How to Read a Funeral Home Price List

How to Read a Funeral Home Price List

As with any major purchase, it’s wise to examine the funeral home’s price list very carefully before signing any contract. That way, you can ensure that the funeral you want fits within your budget. The Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule, enacted in 1984, includes many important consumer protections that make researching and buying a funeral … Read more

How to Pay for a Funeral or Other Arrangements

First, be aware that you or your family will be responsible for paying the funeral bill. No charity will bail you out if you go into debt for a funeral. Take a realistic look at your budget, before calling a funeral home. Decide what you can comfortably afford—without sacrificing money you need for daily living. Keep that … Read more

Ten Tips for Saving Funeral Dollars

There are many ways to save money while still having dignified, memorable arrangements. You might consider donating your body for medical research (at no cost to your family) followed by a memorial service at a church or other setting. Immediate burial or direct cremation followed by a memorial service can be cost-saving options. Veterans benefits … Read more

How to Arrange a Home Funeral

What is a home funeral? With a home funeral, family or friends take charge of caring for the body after death, either alone or with the help of a funeral professional. They might bring or keep the deceased at home, wash and dress the body, arrange for a casket or shroud, prepare the necessary documents, … Read more

How To Choose A Funeral Home

Perhaps your loved one is nearing death and you must find a funeral home quickly. Or you have decided to pick a funeral home for yourself long before it’s needed, to spare your family the ordeal of making this decision while grieving and pressed for time. If you have used a funeral home in the … Read more

Veterans’ Funeral and Burial Benefits

United States veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors are entitled to many burial benefits through the US Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA). These benefits are periodically updated, so be sure to check the VA for the latest information. In this section, we cover updated benefits (as of Sept., 2023), links to connect directly … Read more

Recruiting Volunteers

If we treated feeding ourselves the way most of us approach getting active board members, it would look like this… Camera dollies in to a man with a panicked expression, clutching the phone. .  John: The cupboard is bare, and I’ve tried everything, but all the grocery stores are closed. . .what will we do!?  … Read more

Guide to Cemetery Purchases

Many people ask us about funeral costs, but often they forget about cemetery expenses, which can be substantial. Buying burial rights at a cemetery can be a complicated and costly process, and cemeteries aren’t sufficiently regulated in most states. It’s important to know exactly what you’re buying, and what your rights are. Right of interment … Read more

Our Network

Our affiliates are nonsectarian, nonprofit, educational organizations. They were first started in the late 1930s (known then as Memorial Societies) because of two influences: the depression and the increasing cost of funerals due to the use of embalming and more elaborate manufactured caskets. There are more than 50 nonprofit funeral-planning groups across the US. Many … Read more

Recruiting Volunteers

Member development, like meal planning, has to be an everyday, ongoing part of life at your FCA. “Getting new board members” is not a discrete activity that happens once a year (when it is, it fails). Grooming the membership to see themselves as active participants, as owners of the nonprofit mission they support, has to be as … Read more

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