You can get paid to donate your stool to organizations that process it for fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), a medical procedure that treats severe gut infections. The pay typically ranges from $40 to $60 per donation, with active donors earning around $250 per month. But qualifying is genuinely difficult: fewer than 3% of applicants pass the screening at most programs.
Why Anyone Pays for Stool
Fecal transplants work by introducing healthy gut bacteria into patients whose own microbiome has been destroyed, usually by repeated rounds of antibiotics. The primary use is treating recurrent C. difficile infections, a potentially life-threatening gut infection that kills thousands of Americans each year. When delivered via colonoscopy or oral capsules, FMT achieves cure rates around 65 to 69%, making it one of the most effective treatments available for patients who’ve failed standard antibiotics.
The FDA regulates fecal matter used for transplantation as a biological product, which means stool banks operate under strict oversight. You’re not selling poop on the open market. You’re donating to a regulated program that screens, processes, and distributes it to hospitals and clinics.
Where to Donate
The landscape for stool donation has narrowed in recent years. OpenBiome, once the largest stool bank in the United States, has faced regulatory challenges with the FDA and suspended broad distribution of FMT products. Whether they’re actively recruiting new donors at any given time depends on their regulatory status, which has shifted multiple times.
Human Microbes is a smaller organization that connects screened donors directly with recipients. Their model is different: donors collect, store, and ship their own stool (typically frozen with dry ice via next-day air shipping), while the organization handles donor screening and matching. This is more of a freelance arrangement than the structured in-person donation model that stool banks use.
Some hospitals and academic medical centers also recruit stool donors for their own FMT programs or clinical trials. These tend to be local, requiring you to donate on-site, and they may or may not offer compensation. Searching for FMT clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov can surface opportunities near you.
What the Screening Involves
The screening process is extensive and designed to be. A bad stool donation could introduce dangerous pathogens into an immunocompromised patient, so programs err heavily on the side of caution.
The first step is a detailed health questionnaire. Programs typically exclude anyone with a history of gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune conditions, metabolic syndrome, or allergies. Your BMI generally needs to stay below 28. Mental health is also evaluated: at least one major program uses a depression inventory as part of screening. You’ll answer questions about smoking, alcohol use, diet, and physical activity levels.
If you pass the questionnaire, the lab work begins. Blood testing covers HIV, hepatitis A through E, syphilis, and a full blood count with liver function panel. Nasal swabs check for antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA. The stool testing itself is the most comprehensive part, screening for dozens of potential threats:
- Bacterial pathogens: Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shigella, C. difficile, H. pylori, multiple strains of disease-causing E. coli, and several others
- Viruses: norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, SARS-CoV-2, and more
- Parasites: Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, and a general ova and parasites screen
- Drug-resistant organisms: VRE, ESBL-producing bacteria, and carbapenem-resistant strains
Even your stool consistency is graded using the Bristol Stool Scale. The entire screening can take weeks, and testing isn’t a one-time event. Donors are retested periodically, with the FDA recommending stool testing before and after donation batches, no more than 60 days apart. Donations collected between tests may be quarantined until both results come back clean.
How Much You Can Earn
OpenBiome historically paid $40 per processed donation, increasing to $60 during the COVID-19 pandemic. At regular donation frequency, a typical donor earned about $250 per month. That’s roughly four to six donations monthly, which tracks with donating a few times per week (not every sample meets quality or volume standards).
Compensation at other programs varies. Some clinical trials offer flat payments for participation rather than per-donation rates. Human Microbes operates on a different model where pricing and donor compensation depend on donor quality rankings and recipient demand.
This is not a path to significant income. The real constraint is that most people simply don’t qualify, and those who do must maintain their health status continuously. A course of antibiotics, a new medication, travel to certain countries, or a change in health can temporarily or permanently disqualify you.
What Ongoing Donation Looks Like
If you pass screening and join a stool bank program, you’ll typically donate on a regular schedule at the facility. Some programs provide on-site collection rooms. Each sample is assessed for consistency and volume before it’s accepted and processed.
For programs like Human Microbes where donors ship their own samples, the logistics are more hands-on. Donors learn to prepare capsules and samples at home, store them in a standard freezer, and ship them packed in dry ice (which keeps contents at roughly negative 80 degrees Celsius). Domestic shipments go next-day air. International shipments can take two to nine days and are typically sent on Mondays to avoid weekend delays in transit. Dry ice adds about $10 per day to shipping costs.
Maintaining donor status requires staying healthy in a very specific way. You need to keep your weight stable, avoid unnecessary medications, eat a balanced diet, and report any illness promptly. Programs can drop you at any point if retesting reveals a new pathogen or if your health profile changes. Think of it less like a side hustle and more like a commitment that happens to pay modestly.
How to Start
Check whether OpenBiome or any stool banks near you are currently recruiting. Their website and social media will reflect current donor intake status. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for FMT-related studies accepting donors in your area. Look into Human Microbes if you’re open to the direct-to-recipient shipping model.
Before applying anywhere, do an honest self-assessment. If you have any chronic health conditions, take regular medications, have a BMI above 28, or have a history of gastrointestinal problems, your chances of passing screening are very low. The ideal candidate is young, healthy, medication-free, has no allergies, eats well, exercises regularly, and has never had significant gut issues. Programs are looking for an exceptionally healthy microbiome, and the screening exists to verify that at a molecular level.