In this issue:

• Putting the fun back in Funeral Consumers Alliance
• Save the date—national conference in June, 2014, in Minneapolis
• Putting your FCA in low-power mode
• Flying (on a plane) with ashes
• Fundraising 101—it's cheaper and easier than you think

In this issue:

• Funeral insurance—a bad financial idea
• Cremation and compromise
• Cata-Coffins
• Five tips for affordable funerals

Inaugural Issue!

• 5 Ways to Fail at Funerals
• 4-Step Funeral Planning
• Safety Coffins
• Funeral Planning on the Fly

• Post-conference report
• Changing of the guard—term limit your board and bring on new blood
• State-specific brochures on funeral consumer rights
• No more discounts—more FCAs find prices on the open market are just as good
• Citizen activism—Oregon volunteers keep regulatory board balanced, not dominated by industry
• Helping consumers and members help themselves
• The end of cyber-life

• Convention 2012 preview
• 2012 Budget
• Fundraising—asking for money won't kill you
• Is your Funeral Consumers Alliance a hoarder? Nonprofit treasuries are not retirement accounts, but money meant to be spent
• Massachusetts town obstructs family trying to bury teen son at home
• Telephone Tips—answering member queries with confidence 

• FCA Executive Director has heart attack at 36; learns to practice what he preaches in funeral planning
• Micromanaging your final send-off—not helpful to your family
• Veterans' cemeteries allow private family funerals, no funeral director required
• President's column—education and advocacy together with discounts
• A fancy funeral is not an entitlement: helping consumers who can't pay for a burial

. . . and more

• National Home Funeral Alliance is born
• Balancing the FCA Budget
• A Consumer's Guide to Cemetery Purchases
• Veterans' Burial Scams
• Benefits of Achieving 501(c)(3) Status
• Tales from the Funeral Trade Press
  . . .and more!

• Round-up of the 2010 Biennial Conference featuring author Robert Fulghum
• Introducing new FCA board members Tracy Fritz, Joyce Mitchell, Rodger Ericson and Don Mertic
• Consumer-Industry Cooperation Part I - how FCA and the Vermont Funeral Directors Association are working together
• Consumer-Industry Cooperation Part II - how the FCA of Nevada convinced local funeral homes to clarify their consumer price lists
• Popping "The Other Question" - talking to your parents about funeral arrangements
• Virginia lawmakers require funeral homes to offer refrigeration, not just embalming
• California Funeral Directors Association Master Trust accused of misusing $70 million in consumers' prepaid funeral money for lobbying, trade show junkets

• FCA testifies to Congress to ask for expansion of consumer protection rules to cover  cemeteries nationwide
• Who's eligible to serve on a Funeral Consumers Alliance board? - preventing conflicts of interest
• FCA National Board member appointed to New York State funeral regulatory board
• FCA of North Texas helps rewrite state regulations to better protect preneed funeral consumers
• Membership cards - Love 'em or Leave 'em?
• Federal court dismisses undertaker Thomas Lynch's libel suit against FCA

• Staying Relevant - tips for keeping your Funeral Consumers Alliance vibrant and up to date with contemporary consumers interests
• FTC Funeral Rule enforcement "sweeps" find more than 25 percent of mortuaries with major consumer protection rule violations
• They're our Members, not our Customers - how to stop hand-holding members and help them empower themselves
• Deathstyles of the Everyday and Middle Class - an editorial on how families can plan a meaningful funeral even in economic hard times
• Spread the Work Around: Building an Active Board

The Money Issue: How to Raise it and How to Stretch it

• Fundraising basics for FCA affiliates
• Don't let funeral prices scare you to death - 10 tips for saving funeral dollars
• FCA national board adopts policy on accepting paid advertising
  
• Celebrity undertaker sues FCA for libel and defamation - well-known funeral director Thomas Lynch takes FCA to federal court (and we fight back)
• Sustaining Membership - we appeal to you to make a monthly or annual commitment to support Funeral Consumers Alliance
• Dollars doing double-duty - how to find company matching grants your donors can use to boost their support to your FCA
• Pinch those pennies - how to run a lean office without skimping on the necessaries

• Recap of 2008 FCA national biennial conference - highest attendance ever
• Welcome to the newest member of the federation, FCA of the Piedmont (North Carolina)
• Time's up - quirky hour-glass urns
• Legislative watch
• Report from the leading edge - FCA of Maryland attends workshop on family-directed, mortuary-free funerals
• How to build a better board - a manual for recruiting and retaining energetic volunteers with new ideas and commitment
• FCA announces Web 2.0 - an introduction to our new website and how to use it
• 5 Hospice Myths - Vanity Fair writer and blogger Judy Bachrach dispenses salty, funny, and useful advice on hospice care
• Billion-dollar preneed meltdown - National Prearranged Services goes belly-up; taken over by court receiver, leaving prepaid funeral consumers with questions

• Preview of 2008 national FCA conference in Seatlle
• Legislative watch
• Minnesota unfriendly - state enacts unnecessary restrictions on family-directed funerals
• A few of our favorite funeral directors - recognizing top-notch service and good deeds
• One ringy-dingy - how to choose phone/voicemail service for your FCA that fits your budget and your staffing
• Social workers to the rescue - how to bring social worker expertise and dedication to your FCA affiliate

• Funerals go co-op - Peoples Memorial Association opens largest nonprofit, member-owned funeral business in the nation
• FCA affiliates (and all small nonprofits) need to complete IRS e-postcard yearly
• Accountability 101 - basic standards for cooperating funeral homes that serve FCA affiliates and members
• The Funeral Director's Guide to Consumer-Friendly Price Lists - an FCA manual for funeral homes
• Defending your last rights - FCA and Muslim advocacy group defend Nevadans' rights to private burials by religious congregations
• Public viewing without embalming - separating fact from fiction, and how to assert your right to decline embalming
• Federal Trade Commission issues four advisory opinions affecting funeral consumer rights

• You make me feel like a natural burial - interview with Mark Harris, author of Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial
• Minding your meeting - how to avoid a boring FCA annual meeting and bring in new attendees
• Legislative watch
• FCA and the Institute for Justice convince the state of Missouri to preserve the right to sell retail caskets, care for one's own dead
• FCA and consumers defeat Montana bill to put low-cost crematories out of business, strip citizens of the right to care for their own dead
• Review of Lasting Images, a DVD on alternative and creative funerals

The Consumer Self-Help Issue

• When best-laid plans go astray - helping consumers make last-minute funeral decisions
• Funeral shopping 101 - tips and stories from volunteer FCA educators
• Four-step funeral planning - where to start when you don't know where to start
• How to read (and use) a funeral home price list
• Funeral myths and facts
• Who has the legal right to decide on your funeral arrangements
• Death in one state, burial in another - do it without breaking the bank
• Backup and succession planning for FCA groups - who can get a hold of the important files if your group leader dies?

• Recap of FCA national Biennial Conference
• Newly elected FCA Board of Directors
• Legislative watch
• Preneed fraud
• The Undertaker's Burden - humorous industry self-promotion

• The Watchdog Sleeps: Federal Trade Commission goes easy on industry
• Congressional bill to rein body brokers
• Legislative watch
• Regulatory Capture: when state boards put profits ahead of consumer protection
• Tightwad tips: saving money for your FCA
• How to get a seat on state funeral regulatory boards
• A funny thing happened on the way to the morgue: interview with Mary Roach, author of Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

• Scatter-brained: Cremation Myths and Facts
• FCA v. SCI Class Action Lawsuit Update
• Bargaining for member discounts at funeral homes