Consumer Advocacy Organizations

Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA)

www.funerals.org

The Funeral Consumers Alliance is the oldest national non-profit organization dedicated to "protecting a consumer's right to choose a meaningful, dignified, affordable funeral". The FCA works with local affiliate nonsectarian, nonprofit, educational organizations in support of their communities. Some local FCA Affiliates perform price surveys of local funeral homes. Find your local Funeral Consumers Alliance Affiliate to answer local funeral questions and access regional funeral home price surveys.

The FCA supports funeral consumers by:

offering pamphlets and newsletters on funeral choices to increase public awareness of funeral options, including how to care for your own dead without using a funeral home
monitoring funeral industry trends and practices nationally and exposing abuses
serving as a consumer advocate for legal and regulatory reform, giving advice on or lobbying for necessary changes locally, state-wide, or nationally
serving as a credible source of information for media covering death and dying
working with national organizations sharing similar concerns to expand families' choices and control over funeral options
giving advice and guidance to local memorial and funeral planning societies
refering people to local funeral planning societies and regulatory agencies
helping 100 funeral planning societies stay in touch with each other and exchange ideas

Their website is full of valuable information on funeral and end-of-life matters.

Funeral Ethics Organization (FEO)

www.funeralethics.org

The Funeral Ethics Organization is non-profit organization whose mission is "... to promote ethical dealings in all death-related transactions by working for better understanding of ethical issues among funeral, cemetery, memorial industry practitioners, law enforcement, organ procurement organizations, and state agencies, as well as better understanding between these and the general public."

The FEO website disseminates funeral law and consumer rights as well as educational resources. They offer State-by-State Guide to Funeral Rights PDFs which can be accessed by clicking on this link.

National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA)

www.homefuneralalliance.org

The NHFA is a nonprofit alliance of home funeral educators, guides and consumer advocates whose mission is “to educate and empower families and communities to care for their own dead.”

The NHFA promotes activities that encourage family-directed after-death care as a matter of spiritual healing, environmental responsibility, and affordability. The organization maintains a website that links the public to a vast array of information about home funerals and related topics, including:

Where to learn how to care for your own at death
How to find a home funeral guide in your area
Where to find a speaker to come to your group
Where to find a green burial site near you
How to find your state’s advanced directive forms
Where to study to become a funeral celebrant
Who to call with funeral consumer questions
Where to find a home funeral guide mentor
How to join monthly teleconference calls
Legal aspects of home funerals
Downloadable brochures and pamphlets

Green Burial Council (GBC)

www.greenburialcouncil.org

The Green Burial Council (GBC) is an independent nonprofit organization working to encourage environmentally sustainable deathcare and the use of burial as a means to protecting natural areas through ecological restoration and landscape conservation.

The GBC has established the worlds' first certifable standards for funeral providers, cemeteries, burial product manufacturers, and cremation facilities. A provider becomes certified by demonstrating compliance with stringent established standards for a given category.

To learn more about green burials, please visit the Green Burial Council website.

Canadian Integrative Network for Death Education and Alternatives (CINDEA)

http://www.cindea.ca/

CINDEA is a Canadian-based non-profit and advocacy organization which respects the wisdom of ancient death traditions and encourages the renewal of older death practices that are appropriate to our modern-day life. They support death-care practices associated with Wholistic, Ecological, and/or Natural Alternatives (DWENA). CINDEA's mission is to:

provide information and educational resources focused on a broad spectrum of options throughout the pan-death proces (before, during, and after death) including family-led, at-home, and hands-on home funeral options
promote pan-death options that are more natural, personalized and/or ecologically-responsible
support the networking of those who offer related services in Canada
encourages the acceptance of death as a natural part of the cycle of life

Death Cafe

www.deathcafe.com

Death Cafe is now an established 'social franchise' that has spread quickly across the globe.

At a Death Cafe people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. A Death Cafe is a discussion group about death rather than a grief support or counselling session.

The objective is 'to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives'.

Death Cafes are always offered:
- On a not for profit basis
- In an accessible, respectful and confidential space
- With no intention of leading people to any conclusion, product or course of action
- Alongside refreshing drinks and nourishing food – and cake!

Since its launch in 2011, there have been thousands of Death Cafes across Europe, North America and Australia, and Asia. Death Cafe has no staff and is run on a purely voluntary basis.

To find a local Death Cafe near, you visit the official website and use "Find a Death Cafe" or try sites like Meetup.