Donor Sibling Registry
| Donor Sibling Registry Logo | |
| Company type | 501(c)(3) Nonprofit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Charity
revenue =  $114,000 USD (2006) |
| Founded | Nederland, Colorado, USA (August, 2003) |
| Headquarters | Nederland, Colorado , USA |
Key people | Wendy Kramer, Director & Co-founder Ryan Kramer, Co-founder |
| Products | Service |
Number of employees | None, the DSR is run solely by its two founders. |
| Website | www.donorsiblingregistry.com |
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. Today, the site is home to more than 15,500 people when counting all donors, parents and the donor conceived that are registered and/or listed on the site.
Purpose & 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.
The goals for 2008 are to further expand media coverage of the donor-conceived community’s issues; to initiate academic partnerships for research and outreach; to continue outreach to cryobanks to encourage self-regulation of the fertility industry and to continue facilitating family connections.
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 contained only 37 members.[1] 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.[2] Shortly after, a small article about the DSR was written for The Denver Post.[3] This article led to national and international media coverage, giving the DSR enough exposure to grow its member base into the thousands. In October 2003, the DSR launched its own database website, www.donorsiblingregistry.com. With the help of continued media coverage, the DSR is now home to more than 15,500 people (donors, parents and the donor conceived themselves). Although the Donor Sibling registry Yahoo! group no longer handles connections (this is done by the website itself), it still exists and is a place for discussion. Additionally, another group called DSR_Discussion, specifically for discussion and debate relating to donor insemination.
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 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). To date, the total number people matched on the DSR is 4,050 (as of November, 2007), although many more unrecorded matches have occurred. The largest match is under a Fairfax Cryobank donor, totaling more than 63 half siblings. The largest match between a donor and offspring is 26 half siblings to a single donor, who is also listed.
Media
 | This article possibly contains original research. |
The DSR has appeared on ABC World News, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The John Walsh Show, The Early Show, 60 Minutes, ABC's Primetime,Geraldo At Large, KUSA-TV, ABC News Boston, CBS-13, BBC World Service, PBS Religion and Ethics, MTV News and many other local, national and international Television programs. They have also appeared in a number of newspaper and magazine articles including The Ottawa Citizen, The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Toronto Star, Chicago Tribune, Globe and Mail, Washington Post, Star Tribune, Augusta Chronicle, New Scientist, The New York Times, Montreal Gazette, The Guardian, U.S. News and World Report, The Times, The Columbus Dispatch, The Argus Leader and many more.
Research
In July 2007, the DSR in collaboration with Cambridge University completed phase 1 of the first large scale study on donor insemination. In January 2008 the second phase, in which teenagers 13-17 will also be able to complete the questionnaire, will be activated.
The research is intended to be a groundbreaking and pioneering investigation of what it means for people born of donor conception (as well as the donors themselves) to search for family members with whom they have had no previous contact. Nearly 1000 individuals participated in the study so far.