What makes Moxi Matching different?

Moxi Matching is a first-of-its-kind embryo donation matching platform created by three women on a mission to change the landscape of embryo donation. The co-founders have a combined 30+ years of professional experience in the field of genetic counseling and mental health in reproductive medicine, and personal experience as donors and a recipient.

We created EM•POWER with Moxi to provide education and support for the embryo donation community, and Moxi Matching to help donors and recipients match in a safe and supported way..

How are recipients vetted?

Recipients are vetted in 2 ways: for safety and for readiness to proceed with embryo donation.

A criminal background check helps donors to feel comfortable meeting potential recipients online so that their focus can be on finding the right match, rather than anxiety over unknown elements. A recipient profile will not be verified for the Moxi Matching platform if the background check reveals conviction of felony child abuse or neglect, domestic violence, a crime against children, or other violent crime. Other offenses that come up on an applicant's background check will be handled on a case-by-case basis so that donors can be informed of extenuating circumstances and make informed decisions about matching.

We also want to make sure recipients are ready to proceed to embryo donation medically and are well on their way to transfer day. So we ask that they share medical records documenting a recent uterine evaluation or their intention to work with a gestational carrier (surrogate). Those documents are not made visible to donors on the platform, but will be assessed by our team prior to the recipients' profiles being activated on Moxi Matching.

How is Moxi Matching a safer space than Facebook?

Matching on Facebook can be challenging, particularly because there is no shared understanding or professional moderation that can simplify donors' and recipients' journeys. Moxi Matching operates on a secure software platform that abides by HIPAA restrictions, and lists only verified recipients who have paid for access, passed a background check, and shared details on their readiness to proceed to embryo donation. Further, all parties have access to education and professional support on the platform. This means that on Moxi Matching, you will spend your time looking at serious candidates with whom you might share your embryos, and having conversations that will set up a matching relationship for success.

How is Moxi Matching different from a clinic embryo donation program?

Most clinic embryo donation programs are not able to manage the process of connecting donors and recipients so that they can get to know each other and decide if they are a good match. Relinquishing embryos to a clinic embryo donation program often means that you, as the donor, are not able to participate in the selection of the recipient. You will likely not know the number of recipient families (different clinics have different protocols, and many only allow for a recipient to achieve one pregnancy from a cohort of embryos, meaning that sibling embryos may be divided among numerous families), and you may not know if a pregnancy or live birth happened. Keep in mind that this does not mean your donation is anonymous. You may still be found by direct-to-consumer DNA testing if a child is born and has curiosity, but the timing and method of contact will be unpredictable if you don't set up expectations proactively. Beyond that, any agreement that you sign is typically between you and the clinic, and not between you and the recipient of your embryos. Sometimes there is less of an opportunity for agreements like this to reflect individual preferences and you may be asked to sign the form exactly as it is written. With direct matching and legal consultations, you can make sure that your agreement is written in a way that makes sense for you and your family.

Can I communicate directly with potential recipients?

Yes, but only after each side first agrees to/attends a facilitated match meeting and later consents to share contact information. When a recipient is interested in you, they will request a facilitated match meeting, and our donor specialist will reach out to you to see if you are interested in exploring a match. At a facilitated match meeting, our staff will host a Zoom room to help you break the ice, and facilitate the discussion of specific questions. After the match meeting, our team will reach out to you to see if you'd like to share contact information to continue communicating on your own, if you'd like additional facilitated meetings, or whether you'd like to decline to pursue the match further. Our goal is to make these conversations more comfortable, and help you to hone in on the elements of a match that are important to you.

Can the EM•POWER team help me find a good match instead of listing my profile on Moxi Matching?

We require you to fill out a basic profile so that we can facilitate a match, but we can discuss options for keeping your profile more private and sharing it only with recipients that meet a designated set of your requirements. If you would like to list your profile privately and request our assistance in finding suitable recipients, or there is something else that we can help you with, reach out to us at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com.

Can I remain anonymous while donating my embryos?

It is not possible to be anonymous on our platform. However, the relationship option you decide on with your recipient can be one with little contact or contact only if children are interested in the future. Matching in an open way generally means a consensual way to connect is established through the legal process. If you and your match decide you do not want to exchange contact information and prefer what is often referred to as a semi-open relationship, we offer the option to join Donor Nexus, a registry for donor conception, where you can have necessary contact with each other as needed.  Here are some of our education materials about the spectrum of relationship options that might be of help: https://education.empowerwithmoxi.com/

What if it doesn’t feel like a good match after meeting?

