The Sperm Bank of California

The Sperm Bank of California (TSBC) is the only non-profit organization in the US providing donor sperm and sperm storage services. We started in 1982 to provide inclusive services for those unwelcome elsewhere--at the time lesbians and single women--and we continue to support the full LGBTQ+ community, people of color, trans youth, and anyone seeking an ethical approach to family-building and fertility preservation. 

Join The Sperm Bank of California's Sustaining Circle!

Sustaining Circle members support the less visible, yet critical, work we do including our research program, ongoing support for families & donors, and advocating for policies that protect LGBTQ+ parent families and increase openness in donor conception.

"I believe the way TSBC leads this field in research, policy development, and care for everyone involved in the process--donors, recipients, and especially donor-conceived people--reinforces that we chose the right sperm bank to help build our family." -J, TSBC mom

In the last few years donor conception has become a hot topic for state and federal policy making. Executive Director, Alice Ruby, and Research Director, Joanna Scheib, have become TSBC’s policy team. Longstanding LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations and newer coalitions of donor conceived people have invited Alice and Joanna to provide perspectives grounded in TSBC research and experience. Thanks to the generosity of donor conceived adults, our research includes some of the only interviews with donor-conceived people who were raised in openness.

Our findings–from people born in the 1980s and 1990s–are relevant today. Young families built through donor conception today are most similar to families we have always served, with a majority of LGBTQ+ and single parents. Joanna presented findings at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference and was awarded the Mental Health prize paper.

Our small, community-based, nonprofit organization provided donor assistance differently from day one. Our thoughtful approach is now key to current policy debates about openness in donor conception and to protecting LGBTQ+ families’ parentage rights. At the request of intended parents, we started innovative programs that continue today. The “before-their-time” programs from decades ago (Identity-Release® Program, Family Contact List, low family limit, and educational approach to donor-assisted family building) are now backed by published research. TSBC's research and example have changed how donor conception is practiced across the country and around the world. 

We do all our work under our guiding principles of equity, access, and inclusion. We serve the full rainbow of the LGBTQ+ community, solo parents, parents with multiple partners, and heterosexual couples who are seeking an open and comprehensive approach to donor conception. Knowing most families seek a donor who shares ethnicity with one or more parents, in 2018 we developed our Equity Policy to preserve access for those with fewer options. And our staff take extra care and pride in supporting trans* people, including youth (and their parents) who store their genetic material prior to gender affirming treatments.

Join our Sustaining Circle with a donation and support these critical programs 

supporting LGBTQ+ families and other families created with donor assistance. 

Mission: The Sperm Bank of California is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing ethical family building options to our diverse community.  We have an unwavering commitment to the well-being of parents, donor-conceived people, and donors.