Wonderful post, Pam. David On Wed, 20 Aug 2003, Pam Reid wrote: > Just by coincidence, I was interviewed today by a reporter from a Florida TV > station about The Tombstone Project and USGenWeb. She was very impressed > with what we do on the whole, though her primary interest was sparked by the > TP. She actually went to a cemetery with a couple who do transcriptions for > us in Florida and decided to a special interest report. Now, this certainly > isn't the first time I have been interviewed for a news article or program > concerning the TP, but this reporter asked me a question that I had never > been asked before. She said, "All this is totally free to anyone, anywhere?" > I told her that it was and would always remain so and that if that ever > changed, I would take my ball and go home! She asked why I felt it was so > important that it be free and I explained to her that genealogists are on > the whole a very generous group who enjoy sharing their research and efforts > with others. We also feel that public domain records should be entirely free > to all. We are just striving to make those records more easily accessible > by placing them on the Web. We were all helped in the beginning and what we > do as USGW volunteers helps to pay it back by "paying it forward." > > The spirit of the entire USGenWeb Project would be destroyed if we charged > for services or asked for donations. As I said before, we were all helped > by some generous researchers when we first got started and are now "paying > it forward" by doing what we do as USGW volunteers. > > Pam > > -----Original Message----- > From: Heather DeGeorge [mailto:heatherdegeorge@writeme.com] > Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 4:23 PM > To: STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [STATE-COORD] Soliciting Funds > > > > Talk about losing the spirit of volunteering (I'm not talking about > Phyllis--just about the concept of soliciting funds). > > I've devoted countless hours to gathering and transcribing and researching > free of charge. Would I love to be paid for it? Of course--and often I do, > but not via the USGenWeb project. What I do for USGenWeb is strictly > volunteer work. If I don't have the money to get something I want to provide > for my users, I point them to the resource and warn them of whatever fees > might be involved. My goal is simply to connect them to information they > need in their hunt for their ancestors--and to do so free of charge. If I > can't provide it myself free of charge, I CAN (free of charge) point them to > a resource that they can choose to use or not. Likewise, if there are > resources that are free of charge, but not transcribed or available > online--I point them there as well. I've attempted to set up volunteer > networks of locals willing to go to those places for lookups, but only > successful in a few places. > > It's a volunteer project. If you need money to accomplish it, then go > somewhere else. Am I missing something? > > --Heather Jones DeGeorge > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Phyllis Rippee" <wchs@getgoin.net> > Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 12:39:56 -0500 > To: STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [STATE-COORD] Soliciting Funds > > > TIC!!! > > > > Since ALL of the information on my county site has been placed there by > the > > Wright County Historical and Genealogical Society, or has been > specifically > > (in written documents signed, sealed and delivered by snail-mail) "loaned" > > to the Society to be placed on line.....only as long as I do the > > site........and since the WCH&GS is an incorporated non-profit > > organization.............. > > > > Based on the theory behind Friends of IAGenWeb, would it be acceptable for > > me to place a statement soliciting funds for WCH&GS on all of my pages, > > except the main one which serves as an index to the others? > > > > When I first was given the site, I had to promise not to do so.....or > > forfeit my first born and then my head. > > > > Is it now safe to assume that promise is nullified? > > > > "We hope this information is of help to you. We depend on donations to > help > > keep our door open and our lights on. We would appreciate any sum you can > > send. Wright County Historical Society, P. O. Box 66, Hartville MO 65667" > > > > Phyllis Rippee > > Wright County Historical Society > > SW/SC CC Representative USGen Web Project Advisory Board > > > > -- > __________________________________________________________ > Sign-up for your own personalized E-mail at Mail.com > http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup > > CareerBuilder.com has over 400,000 jobs. Be smarter about your job search > http://corp.mail.com/careers > > David W. Morgan dmorgan@efn.org Honolulu Hawaii SC - TXGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~txgenweb/ FM - http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/tx/txfiles.htm ** http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dmorgan/