Bereavement: How to Raise Money for Funeral Expenses
Bereavement is a personal experience. No one can tell you how long it takes to adjust to life or move forward without the deceased. Yet, in the midst of your grief, funeral plans must be made. This is usually a simple cost that is covered by insurance.
The average traditional funeral costs between $7,000 and $10,000. When there's no money, the family must find an alternative way to cover the costs. For many families, crowdfunding is the answer.
Here are some basic tips to raise funds when you don't have insurance or the money to pay for services.
1. Use a free crowdfunding platform
Create a your project on a free platform such as FreeFunder. When money matters most, you don't need to pay 5% platform fees. FreeFunder does not take a percentage your funds. You get every dollar you raise, even if you don't reach your funding goal. Plus, we automatically donate to every project that reaches 100 to 500 Facebook shares. No other platform does that.
When you're ready to launch, create your campaign.
2. Social Media
If the death is expected, Facebook allows users to designate a legacy contact for their account. Ask your loved one to make you the contact. You will only be able to post certain information to the account. This is beneficial if you know you'll need to raise funds for the funeral.
3. Public Announcements
If you are submitting a death notice or obituary to your local newspaper, include information about the fundraiser. Be sure to ask for campaign donations in lieu of flowers. Most newspapers have links on their websites to help you submit a notice. In addition, some funeral homes offer this submission service and have obituary pages on their websites. Use both to ask for help.
4. Live Events and Partnerships
Live events are a great way to raise money, even for a funeral. If the person died of cancer or other disease, you can organize a walk-a-thon, singing competition or benefit concert. You can also partner with a local restaurant to host a themed event.
All of these activities can quickly bring in funds and allow family and friends to memorialize your loved one.
Although it may be uncomfortable to ask others to help pay for a funeral, crowdfunding is a good way to raise the money you need. Just be transparent about how the funds will be used.
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When an accidental fire burned through the third floor and attic of an apartment complex, Colleen Fallon wanted to help her friends the Moore Family. After researching different crowd funding platforms, she chose FreeFunder because FreeFunder passes the entire donation on to the Campaign Creator, instead of taking 5% or more as other platforms do.
The Moores were unharmed in the fire, but many of their belongings were lost and they needed help getting resituated. Colleen set a goal amount of $1,482. Within 16 hours, the FreeFunder campaign had blown past that goal, already raising $2,370, as mentioned in this news article. By the end of the campaign, the fundraiser raised more than 300% of the goal amount, providing the Moore Family with $5,165 to help them rebuild.
"What an amazing thing to wake up to! ...In only 11 hours of this being created you all have seen the goal line and then hurdled it! ...Thank you to all who have donated and shared this link, everything little bit helps. I'll be seeing Marcus and Heather this weekend and can't wait to give them some hope for the future because of everyone who has shown compassion. Cheers to all!" - Colleen Fallon