Funeral Industry News, Information, and Trends

February 2, 2012 (Sterling, VA)—The International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association has named its 2011 KIP (Keeping It Personal) Award winners, recognizing the best in personalization in the cemetery and funeral service profession.

Created by the ICCFA Personalization Committee, the KIP program honors recipients in five categories: Best Practices/Personal Touch; Most Personalized Service/Memorial; Events; Innovative Personalized Product (suppliers only); and Most Personalized Pet Service/Memorial.

This year’s contest attracted a record 58 entries from across the United States, Canada, China and Guatemala. Communications and marketing professionals from outside the cemetery and funeral service profession performed the judging.

Read more: ICCFA Names 2011 Keeping It Personal Award Winners

This article was originally published by BT Hathaway on his funeral blog FuneralWords

We in funeral service talk about grief as if it fits in one tidy little definition which goes something like this–someone dies, we have to say good-bye with visitations and funerals, we feel hurt and sad for a long time (and sometimes families come unglued in the process), and one day we feel better.

George Clooney’s new movie The Descendants turns that traditional definition inside out. In it you see a man and his two daughters come to grips with the accident induced coma and eventual death of wife/mother, and in the end the movie portrays a closeness and peace among the three survivors they had never known when the woman lived. That the characters have not changed appearance in the final scene also suggests that very little time has passed between the time of death and this cozy gathering on the couch without Mom.

Read more: A Movie We in Funeral Service Should Be Watching

HARTFORD, CONN. – Death-care professionals from throughout the country who have signed up for the Crematory Operations Certification Conference, May 2, in Hartford, are looking forward to touring MacKenzie Vault’s factory in East Longmeadow, Mass.

The free tour and reception is open to anyone who registers for the conference, which is being organized by Kates-Boylston Publications in conjunction with the Cremation Association of North America. The conference offers continuing education credits for most attendees, and CANA will issue a certificate to those who take and pass a test at the end of the conference.

Read more: MacKenzie Vault to Showcase Factory During Tour

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This Article Originally Appeared on AlanCreedy.org

Remember that bill congress needed to pass to see what was in it? Well, surprise!! The Medicare Tax has been expanded to include almost ALL income (active and passive) over $200k for singles and $250k for couples. This even includes the gain on the sale of a personal residence over the exclusion amount.

If the Democrats win in November it is likely the capital gains rate will also increase to 20% and some are saying it could go to the pre-1996 level of 28%. Here is an example of how it will work:

Let’s say you are married and your annual income from your business is $125,000. Your spouse works elsewhere and earns an income of $50,000 for a combined income, or AGI, of $175,000. (NOTE: for most of us the trigger will be our Adjusted Gross Income, NOT our Net Taxable Income). If you realized a $1,000,000 taxable gain on the sale of your business this year (2012) your taxes on that sale would be 15% or $150,000 leaving you $850,000. If you sell the business under the same circumstances in 2013 your capital gains tax is likely to be $200,000 (20%) and some think it may be $280,000 (28%). Then comes the Medicare tax of 3.8% on the amount over $250,000. In your case this would be AN ADDITIONAL $35,150 on top of the capital gains tax!!!

Read more: Why Your Business Will Be Worth As Much As 8.8% LESS in 2013

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Pop Star Justin Bieber and NFL Star Tom Brady inspiration for organ donation Facebook app.

Over 100,000 North Americans are currently waiting for a lifesaving call about organ donations. Sadly many never get the call and pass away before a suitable organ donation is found.

Thanks to the efforts of the innovative website mysendoff.com, there is now a free Facebook app called “Giving Means Living” that will raise awareness of the importance of organ donations. The “Giving Means Living” app allows Facebook members to document and share their organ donation wishes with family and friends.

According to donatelife.net, nearly 90% of North Americans support organ donation, but only 30% actually take the necessary steps to agree to it and document their wishes. With the new “Giving Means Living” app people now have an easy way to express their organ donation wishes to Facebook friends and the app also offers links to organ donor registration sites in North America.

Read more: Giving Means Living Facebook app designed to help organ donation awareness

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Marlborough, MA – Frank Sessions, President of Graystone Associates, Inc., has announced that Bill McQueen, former President/CEO of Anderson-McQueen Family Tribute Centers based in St. Petersburg, FL, has become a partner in their funeral management consulting firm. “Bill is one of the leading minds in the death care profession. However, not only being recognized as a deep thinker of our profession, Bill’s track record exemplifies that he is an innovator and doer as well as a successful funeral home operator” said Sessions. “We are thrilled to add him to our team of professionals and welcome him as a partner in our firm!”

“Growing up in funeral service, it always has been a love of mine so I am excited to re-connect with the profession by becoming a partner in the leading management consulting and training firm in funeral service. Graystone’s client list reads like a Who’s Who in Funeral Service. Our profession has been good to my family through the generations. Now, with my various talents and work experience, I not only can help teach and mentor each quality family-owned funeral home that our Graystone team serves throughout the United States and Canada, but I view this as being given a much better and bigger platform to provide additional positive impact on the focus and future of our profession,” says McQueen.

Read more: Bill McQueen Joins Graystone Associates

We have had many conversations on ConnectingDirectors.com centered around how our society has devalued the funeral service, but the following article gives this claim more evidence.

What would you miss to attend a super bowl game?

Well if you’re like many Americans, it seems you’d be willing to miss quite a lot. Couponcabin.com came out with a survey and it seems the super bowl ranks pretty high. Twenty-one percent said they would skip an important work responsibility to attend the game.

Twenty percent said they would skip the wedding of a close friend or family member. Nineteen percent said they would pass on attending the funeral of a loved one and fifteen percent said they would miss the birth of their own.

Read more: [Survey Says] Super Bowl More Important Than Loved One's Funeral?

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It seems there’s nowhere men won’t check the score of an NFL game. According to a survey released today by Yahoo! Sports, the No. 1 sports destination on the Internet, more men check NFL scores than women (82% vs. 65%), and are more likely to check scores at some improper locations. The survey of 1,500 U.S. adults ages 18 to 64 indicates that 25% of male fans have checked a score while using the bathroom, and 4% have even looked at scores during a funeral. Other out-of-line locations where men have checked NFL game scores include:

• In a class (22%)
• On a date (18%)
• At a wedding (12%)
• At a child’s school event (12%)
• At a church service (8%)

Other key findings include:

Willing to Pay Big Bucks?

Tickets to this year’s Super Bowl are selling for prices ranging from $2,500 to over $14,000, but the football fans surveyed would only be willing to spend $407 on average to see their favorite team play in the game. Men in general are willing to shell out more money for a ticket ($480), but young men are willing to pay the most ($606).

Read more: Funeral Service Makes List of Inappropriate Places Men Admit to Checking Sports Scores

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ASD – Answering Service for Directors is pleased to welcome 10 Call Specialists to their team of highly trained professionals. Every month, hundreds of applicants apply for positions at ASD, but only a select few make it through the company’s rigorous, 6 month training program. Employees are carefully selected and must exhibit compassionate communication skills and be qualified to handle some of life’s most difficult situations.

To work at ASD, Call Specialists must possess an understanding of the enormous responsibility entrusted to them. With the reputation of their funeral professional clients on the line, ASD designed its sophisticated training program to emphasize the importance of empathy and patience. New employees must be able to speak gently and professionally on the phone with the understanding that it may be the worst day of the caller’s life. Additionally, trainees must demonstrate full comprehension of ASD’s proprietary systems, developed exclusively for funeral professionals by the company’s technical team.

Read more: Congratulations to the ASD 10!