you.
The decision to donate can be life-changing for not only you, but the people who receive your donated sperm, any children that are born as a result, and for your own family if you choose to have one. It's important you consider this before moving forward.
To be a suitable sperm donor, you'll need to meet certain criteria that help ensure your sperm is healthy and high-quality, which means only a small percentage of potential donors will be eligible to donate.
Choosing to donate your sperm is a meaningful decision that requires some commitment, and we aim to make the sperm donation process as straightforward and flexible as possible, so it fits easily around your daily routine.
Fill out the application form online. We follow up with a medical questionnaire to assess eligibility.
Visit the clinic to produce an initial sample for testing against the criteria.
Meet a counsellor to discuss your application and the implications of donating.
Blood tests including full sexual health screening, karyotype, cystic fibrosis and CMV.
Around 10 to 15 donation appointments, then a doctor signs you off as a TFP donor.
Set by the HFEA, the UK fertility regulator
In the UK you cannot be paid for donating sperm. It is against the law to sell sperm here. What you receive is compensation for expenses: £45 per clinic visit, which covers things like travel and time away from work. Higher expenses can be claimed with receipts in some circumstances.
Donation usually involves around 10 to 15 appointments over roughly three months, so it is worth working out what that means for you before you apply.
We use these tests to determine whether you're a suitable donor and provide you with a detailed picture of your fertility health so you can make empowered choices about your own journey.
Whenever you need us, we'll be there to support you through your donation journey, with access to a specialist fertility counsellor and our patient support team.
Sperm donation can be life-changing, not only for you but for those receiving your sperm too. Our donors feel a sense of pride, knowing the joy they have brought.
You can donate at any of our eight UK clinics. Donation involves regular visits over about three months, so most donors choose the clinic closest to home or work.
If you donate through a licensed UK clinic you have no legal, parental or financial responsibility for any child born from your donation.
Donation is not fully anonymous. A child born from your donation can request non-identifying information at 16 and identifying details at 18.
You may withdraw your consent at any time before your sperm is used in treatment.
It is thought that infertility affects 7% of men, and for many couples your donation is their only hope of becoming parents.
Learn more ›For many same-sex female couples, the only conceivable way to become parents is through your kind donation.
Learn more ›Some people choose to pursue parenthood on their own, and need a sperm donor to help them build their family.
Learn more ›Carriers of genetic conditions may use a donor where their biological children would be likely to face serious ill health.
Learn more ›Apply online in a few minutes, or speak to our team about what donating involves.
Speak to our patient support team for advice about your options and to book your first consultation with a fertility expert.
This is the donor half of the sperm cluster. Nothing merges and nothing is retired here. The page stays exactly where it is, aimed only at people thinking about donating, while the patient page at /en-gb/donation/using-a-sperm-donor takes everyone looking for treatment with donor sperm.
Two things. First, the page opens with a call to action rather than an explanation, and the main search term for this topic is people trying to understand what donating involves before they decide. The pages holding the top positions are Sperm Donation NHS, gov.uk's legal rights page and the HFEA. Second, the question donors most want answered, what they get paid, is handled as one small card among four benefits.
Keep everything that is on the page, reorder it around what donors actually want to know, and add the explanation the page is missing at the top. This follows the recommendation you already have: an H1 of "Sperm donation" with a "What is sperm donation?" section.
Turn on "Show SEO notes" in the Wireframe tab to see each one in place with its reasoning.
The two pages now have one job each and link to each other once. This page explains donating and asks people to apply. The patient page explains treatment with donor sperm and asks people to book a consultation. Neither tries to do both, which is what the earlier recommendation was getting at.
We are not claiming a position for any search term. NHS, gov.uk and HFEA hold the top of these results and that is unlikely to change. What these changes do is answer the questions donors are actually asking, in the place they are asking them, and remove the reasons someone lands on the page and leaves. Search volumes quoted in the notes are tool estimates and approximate.
This page already carries MedicalOrganization, MedicalWebPage, BreadcrumbList, Service, MedicalProcedure and FAQPage. As with the patient page, this is a set of fixes and additions rather than a rebuild.
Stacey Rohling is declared in a separate Person script, with the review date in a second MedicalWebPage script that carries no URL. Neither is reliably tied to this page. Both should be folded into the page's main MedicalWebPage node.
If the H1 becomes "Sperm donation", the MedicalWebPage name and the last breadcrumb item should say the same. They currently read "Become a sperm donor".
The existing markup covers the ten questions on the page. Once the two new ones are live, and once the order changes, the markup needs to match what a visitor sees, word for word.
The existing Service block already names HFEA regulation in its description, which is the right signal for a page like this. No change needed beyond putting the licence number on the page itself.