Donor Sibling Registry

This article is about the US non-profit group. For methods of donor registration and related international laws, see Donor registration.

Donor Sibling Registry

Company type	501(c)(3) nonprofit
Industry	Charity
Founded	September 2000
Headquarters	Nederland, Colorado , USA
Key people	Wendy Kramer, Director & Co-founder Ryan Kramer, Co-founder
Revenue	$288,616 USD (2018)

The Donor Sibling Registry is a website and non-profit US organization serving donor offspring, sperm donors, egg donors and other donor conceived people. It was founded in September 2000 by a mother and son team, Wendy Kramer and Ryan Kramer of Nederland, Colorado. As of March 2019, the site is home to more than 63,000 members including sperm/egg donors, recipient parents and donor conceived people.

Purpose and goals

The "DSR" was developed as a means of connecting people born through donor insemination. It is based on the idea that when a child is born through donor insemination, they are given a "donor number" corresponding to the person they anonymously received a sperm or egg donation from. Because a donor can donate multiple times, often two or more children are created from the same donor. When multiple user sign up with the same donor, a "match" is created. Most commonly, matches are made between half-siblings of sperm donation, however there are numerous cases of donor-offspring matches as well.

History

The DSR began as a Yahoo! group, which was created in September 2000. It was started by Wendy Kramer and her then 10-year-old son Ryan Kramer as a means of communicating with other offspring of artificial insemination. After the first year, the group was home to only 37 members. In October, 2002, Wendy created a press release which was sent to local news agencies. The story was picked up by Denver's NBC affiliate, KUSA-TV. Shortly after, a small article about the DSR was written for The Denver Post. This article led to national and international media coverage, giving the DSR enough exposure to grow its member base into the thousands. In 2003 the DSR became a 501(c)3 charity organization and moved from a Yahoo group to its own database website.

With more than 63,000 members in 105 countries, the DSR has helped to connect more than 16,500 donor-conceived people with their half-siblings and/or their biological parents. [3/19]<www.donorsiblingregistry.com>

The DSR has pioneered an international discussion about the donor conception industry and the families, with its research, speaking engagements (Law Schools, LGBTQ, Single Mother, Infertility, Reproductive Medicine, Adoption, University) and media appearances.

Matches

When a donor-conceived person, a parent of a donor-conceived person or a sperm or egg donor signs up to the Donor Sibling Registry, they are automatically filed under their respective facility/clinic/cryobank by their donor number. If only one person of a donor number is listed, the posting is white. When two or more people sign up under the same donor number, they are filed together as a "match". Matches can occur between half siblings (light yellow), sperm donors and their offspring (dark yellow), or egg donors and their offspring (also dark yellow). As of March 2019, the total number of people matched on the DSR is 16,800, although many more unrecorded matches exist. The largest match between half siblings is around 200.

Recent Media/News New Booklet! DNA=Donors Not Anonymous NY Times: Mother Learns Identity of Her Child’s Grandmother: Sperm Bank Threatens to Sue https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/health/sperm-donation-dna-testing.html February 2019 Chicago Tribune: It's a Wild Ride https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-sperm-donor-dna-search-half-siblings-20190131-story.html February 2019 CBS This Morning: Woman Uses DNA Test: Finds Sperm Donor https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-finds-sperm-donor-after-using-dna-test-raising-questions-about-donor-anonymity/?fbclid=IwAR0Obec-XMd6mI3xjw_pX3MsLLNphCY1o-2RIiYn2rFoOhgFpHiFgM_5xyE January 2019 XRAY Radio Interview with Wendy (at 1:15) https://soundcloud.com/xrayinthemorning/xray-in-the-morning-tuesday-january-29th-2019?fbclid=IwAR017LHgTVaVv-FJEmTkL0JgdyWrDzuKJeKWC9U6E81xAraTBGki2kirNc8 January 2019 9News: Donor Sibling Registry Hits New Milestone https://www.9news.com/video/news/local/newscasts/donor-sibling-registry-hits-new-milestone/73-8380407 December 2018 France 24: Home DNA tests doom anonymity for sperm, egg donors https://www.france24.com/en/20181116-home-dna-tests-doom-anonymity-sperm-egg-donors?fbclid=IwAR185olZn0dUw4wOTYfaWjOci8Xxpeip82eZai8oMlshedLPrOzL-udH3v0 November 2018 Washington Post: 44 Siblings and Counting https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/health/44-donor-siblings-and-counting/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5ce39e7d0f88 September 2018 CBS This Morning: 10 Donor Siblings August 2018 ABC News: Sperm, egg donation facing decreased anonymity due to DNA testing, social media May 2018 New DSR Book for Children! Your Family: A Donor Kid's Story May 2018 Ottawa Citizen: Multibillion-dollar industry with almost no oversight May 2018 Atlanta Magazine: A Georgia Spermbank & The Secretive Business of Babymaking February 2018 Rewire: Is Sperm and Egg Donation Ever Truly Anonymous? January 2018 NY Post: Parent on a Chain Jewelry! November 2017 Boston Herald: Inside the Billion Dollar Sperm Donation Industry August 2017 Boston Herald: Sperm Donation, any potential date... August 2017 OC Register: L.A. Sperm Donor Connects With 19 Children June 2017 NY Post: Why It's Crucial We Regulate Sperm Donors June 2017 People Magazine: 18 Kids and Counting, One Sperm Donor's Story May 2017

See 9/11 NY Times Article: "One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring"