In a recent Washington Post article, supporters of a Lost Cause monument unsuccessfully argued to have a Confederate statue moved from a county courthouse steps to a local cemetery. The article sets out some of the counter-challenge arguments we described in our prior post. But eventually the small community of Isle of Wright rejected
Cemeteries
Cemeteries and Lost Cause Monuments: The Counter-Challenge
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
While the greater public sentiment has turned against statues honoring the Confederacy, cemetery operators should anticipate a counter-challenge to the removal of a Lost Cause monument. Support for the Lost Cause monument can be just as fervent as the calls for its removal. With emotions running high in both directions, the removal of the Lost…
Racial Justice and Your Cemetery: The Lost Cause Monument
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Cemeteries that contain a Lost Cause monument are the most susceptible to a racial justice challenge. For purposes of our posts, a Lost Cause monument is a Confederate statue or obelisk erected between 1890 and 1920. As discussed in this attached article, Confederate memorial societies actively erected Lost Cause monuments during that period, with obelisks…
Racial Justice and Your Cemetery: The Confederate Dilemma
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
A cemetery may not be where one would expect to find the racial justice movement, but several Kansas City area cemeteries have been challenged about Confederate monuments found within their boundaries. An October 2020 Kansas City Star article reported on Fairview Cemetery in Liberty, Forest Hill & Calvary Cemetery in south Kansas City and Union…
Brainerd’s Evergreen Cemetery Association: a solution may already exist
By Bill Stalter on
The Funeral Director Daily recently wrote about the Evergreen Cemetery Association in Brainerd, Minnesota. Like so many cemeteries, Evergreen is running a deficit and its board is worried about the future. The Funeral Director Daily suggests the situation cries out for a relaxation of government restrictions over the Association’s care fund. If the cemetery could…
Cemetery Preneed Pivot: Do’s and Don’ts for the Prearrangement Contract
By Bill Stalter on
In our next post on cemetery preneed, we want to revisit a post from June 2012 (Cemetery Preneed Challenges: bucket accounting). As discussed in that post, the cemetery prearrangement differs from its funeral counterpart because the cemetery can deliver property and merchandise prior to the purchaser’s death. When establishing a preneed program, a…
Cemetery Preneed Pivot: Creating Cremains Options for Lot Owners
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Preneed Development
While preserving traditional burials should be a cemetery’s top preneed priority, a priority should also be placed on the surviving lot owner that is opting for cremation. The Wirthlin studies that we’ve been referencing in prior posts suggest that most grave spaces sold by cemeteries during the past 20 years will never be used. One…
Cemetery Preneed Pivot Priority #2: Lot Owners who still want a burial
By Bill Stalter on
In continuing with our last post about a cemetery preneed pivot, the cemetery operator seeking to improve its burial revenues can initiate a preneed program that first focuses on its existing lot owners. To efficiently market to existing lot owners, the cemetery should use a questionnaire to reach out and learn the owners’ current…
Missouri Endowed Care Audits: Veering off the Legislature’s Intent
By Bill Stalter on
In our third post on Missouri’s endowed care cemetery audits we look at the request for the cemetery’s legal documents. The current audit notice requests copies of the cemetery’s trust agreement, rules and regulations, contract forms, deed forms, brochures and any other materials making an endowed care representation. In essence, the audit is going to…
Missouri Care Fund Audits: Following the Money
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, Exams/audits
Our previous post discussed care fund audits and the tracking of a cemetery’s property sales and care fund liability. The next step of the audit process is following the money to the care fund trust (and the back from the trust to the cemetery). For these purposes, the Missouri audit notice requests trust statements from…