The Gift of Parenthood

When Pamela Hirsch’s daughter discovered she couldn’t carry a child after years of failed procedures, each ending in miscarriage, the family was fortunate to have the resources to hire a surrogate. Within 11 months, a baby was born. But not long after, on a Saturday morning, Hirsch woke up unable to shake one searing question. “What do you do if you don’t have the financial wherewithal to help your child?”

That question powered the creation of Baby Quest Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that has since awarded more than $4 million in grants to families and individuals struggling to navigate the punishing arithmetic of infertility. To date, more than 235 babies have been born throughout the U.S., thanks to its support.

Hirsch founded Baby Quest in 2011, after steering her area of The Princeton Review, a wildly successful test-prep company, to a place on Inc. 500’s list of fastest-growing private companies. After researching a few organizations doing similar infertility work, she found most of them limiting: some required applicants to fundraise before receiving a grant, others restricted candidates by geography or forced them to switch doctors, and several excluded same-sex couples and single parents. But Hirsch believes that, “Everybody deserves to have a family.” 

Inclusive Funding

Baby Quest distributes grants ranging from roughly $14,000 to $22,000, which are designed to close nearly the entire financial gap potential parents face, rather than scattering small awards that leave applicants still waiting and wanting. The foundation funds IVF, surrogacy, egg and sperm donation, embryo donation, and egg freezing, with intentional reach into communities that other funders overlook. Military veterans, cancer survivors, same-sex couples, and parents using genetic testing to prevent diseases like cystic fibrosis all find a place in the application pool. Since 2012, the foundation has directed more than $350,000 toward military families alone.

The recipients rarely drift away. They join a private Facebook community, send holiday cards, return as donors, and even join forces with Baby Quest to help others. Lindsey Mickler, the foundation’s director of communications, joined the team after her own grant 11 years ago. At the time, she and her husband both held advanced degrees and had careers with good health insurance, but no fertility coverage. Adding on a new mortgage made it nearly impossible to afford the treatment they needed. “The grant was hope, relief, and the first moment we believed we could be parents.” Mickler remembers.

That same emotional thread continues with every cycle. Hundreds of applications arrive each round for roughly twenty-five to thirty grants. A committee weighs medical
viability, financial need, and the diversity of family stories represented. Every story worthy; every story tugs at the heartstrings; every story is a quest to make the dream of having a baby a reality.