CAPE TOWN FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness' (RAOGK)

Merry Dewar, member of of Society, stumbled [her word] across a splendid initiative called "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness", and feels that more of our group will find it worthy of visiting and consideration.

Find it on http://www.raogk.org/.

It's a global volunteer organisation, whose members have agreed to do a free genealogy research task at least once per month in their local area as an act of kindness. While the volunteers of 'Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness' (RAOGK) have agreed to donate their time for free, you must pay the volunteer for his/her expenses in fulfilling your request (copies, printing fees, postage, film or video tape, parking fees, etc.). (Only fair!)

"With over 4000 volunteers in every U.S. state and many international locations, we have helped thousands of researchers. Our volunteers take time to do everything from looking up courthouse records to taking pictures of tombstones. All they ask in return is reimbursement for their expenses (never their time) and a thank you."

They ask that people consider repaying their time by returning the favor by volunteering at least once for your own home area. They provide guidelines for how to do this.There is a huge amount of good will in the genealogical community, and widespread recognition that not everyone can afford to pay for professional assistance in family history research.

This site demonstrates a way to get affordable help without being exploitative.