Finding a known donor?

[thismama]

I'm looking for a known donor as I am planning to TTC this fall. I have one who is willing and who I really like, but he is far away (10 hour drive). I'd love to find someone local.

How did you find your donor? There are internet lists, but some of them appear to be full of creepy people.

I would want someone willing to get HIV testing done, or who has had it done recently, and someone willing to sign a contract relinquishing parental rights and responsibilities.

I'm looking in Ontario, Toronto-ish area, if that matters. If someone could point me to local resources, or just tell me how you found your donor, I would really appreciate it!

[MujerMamaMismo]

Well, after having several organic discussions and negotiations with different friends, we hit a brick wall and I came here to sulk.
It was here that I received the advice that lead us to our solution. (Thanks Witt! )

We crafted a thorough email outlining exactly what we wanted in a donor and as parents. We made it very clear that we weren't seeking a co-parenting arrangement and that we were to be the primary parents. Although it was quite firm, it was also warm and our humour and genuine appreciation for our potential donor was clear.
We sent the email to all our supportive women friends and colleagues who asked their partners, friends, brother, workmates....
from it, we got two nibbles of interest - but when push came to shove, nothing came of it.
I was started to feel very desperate and as though our only option was moving to Canada or the US to access the sperm banks there. (which would be a $10000 committment and hence not possible for 12+ months)
And then one night, a couple of months ago, we got an email from our friends J & A, saying that A would be happy to 'help us with the ingredients.'

We start TTC in June and I'm ecstatic. Good Luck!

[FtMPapa]

There is a yahoo group - I just found out about it, called LGBT-parents-TO-matchmaker or something like that.

It's only for Toronto area LGBT parents who are looking to parent together, far as I know.

Good luck!

[Frannyo]

This is going to sound completely nuts, but it worked for us - we put an ad on Craigslist. The ad was very long and specific, and we set up an e-mail address just to deal with responses. We got lots of responses, none inappriate or creepy, and used e-mail and calls to sort through them. We remained completely anonymous until we got to the "face to face meeting" stage. After meeting with maybe ten guys/couples, we finally found a donor who was PERFECT and now I have a one-month old baby girl from him. For details on the ad or our process, feel free to e-mail me. I'd have to say that the selection process was really a pleasure - we met lots of nice people and got to have very interesting conversations with them. But then, I'm in HR, so I just saw this as one more very important job to fill with the right candidate.