Among other things, the national Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA):

• Lobbies on the national level for funeral consumer protection laws. For instance, thanks to the FCA’s efforts, Rep. Bobby Rush recently introduced the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act. This bill will require cemeteries, crematories, and every other death-care vendor to give you (1) honest information about the goods and services that they sell, (2) the right to choose only what you want, and (3) the right to printed, plain-language information on cemetery and crematory services.
• Monitors funeral consumer protection laws in each state and helps local affiliates intervene when industry lobbying groups try to take away consumer choice or raise prices.
• Answers 10,000 emails, phone calls, and letters every year - thousands of these are folks looking for local affiliates like the Bay Area Funeral Society.
• Represents the 100 FCA groups and all funeral consumers in the national and local media, including the New York Times, CBS News, NPR, and the Washington Post.
• Offers dozens of pamphlets on funeral planning that groups like ours can use for free, as well as low-cost planning kits.
• Maintains a fantastic website chock full of funeral consumer information.

FCA is a one-of-a-kind organization - no one else acts as a watchdog on the $15 billion-a-year funeral industry and no other nonprofit organization lobbies to protect your right to be free from funeral rip-offs. But, watchdogs need to be fed. Please make a fully tax-deductible donation to the national FCA.

You can donate at www.funerals.org or mail a check to:

33 Patchen Road South Burlington, VT 05403

Better yet, consider pledging $5 or 10/month for the coming year. They can set it up as a monthly deduction from your checking account, Visa or MasterCard or through PayPal. They won’t share your donor info with anyone outside the FCA.

Thank you!