Brookfield, Wis. – The Funeral Service Foundation announced today that their Board of Trustees has approved a grant of $40,000 earmarked for the Foundation’s Crisis Response Fund. Additionally, the Foundation has received commitments of $25,000 from the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA); $25,000 from Legacy.com; and $10,000 from The Messenger Co. These total funds of $100,000 will be used to match contributions to the fund made from now until the end of the year.
Funding Priorities
The Crisis Response Fund will make grants to provide support for immediate needs within funeral service, including grants to organizations providing grief support services and resources to families directly impacted by disasters and other crises, such as the wildfires in Maui and Hurricane Idalia in Florida and the Carolinas.
“The Foundation’s Board of Trustees, our donors and partners want to assure that assistance is available to those who are doing the difficult work of helping a devastated community,” said Foundation Chair Lisa Baue. “After tragedy strikes communities, the work of the funeral service professionals is truly awe-inspiring. The hope is that these funds can support their hard work.”
How to Support the Crisis Response Fund
The Funeral Service Foundation is accepting donations in support of the Foundation’s Crisis Response Fund, which offers urgently needed funding in the wake of regional, national or international crises. In the wake of the Maui Wildfires, the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history, and Hurricane Idalia, impacting Florida and the Carolinas, the need could not be greater.
Now through the end of the year, with support from the National Funeral Directors Association, Legacy.com and The Messenger Co., contributions to the fund will be matched up to $100,000.
“The Foundation’s support of communities in crisis is a critical part of our mission,” said Baue. “We are grateful that our Board and partners at NFDA, Legacy.com and The Messenger Co. recognize the important work that funeral service professionals do in the wake of disasters and are providing matching gifts for the Foundation’s Crisis Response Fund.”
Gifts to the Funeral Service Foundation’s Crisis Response Fund can be made online at FuneralServiceFoundation.org/donatenow. Those interested in supporting the fund may also send checks, made payable to the Funeral Service Foundation Crisis Response Fund, 13625 Bishop’s Drive, Brookfield, WI 53005, or call 1-877-402-5900 to make a gift by phone.
About the Crisis Response Fund
Created from funeral professionals’ requests to support relief efforts following the devastating tsunami in 2004, the Crisis Response Fund offers urgently needed funding in the wake of regional, national, or international crises. The Foundation funded the Hurricane Katrina Memorial in 2010, offered support following other natural disasters and emergent situations, and most recently, awarded more than $500,000 in COVID-19 relief grants and $50,000 in support of the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
About the Funeral Service Foundation – FuneralServiceFoundation.org
Since 1945, the Funeral Service Foundation has served as the philanthropic voice of the funeral profession and has identified as the charitable arm of the National Funeral Directors Association since 1997. Donors and volunteer leaders profession-wide support the Foundation in its mission of investing in people and programs to strengthen funeral service and lift up grieving communities.