Getting to know a potential recipient may lead to a match, or it may not. You will not share direct contact information until after a facilitated match meeting. Therefore, if you have a facilitated match meeting and decide you don't want to continue pursuing the match, simply let our team know and we can share the news that a match is not right. We can also provide support to both parties when hard feelings come up.

What is Moxi Journey Management?

After you’ve matched, there will be various logistical steps to complete. Managing an embryo donation journey can be challenging for both donors and recipients. But it doesn't have to be this way! With Moxi Journey Management, we handle the paperwork, the calls to clinics, and the referrals to specialist advisors, so that you can go on with all the other things you've got going on in your life, and still make sure to give deep thought to all the decisions you're making for your embryo donation. Starting with Moxi Matching will decrease the time you spend on navigating the logistics, and make the donation of your embryos easier. 

There are no fees for donors for this service. And because many donors worry about the fees their recipients might pay, we want to be very up-front about our pricing model for recipients. We spent several years trying to find the most fair way to provide our services. We want there to be a minimal fee on the front end for recipients so that people can affordably explore this option and match on their terms rather than rely on a third party to do the matching for them. This means more choices and more transparency—all without a hefty concierge matching fee for recipients. We price the journey management services competitively for recipients, while taking into account the front-end work necessary to manage the complexity of embryo donation and with an eye to the long-term sustainability of our program. When you choose to donate through Moxi Matching, you are making sure that we will be here to support families touched by embryo donation for years to come!

Can I donate if I only have one embryo?

One of our co-founders did just this! And there is an amazing little boy on the end of that donation! So the answer is yes. But keep in mind that many recipients look for batches with multiple embryos in the hopes of optimizing their chances of success and/or having multiple children. The steps involved in embryo donation are generally the same whether you receive one embryo or multiple embryos, so this may affect the decisions of recipients, and there may be a longer wait to find the right recipient if you have one embryo to donate.

Can I donate if I worked with an egg or sperm donor to create my embryos?

It is important that there is consent from all genetic contributors, so if your embryos were created with an egg and/or sperm donor, please consult your original contract to confirm consent to re-donate. Your clinic, agency, bank, or lawyer may be able to help navigate obtaining that consent if you don’t have it already.

Can I donate if I am divorced, separated, or widowed?

It is important that there is consent from all donors (owners of the embryos) and genetic contributors. If your embryos were created with an ex-partner (whether or not they were a genetic contributor), please consult with them to confirm their consent to donate embryos prior to initiating a match. If you and your ex-partner are in agreement about the decision to donate, a donation is possible. They will need to be part of the logistical clearances, including the legal contracting process. If your partner is deceased, you may need to consult with a lawyer to determine next steps.

Can I donate if there is a medical/genetic condition in my family?

It is important to share existing family medical history with potential recipients, so that it can be used for medical decision-making in any future child's life. And let's be honest--we all have a family history of something! We believe strongly that each recipient will make decisions about genetic risk that make sense for them, with appropriate education and counseling. At EM•POWER, we strongly recommend that each donor and each recipient meet with a genetic counselor to review what is known about the family history prior to a donation, to make sure that all parties have the important information that they need for their decisions. If there is a specific risk that you're curious about, and whether it could alter your chances of matching, reach out to us at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com, and we'll have a genetic counselor reach out to you to discuss the impact and how disclosure might take place.

Can I donate if my embryos were frozen many years ago?

Yes, it is possible to donate embryos that were frozen many years ago. Keep in mind that embryos that were frozen at different times may have had different protocols or technology employed, and that embryos do seem to have various survival rates after a thaw based on the year of freezing, the technology used, and the grading and day of freezing. This means that not all embryos have equivalent chances of success and labs might have difficulty thawing embryos frozen for many years. Recipients often look at the details to optimize their chances of success and/or ability to have multiple children. The steps involved in embryo donation are generally the same regardless of the chances for success, so this may affect the decisions of recipients, and there may be a longer wait to find the right recipient if the embryos were frozen many years ago, with different technology or a reduced chance at success.

The other issue to consider is that relationship-building with a recipient can be impacted if the donors and recipients are in very different stages of life, as is often the case when embryos were frozen many years ago. This could be a good point of discussion when speaking to a mental health provider, whether that occurs before making a decision about donation, or while considering working with a specific recipient.

How does it work if I want to donate to multiple recipients?

