For those of you interested, Max has sent more information on the DNA general fund .. a really good idea. Hope a few of you are taking interest. To Barlow group manager, (that would be me, Susan) Many of you have contacted me requesting more details about the Surname Project General Fund. Here it is: The General Fund was created as a tool to be administered by Family Tree DNA, so that it is not a burden to the Group Administrator: a) Family Tree DNA collects/disburses the money and keeps a log under the General Fund link in the GAP b) The Group Administrator tells FTDNA to which kit we should apply funds. c) We have created a self-explanatory page to be used by those who want to make a contribution to their family DNA project: www.familytreedna.com/contribution.html (You will also find a link to this page under the General Fund at your GAP). You are welcome to send the above link by e-mail to potential contributors, as well as publish it in your website. In addition to that, if you have a public web page for your project at Family Tree DNA, we are including in the setup page a box where you can choose to have that "General Fund" mentioned in the blue bar, on the left side of the page. -- Matching Gift from Family Tree DNA: in conjunction with the launch of the General Fund, Family Tree DNA will match dollar per dollar the contributions to Surname Projects during the month of October, up to a total of $200. There are 3 conditions for the use of FTDNA's matching dollars: a) no more than $25 that has come from FTDNA can be used per test, b) FTDNA matching gift can be used only for new kits, c) FTDNA contributions from the matching gift need to be used before the end of this year, as they will expire on 12/31/04, whether used or not. If all Surname Projects took advantage of this matching gift, Family Tree DNA will be committing a total of over $250,000 to new tests! Finally, a couple of reminders: a) We will stop accepting registrations for the conference after October 11. We already have over 160 participants! As always, we thank you for your continued support. Max Blankfeld Vice-President, Operations and Marketing http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.com "History Unearthed Daily" max@familytreedna.com 713-868-1438 Sounds really wonderful...we can help each other, and get a good discount thru this month. Let's get on it. Love, Susan LOOKING FOR BARLOWS BARLOW GENEALOGY http://www.barlowgenealogy.com "A website for everyone researching the surname Barlow,any spelling or variation, anywhere, anytime... includes....Barlow, Barlowe, Barlo, Barloe, Barler, Parler, Parlur, Barlage,and others yet to be discovered"