What Is A Group Project?

A Group Project is a collaborative effort to address genealogical questions using the results of your FamilyTreeDNA testing. They create opportunities for people to work together in order to explore their common genetic heritage. Group Projects are usually focused on a common geographic origin, surname, or ethnic heritage, but may also be based on other aspects of a paternal or maternal lineage. You can search for Group Projects that match your specific research needs.

Surname Projects bring together individuals with the same or very similar surname while Geographic Projects gather individuals by location. Some projects are focused exclusively on one type of testing, such as Y-DNA (male-specific paternal line), while other projects focus on a particular test but may also include different DNA tests for additional data.

Group Administrators

Every FamilyTreeDNA Group Project is run by a leader known as a Group Administrator, an unpaid volunteer who has a strong interest in the history and genealogy of a particular haplogroup, lineage, geographic region, ethnic group, or surname. They are given access to tools to compare results and are responsible for managing and organizing the data for their projects.

The Group Administrator also typically assists the members of a particular group with understanding or interpreting their results, and may publish this information in a newsletter or website. Also, by transferring routine data management tasks to Group Project Administrators, we are able to offer discounted testing rates to those who order through a project.

Why Join A Group Project?

FamilyTreeDNA encourages customer participation in Group Projects—they provide a fun and interactive way to communicate with and learn from one another. Membership is FREE and voluntary, and you may join or leave a project at any time.