Sperm Bank is located at 6699 Alvarado Rd, Suite 2208, in San Diego, California. The Alvarado Rd corridor in eastern San Diego is near College Area and the SDSU campus, accessible from I-8 and Mission Gorge Rd. A sperm bank is a specialized facility that recruits, screens, cryopreserves, and distributes donor sperm for use in intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF, and at-home insemination. Sperm banks are not fertility clinics—they do not perform clinical procedures or employ physicians who treat infertility. Instead, they serve as the source of donor sperm for patients and clinics throughout the United States. California's SB 729 mandate (effective January 1, 2025) requires large fully-insured group health plans to cover IVF, which may improve financial access for patients in San Diego who use donor sperm as part of an IVF cycle. For a full list of California fertility resources, visit the California fertility clinics page.
Physicians and Clinical Team
A sperm bank operates with laboratory scientists and cryobiologists who manage semen analysis, cryopreservation, and quality control, along with donor coordinators, genetic counselors, and administrative staff. Physicians are not the primary clinical team at a sperm bank; they oversee screening protocols and may serve as medical directors. Intended parents and individuals who purchase donor sperm use it in collaboration with their own physician or at-home.
Services and Treatments
- Donor sperm banking with a roster of ID-option and anonymous donors
- Semen cryopreservation for fertility preservation (for individuals facing medical treatment, gender-affirming care, or elective banking)
- FDA-required infectious disease testing and genetic carrier screening of all donors
- Intrauterine insemination (IUI)-ready and IVF-grade washed sperm vials
- Shipping of cryopreserved sperm to fertility clinics or home delivery for at-home insemination
- Donor profile access (physical characteristics, education, medical history, personality profiles)
- Sperm washing and preparation for clinical use
- Long-term cryostorage
Laboratory and Success Rates
A sperm bank's core laboratory function is semen analysis and cryopreservation. Post-thaw motility and morphology are quality benchmarks that sperm banks report for their vials. Success rates for IUI or IVF using donor sperm depend on many factors: the recipient's age and fertility, the fertility clinic's protocol, and the number of cycles attempted. The sperm bank itself does not report pregnancy or live birth rates; those are reported by the fertility clinic performing the procedure.
Patients should review the most current cycle-level data published by the CDC's ART Surveillance program and the SART Clinic Summary Report.
Patient Experience
The Alvarado Rd location is in a medical office complex in eastern San Diego near College Area, accessible from I-8 and close to SDSU. San Diego's geographic position in Southern California means the bank can serve patients across San Diego County—including La Jolla, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Santee, and the North County—as well as patients in adjacent counties and nationwide via shipping. Sperm banks increasingly serve remote customers who receive shipped cryovials at home for at-home insemination or at their local fertility clinic.
Considering At-Home Insemination?
Not every fertility journey begins in a clinic. At-home intracervical insemination (ICI) is a lower-cost, private option that suits patients with no known fertility diagnosis — including single parents by choice, same-sex couples, and people who want to try a few cycles before committing to clinical treatment.
At-home insemination kits like those from MakeAMom come with step-by-step instructions designed for donor or partner sperm. Kits are a one-time purchase that can be reused until conception succeeds, require no clinic visit, and arrive in plain, discreet packaging. Many patients use them as a first step while working toward a fertility consultation — or alongside ovulation tracking while they wait for an appointment slot.
If you have a known fertility diagnosis, have been trying for 12 months without success (six months if you're over 35), or your physician has already recommended IUI or IVF, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist is the right next step.
Insurance and Financing
California's SB 729 mandate (effective January 1, 2025) requires large fully-insured group health plans to cover IVF. Donor sperm purchases are typically direct out-of-pocket expenses; the cost per vial varies by donor and vial type. Some employer fertility benefits may reimburse donor sperm costs as part of an IUI or IVF benefit. Annual cryostorage fees apply for vials banked for future use. Fertility preservation (banking one's own sperm before medical treatment) is increasingly covered under many plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an IUI vial and an IVF/ICSI vial of donor sperm? IUI-ready vials are washed and prepared for direct injection into the uterus; they require a higher post-wash total motile sperm count. IVF/ICSI vials are typically used when sperm is injected directly into individual eggs in a laboratory; lower total counts can be sufficient because ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) requires only one sperm per egg. Ask your fertility clinic which vial type is appropriate for your treatment.
Can I have donor sperm shipped to my home for at-home insemination? Yes. Many sperm banks ship cryopreserved donor sperm in dry shippers (liquid nitrogen vapor units) to recipients' homes for at-home insemination with an ICI or IUI kit. Confirm the bank's home delivery policies and whether they ship to your zip code before ordering. You will also need an appropriate insemination kit and, ideally, guidance from a physician.
What genetic screening do sperm donors undergo? FDA regulations require all sperm donors to undergo infectious disease testing (HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, CMV, HTLV, gonorrhea, chlamydia). Most sperm banks also perform comprehensive genetic carrier screening (typically 200–500 conditions) and karyotype analysis. Donor medical and family history is reviewed as well.
What does "ID-option" or "open ID" donor sperm mean? An ID-option or open ID donor has agreed to allow donor-conceived children who reach age 18 to access the donor's identifying information upon request. Anonymous donors do not make this commitment. The availability of this option varies by bank; some banks have moved entirely to open ID donors.