Tips to help you get to know the Funeral Profession
22 March 2024
Building good relationships with the funeral profession can benefit your income and increase awareness of your charity. Here are some tips for ways to potentially connect and work with them.
Who are funeral people and why should you get to know them?
A funeral firm will include people in various roles who are involved in different aspects of each funeral arrangement and running the business. Some funeral homes are part of a large group, such as Co-op Funeralcare and the regional Co-operatives, others are independent businesses with one or more branches.
The funeral profession also includes people working in crematoria and burial grounds, and celebrants. Many funeral people are closely connected to their local communities and are experienced in supporting bereaved families.
Families often build trust in funeral people, especially during the early days of their bereavement. By establishing relationships with funeral businesses, you can help to ensure the baton of trust passes to charities to care for supporters after the funeral. Funeral directors care about their communities and are often keen to work with charities and support in-memory fundraising.
Understanding funeral notices and tribute pages
Funeral notices were traditionally displayed outside the funerals director's premises. Now, many display funeral notices directly on their websites, with MuchLoved's funeral notices.
Funeral notices give families a place to find out details about the funeral and make donations in lieu of flowers, and also a tribute page that can help a bereaved family in the longer term.
Friends and family can be signposted to the tribute page via a QR code on the Order or Service. This all helps to increase brand awareness for funeral businesses and charities and can help increase donations if the family is fundraising for a cause.
Some practical tips to help you build relationships
Invite funeral people to work with you on community events. For instance they might be willing to help with stewarding duties or provide some sponsorship. Under Competition and Markets Authority rules, funeral businesses can sponsor up to £250 without having to declare it.
Share photos and social media posts after events so that funeral firms can use them for promotion and brand awareness.
Think about what your charity can offer to funeral people. You might be able to provide training for their Continuing Professional Development, help them with their branch window display, or provide a room for a local meeting of a funeral trade association.
Don’t ask funeral people to give out charity literature to the families they are looking after. Bereaved people often find it difficult to concentrate and take in lots of new information. Funeral people are sensitive to this and try to keep things simple. They don’t usually recommend charities, instead their role is only to offer options, and most families have already chosen their charity.
Think carefully about how donations are collected. Envelopes are unpopular for several reasons, most notably the time needed to distribute and collect them. Crematoria have strict limits on the time for each service and any overrun results in extra cost. A collection box may be an alternative option, or some funeral directors are moving to online donations only.
Consider offering your supporters the opportunity to create an online funeral collection from your website. We can supply you with a ‘funeral collection create’ link or widget to add to your website, enabling your supporters to create an online funeral collection, at any time.
Be aware that November, December and January are busy times for funeral people when the death rate is at its highest. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings can be a good time to contact them but ask what works.
Learn more from MuchLoved’s experience
MuchLoved works with over 2000 funeral businesses and branches. We recently hosted a webinar to share some of our expertise, with input from AG Down, a funeral director based in Bridport. Watch the recording to find out more.
If you are interested in the MuchLoved service, you can contact us on support@muchloved.com or call our team on 01494 722818.
