Of the nearly 2.5 million people who will die in the United States this year, 99 percent will travel through a funeral home. That’s a big problem, according to Joshua Slocum of the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA), a political lobbying group based in Burlington, Vermont. The $11 billion “death-care” industry, he says, is taking advantage of bereaved consumers at a time when they are most vulnerable—even going so far as to purposely mislead people into thinking embalming is mandated by law (it isn’t).
The FCA’s goal is to change the way Americans deal with the dead, and it promotes do-it-yourself funerals that consist of a cardboard box, family, and little else. Vocativ spoke with several proponents of home funerals, and followed along with one family as it prepared to lay their mother to rest. This is DIY Funerals…
I checked into this guy’s organization a few years ago and found several things that I found disturbing. Most appalling to me was that the majority of the money they brought in went to pay the salaries of just a few people. They get members and donations by creating fear about funeral providers. They use that money to pay people to create fear about funeral providers, which then brings in the money that pays people to create fear about funeral providers, which brings in money that pays people to… You get the idea here.
With an organization with about 300,000 members and an annual budget national of just over $200,000 and 2.5 FTEs, it is truly amazing the amount of work and assistance and press coverage the Funeral Consumers Alliance gets. Wages and benefits are about 60% of the total budget – not an unreasonable sum when you consider the very modest office space, the intelligent use of technology and the help of hundreds of volunteers around the country.
The NFDA budget is in the millions with lots of staff, beautiful office space and lobbyists in every state and at the national level.
The FCA Executive Director makes much less than $100,000 a year. How much does your NFDA Ex Dir make?
One organization is looking out for the rights of funeral consumers and providing families with options. The other is too often guilting families into spending more than they can afford or not telling them about much lower cost options that are available. Or sometimes even lying about state requirements for embalming or types of caskets.
Half-truths are nearly all un-truths.
Anyone who thinks that educating people about their rights and options for what can be a significant expense has something more to hide. If you can’t stand the light, then scuttle back where you came from!
Funeral Consumers Alliance is not a political lobbying group. It’s a nonprofit educational organization to let people know what their choices are when it comes to death care. DIY funerals are only one option. Yes, staff cost is a major portion of the budget, necessary to field hundreds of phone calls and e-mails per month, giving out free information to the general public.
That figures Timothy…just follow the money. This stuff is getting really old. I think I will start a “nonprofit educational organization” to teach people why we should rebel against the evils of indoor plumbing. It’s just not natural you know. Let’s turn back the clock a hundred years or so and make some big bucks for me!
The Funeral Consumers Alliance is a non-profit 50(c)3 organization. Their goal is to educate consumers. Funny how many of you will read this and not think for a moment how much? the Executive Director of your state Funeral Association makes, of course they take your donations (membership fees) and create fears about what the government is going to do to your business and lobby, but then thats money well spent isn’t it?
Bottom line the Home Funeral/ DIY movement is a fraction (<1%) of the buying public and for that matter many seek a funeral directors for some services and merchandise. I sold an alternative container to a DIY family last week. If you treat your customer right you become the sought out professional in your community and a valuable resource.
No wonder we have a Funeral Consumers Alliance….just remember the great protective sealed casket scam!