| Type | 501(c)(3) nonprofit |
|---|---|
| Industry | revenue = $179,747 USD (2010) |
| Founded | Nederland, Colorado, USA (August, 2003) |
| Headquarters | Nederland, Colorado, USA |
| Key people | Wendy Kramer, Director & Co-founder Ryan Kramer, Co-founder |
| Products | Service |
| Employees | 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. As of October 2011, the site is home to more than 33,700 members; including donors, parents and donor conceived people[1].
Contents |
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 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.[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. 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 moved from a Yahoo group to its own database website, www.donorsiblingregistry.com. With the help of continued media coverage, the DSR is home to more than 33,700 people (donors, parents and the donor conceived themselves) (as of October 2011). Although the DSR Yahoo! group no longer handles connections (this is done by the website itself), it still exists as a place for discussion.
Summary of Donor Sibling Registry Publications:
Offspring searching for their sperm donors: how family type shapes the process. Human Reproduction Advance Access published June 26, 2011. Diane Beeson, Wendy Kramer, Patricia K. Jennings*** Sperm and egg donors' experiences of donating and of being contacted by their donor offspring. Human Reproduction, Vol.26, No.3 pp. 638–645, 2011, (2011). Tabitha Freeman, Vasanti Jadva, Wendy Kramer and Susan Golombok* Offsprings' experiences of searching for and contacting their donor siblings and donor. Vasanti Jadva, Tabitha Freeman, Wendy Kramer, and Susan Golombok* RBM (Reproductive Bio Medicine) online, (2010) March 2010* The experiences of adolescents and adults conceived by sperm donation: comparisons by age of disclosure and family type. Vasanti Jadva. Tabitha Freeman, Wendy Kramer, and Susan Golombok* (2009) Human Reproduction doi:10.1093/humrep/dep110.* Gamete donation: parents' experiences of searching for their child's donor siblings and donor. Tabitha Freeman, Vasanti Jadva, Wendy Kramer and Susan Golombok*. (2009) Human Reproduction, volume 24, issue 3, pages 505-516;doi:10.1093/humrep/den469* US oocyte donors: a retrospective study of medical and psychosocial issues Wendy Kramer; Jennifer Schneider and Natalie Schultz. (2009) Human Reproduction; doi: 10.1093/humrep/dep309
Links to all articles are on the Research page of the Donor Sibling Registry
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). As of 10/2011, the total number people matched on the DSR is 8,775 [1], although many more unrecorded matches exist. The largest match between half siblings totals more than 150 [3]. The largest match between a DSR donor and offspring is 75 half siblings to a single donor, who is also listed.
See 9/11 NY Times Artile: "One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring"
The DSR has made numerous appearances on various local, national and international television, radio, newspaper and magazine segments including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The New York Times and many more[2].
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