GENERAL FUND QUESTIONS

Q: What is the project general fund and what is it used toward?

A: General Funds are a group project feature provided by Family Tree DNA wherein FTDNA maintains a pool of money on behalf of the project which the project administrators can apply toward the purchase of new test kits or upgrades for individuals. A main objective is to allow those with means to pool together and financially assist those who might not be able to afford DNA testing themselves.

Q: Who can contribute to the fund?

A: Literally anyone!  FamilyTreeDNA takes the donations in via credit card or Paypal on their web site at https://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=Whitehurst. Project members or any interested family members you know can chip in. If they choose to contribute anonymously, then can do that as well.  There are also provisions for sending them a payment by postal mail.

Q: Who decides how general fund money is spent?

A: Donors have priority say in how their money is spent; at donation time, donors have the ability to designate their funds toward testing a specific individual and the group's project administrators will honor that.  If a specific individual is not designated, then funds will be applied first-come/first-serve to testers nominated by the group, and lastly, by testers nominated by the project administrators.

Q: What can general funds be spent on?

A: Project members or the administrators may propose new people to be tested or existing kits to be upgraded. Testers/kits under consideration MUST be a male Y-DNA Whitehurst, or have valid reason for believing they are.  They can be paid for in part or in full by the project general fund. Example tests may include Big-Y700, any of the Y-DNA STR tests (Y-DNA111, Y-DNA67, etc), or FamilyFinder, provided the latter is being used to narrow down a Y-DNA haplogroup; in short, any FTDNA test which can help confirm or narrow down a Y-DNA haplogroup.

Q: What if there is a problem with the payment or I want a refund?

A: FamilyTreeDNA handles all the money; please contact their customer support.