Hi Linda and others interested, First there have been a few individual members who have tried year after year to get the USGenWeb Project to 501(c)3 status. I have long questioned their motives and yes I have heard all the arguments over the years. The primary one is that having that status would enable those large corporations with deep pockets to make tax deductible donations that could be used to buy anything from book to microfilms to you name it. Some of these same individuals are officers in the other groups that were formed when they became unhappy with not getting their way in the USGenWeb Project. (Some of these are again running for various offices in the USGenWeb Project. Apparently they have not gotten control of as much ______ as they want from the others.) Others will say that we need to raise funds for the various National Conferences that they want to attend to represent the USGenWeb Project and let the world know what we do and what we have available. Attending and promoting the Project is fine but some of the expenses that they are paying are flat outrageous. Some want to buy and maintain servers solely for the Project because they dislike Rootsweb or dislike Ancestry.com or both. The AB has already approved having the committee to investigate the various options. I sincerely hope that once it comes to the point of the AB trying to make a decision on what to do, that they hear from the many CCs who have quietly worked for years providing and promoting free genealogy. Linda I know that you have worked exceedingly hard and your county pages are among the very best in the USGenWeb Project. You are one of those that I have bragged on many times. I hate to see this brought up as much as you. My only hope and prayer is that there are enough reasonable thinking persons on the AB that they do not try to make such a change to the Project. Les At 08:26 PM 7/21/2007, you wrote: >What the heck is this? > >Financial Management? What (and whose) finances is this message referring >to?