Both deep ancestry researchers and genealogists are too biased with the spending of their limited funds. Most researchers have a tendency to only test their own submissions while expecting others to test their own submissions. Unfortunately, the reality is that others are not going to share your enthusiasm about testing and your genetic project will suffer due to a lack of planned spending that returns the maximum return for your investment. It is human nature to want to understand everything that there is to know about your own submission - but this is taken to a such a point that it increases the overall testing costs for any genetic research project. For any kind of genetic research, it is always much more cost effective in the long run to test what the project needs vs. over-testing your own submission with every test that becomes available. All researchers should allocate of portion of their budget to project wide testing and should trust R-L21 leadership to test in an organized and well planned manner. By donating funds to projects dedicated to R-L21 research, overall costs will be reduced and research will produce better results in a more timely fashion.

HOW TO MAKE DONAIONS TO R-L21 PROJECTS

R-L21 researchers are really blessed with leadership that are both highly skilled and willing to help with the extensive analysis that is required. I highly recommend that you trust some of your budget to these individuals to conduct testing that is planned and will have the maximum return on your investment. The best way to show that you support your R-L21 leadership is to make donations to haplogroup projects. The best two projects would the R-L21 WTY project and the R-L21 Plus project.

First, you must log into your FTDNA account and verify that you belong to these projects. You will see the list of projects that you belong to on the left side of the screen under "My Projects". If you do not belong to one of these projects, select the "Join Projects" link. Next scroll down to the Y-Haplogroup section and select the R haplogroup link. Next select the R-L21Plus project and then hit the "Join" button. Repeat the process for the R-L21WTY project. Take a close look at the many other haplogroup projects that you could join as well. Once you have joined one these projects, you can now donate funds:

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=R-L21WTY

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=R-L21PLUS

Once you donate funds to the project, you may want to communicate your interests so that you funds may be applied to research issues that you prefer. These requests are non-binding as FTDNA does not allow any donations with terms attached - but most admins will try to satisfy requests if reasonable. Here is list of some reasonable requests:

1) Funds for WTY tests for L21* submissions. These are for L21+ submissions that have no discovered Y-SNP descendants of R-L21. This should be the donation of choice for those stuck with L21*. Trust your leadership to make well planned WTY tests. This is by far the best way to efficiently add new branches to the Y-DNA haplotree.

2) Funds for WTY tests for well defined broad sons of L21. These include M222, L226, L159.2, L513 and DF21. We should continually add to the haplotree and compete for Y-SNP descendants of major branches vs. testing even more submissions where the expected outcome is already known. This should be a favorite for those stuck with the five broad Y-SNPs that have not seen much new discovery in the last couple of years.

3) Funds for targeted Y-SNP testing for broader Y-SNPs that have not been well tested to date. L555, L557, L561, L371 and L96 are currently good candidates. This list could expand in the next few months (some of the descendants of DF21 could prove to be broad with more testing). This should be another favorite for those testing positive for these Y-SNPs as well as L21* submissions who could belong to these haplogroups.

4) Funds for targeted Y-SNP testing for "near private" and "private" Y-SNPs. Although most of these Y-SNPs are not very broad, they are plentiful in number and will exceed the broadest Y-SNP when combined together. Submissions with positive results for these "near private" and "private" SNPs will like this option as well as L21* submissions.

5) Funds for targeted Y-SNP testing that are required for ISOGG haplotree qualification. Any new branch must be proven not to descend from existing branches and require 15 % variation of marker values to prove that the Y-SNP is broad enough for qualification. This would help our leadership be more productive with their limited time and will reduce the time to constantly request testing for Y-SNP tests that are required for ISOGG haplotree qualification.

Please do not make any of the above hard requirements for your donation. These requests should reflect your interests and communicate your interests to your R-L21 leadership. You do not want your R-L21 leadership to become accountants and have to track usage of funds, it is better for them to spend their time analyzing better candidates for testing. FTDNA has no requirement to abide by any terms associated with donations to projects.