Episode 223: Danielle Winston – Seed Scout

Nov 13

Danielle Winston is the co-founder of Seed Scout, a donor matchmaking agency reimagining how families connect with known sperm donors. A former lawyer who left the legal field after seeing firsthand the ethical challenges in the sperm bank industry, Danielle and her wife built Seed Scout to offer a more transparent, personal, and human-centered approach to donor conception. Since launching, they’ve helped hundreds of LGBTQ+ families, single parents by choice, and couples with male-factor infertility find donors who align with their values.

Listen as Danielle shares with Ellen and Jenn:

Why Seed Scout: Danielle’s own experience of a dehumanizing, “Tinder-style” bank experience lead her to build Seed Scout -- to provide a curated, relationship-based alternative.
What’s different: Seed Scout has a majority LGBTQ+ donors; age 24+; background checks for donors and intended parents; require yearly child updates; medical-history refreshes.
Ethics over scale: Hard cap of three families per donor; no re-donation of sperm/embryos; families introduced to each other to avoid hidden half-siblings.
Transparency beats anonymity: Real names, meetings before matching, and mutual approval replace one-way, anonymous selection.
System frictions: Legacy FDA rules, quarantine nuances, and clinic pushback—especially where clinic owners are tied to banks.
Future outlook: More open-ID laws (e.g., Colorado), rising donor-conceived voices, and pressure for sensible U.S. oversight.