Here at Remembered.com we know that people are stressed and emotional when they lose a loved one. We try to answer every email that we receive as best we can and be sensitive to the feelings of people during bereavement. But this week we received a surprising email from someone who asked about charity...
Not really about charity, it was more subtle (NOT) - actually he asked if we are "simply making money off of people's grief?" And followed it with "That would be pretty scummy if you do."
WOW... It took me a long time to craft a response to that one...
I can't imagine walking into a funeral home and accusing them of "making money off of people's grief". To my knowledge, funeral homes, headstone makers, cemeteries, and other memorial sites are all businesses that don't donate large portions of their income to charity. Maybe they do - but I think you'd hear about it. As a six month old startup, we don't have a lot of money to donate either - but we HAVE been offering free memorials for many worthy causes in the last six months to help build awareness for them. For example:
- October - Free Memorials for Breast Cancer Awareness month
- November - Free Veterans Memorials for Veterans Day through Pearl Harbor Day
- December - Free Memorials for World AIDS Day
- January - Free Firefighters Memorials
- February - Free Memorials for Heart Disease Awareness month
- March - Memorials for Kidney Awareness month and an Organ Donation public awareness campaign
If you Google about charitable giving when someone dies, you'll be deluged with information about the great tax deduction that you get for doing so. You don't get much guidance about which of the many charities are best to give to for one reason - it's a very personal matter. We each have our own sympathies - there are many charities that speak to each of us in our own very personal way.
What about the deceased? Someone who dies of a heart attack may wish you give towards childhood literacy instead of the Heart Association. And since the top 10 causes only account for 55% of deaths - what about the other 45% - do they deserve less attention because of their lower body count? In 2010 Cancer became the leading cause of death worldwide - meaning we've made some great strides against malaria, AIDS, and heart disease. This begs the next question - WHICH of the thousands of cancer charities is best to help? Do we help those suffering with Cancer now? Or help those trying to prevent Cancer in the future?
There are no easy answers when death or charity are the topic... Here's what I told our critic.
We started Remembered.com to celebrate lifetimes, not to have people wallow in grief. Simply put, this site is for the living to remember those they love. And as a 6 month old endeavor, we can always do better. So I'll tell you what we're going to do to make things better...
- April is Autism Awareness month. Autism is on the rise and becoming a major problem in society, affecting 1 in every 110 children - and even more startling 1 in every 70 boys born. Traditionally we would have given away free memorials to build awareness. But Autism is a problem for those living through it, or caring for someone who does. So instead we are going to give $5.00 for every paid memorial during the month of April to Autism Speaks. It's a great charity. If you don't want to create a memorial, you can donate directly to them here.
- We are going to make redesigns to both the Funeral Notice and the Online Memorial that will allow people to specify a link to the charity of their choosing that will be tied to their memorial - forever.
- We will help provide information to help people select charities that return a high percentage of funds raised back to their causes. CharityWatch.org lists those charities that return more than 75% of their funds on programs serving those who'll benefit from that charity. I encourage you to review their rating list next time you think of giving.
Think we made the right choice? Leave a comment below...
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