There is no one way to donate to multiple recipients. We have seen a variety of cases like this (we call them sequential donations), and there are a lot of factors that go into these decisions. Some donors who have larger batches of embryos elect to donate to multiple recipients at the same time, splitting the batch at the outset. Others elect to continue storage for some of their embryos in their own names for a time while donating a smaller batch to one recipient until they are ready to look for another recipient. When it comes to building out your profile, simply note whether you are intending to donate to multiple recipients and sketch out the important details of your ideal match in the fields provided. If you have strong preferences for the way your sequential donation will look, make sure that you note that. But some flexibility will also likely be necessary if you have a larger batch of embryos to donate, as things get more complicated as you navigate the various needs and desires of other parties.

Some things to keep in mind:

Relationship-building with multiple matches can be time-consuming and/or complicated. Because of this, some people prefer to do it all at once and establish a rhythm with these new relations (sometimes prioritizing the age and stage of the children). Others need more time to establish what embryo donation will look like in their lives, and may not want to jump into multiple matches at the same time.

The legal contract provisions for what is to be done with remaining embryos after a recipient has completed their treatment are important. It will be important to specify what is to be done with remaining embryos, to the satisfaction of all parties.

Some embryo donors make future matching decisions on their own while others involve the prior recipients in their decisions to donate later on. We've also seen situations where the original donor gives the decision-making authority to a recipient for future decisions.

How many embryos should I donate to someone at a time?

Deciding how many embryos to donate at a time is up to you. A consultation with our team might be a good idea if you're really struggling with it. Ultimately, it comes down to how many chances does one recipient need at one time, and how does that factor into the donation journey for a second or third recipient? And how important is it to you to prioritize different factors of a sequential donation experience?

Some of the things we would think about include:

1. The likelihood that the embryos could result in a pregnancy. (Factors that might influence this are the grading of the embryos, the day they were frozen, whether PGT testing was completed, etc.)

2. How the embryos were frozen. (Sometimes embryos are frozen together in a straw and will need to be thawed together. Looking at the embryology report can help you determine whether there are physical obligations to keep embryos together in a single donation.)

3. How many children a recipient is hoping to have, and how many embryos they think they need to build that family

4. The pregnancy history and chances of pregnancy for the recipient

5. Your feelings/recipient's feelings about what happens to remaining embryos

6. Your feelings/recipient's feelings about how quickly embryos will be used or how these decisions are made

Will my identifying information be seen on the platform?

No. Your identifying information (first and last name, DOB, phone number, and address) will not be seen on the platform. Once you log in, you will be asked to create a profile name that will be visible on the platform.

How much information should I share in my profile?

How much and what you share on your profile is up to you, however understand that a limited profile may not be of as much interest to a recipient. Recipients who elect to match in an open way often are interested in learning about you and your family. Recipients often connect to photos and personal interests and information so we encourage you to share what you see fit. We also encourage you to be honest and transparent about yourself and about any deal breakers. Once you connect with a potential match, you are free to share additional information directly.

Will my genetic/medical questionnaire be visible in my profile?

No. Your genetic/medical questionnaire will only be released with interested recipients when a facilitated match meeting is requested.

What if I’m having a difficult time completing my profile?

It may take you several days to fill out your profile, which is completely normal! However, if you’re feeling stuck, feel free to email us at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com, and we’ll do our best to help.

Can I edit my profile after I submit it for review?

Yes. However, you will need to email the EM•POWER team at hello@empowerwithmoxi.com to make any edits after initial submission.

Does it cost money to be an embryo donor?

No. Moxi Matching and Moxi Journey Management are free for embryo donors.

Can I make money being an embryo donor?

No. Selling embryos is considered unethical, illegal in some states, and prohibited on the Moxi Matching platform.

What about storage fees?

You will continue to pay storage fees until you find a match and sign a legal contract. Once a legal contract has been signed, you can legally transfer your storage fee to your recipient. Some donors are interested in recovering some of the storage fees they have paid. This can be discussed with your legal team and should be shared with your recipient during the matching phase.

Do I have to do FDA testing and other medical appointments to donate my embryos?

While the medical guidelines for both donors and recipients can vary from clinic to clinic, there are some standard medical protocols that can likely be expected. Medical requirements for donors may include:

1. Medical/family history questionnaire 

2. Physical exam, FDA screening, and/or blood tests 

3. Carrier status screening for genetic diseases

4. Consent to release prior test results and clinic notes from their own IVF

5. Family history review session with a genetic counselor