Methodology

Compensation, requirements, and locations come from each bank's own donor pages — not aggregators, not secondhand estimates. If a detail isn't published on a bank-owned page, the field reads “Hidden” or “Not published,” and it's listed in that bank's “What we don't know yet.” Missing is not the same as zero, and we never invent a figure to fill a cell — for example, we do not assert an escrow split for a bank that doesn't disclose one.

Banks advertise a ceiling — “earn up to $X/month.” That's the best case, not the typical case. Where a bank only publishes a per-donation rate or an annual total, we derive a realistic monthly figure and label it derived so you can tell a calculated number from a bank-published one.

We also separate what you actually walk out with at a visit from the headline monthly potential and the total per accepted donation, because banks often defer part of the payment until samples clear the FDA's six-month quarantine.

Because our figures trace to primary sources, we can flag where popular directories are wrong. Two current examples: a competitor lists Cryobank America at $1,200/month — the bank's own pages support roughly $1,000; another lists Cryos at $130/donation, when Cryos publishes $90. We also collapse “banks” that are really one program under different city brands, rather than counting them separately.

One nuance we hold ourselves to: an approval percentage is only meaningful if you know what it measures. Seattle Sperm Bank's widely-cited “90%+” is a per-donation sample approval rate, not the share of applicants accepted into the program — so we don't list it in the same column as another bank's applicant-acceptance rate.

Every bank profile carries a “Verified” date. The current pass was completed September 2026. We re-check pay and requirements on a rolling basis and whenever a bank changes its donor pages, and we log corrections as they land.

DonorIndex isn't owned by a bank or trade body, and no bank pays for placement or ranking. When we earn a referral fee, it never changes a number or a sort order. Found something wrong? That's the most useful thing you can send us — accuracy is the entire product.