It is not surprising that at the same time we are seeing consumer confidence erode in the U.S.A. that we are also finding some statistical data to tell us that funeral client families are more often coming up short with funding to pay their Death Care obligations.  Statistics are somewhat difficult to find on this subject as every state, and sometimes even counties and cities, has a different way of supporting those who cannot pay for Death Care services.

However, a recent article in Funeral Service Times of Great Britain put forward the fact that refusals for Death Care assistance in Great Britain have risen by over 36% in the past 4 years.  The program works according to this article (you may find a paywall here) whereby the British government “provides financial help towards funeral costs for people on certain benefits, including Universal Credit and Income Support. Applications may be refused if the claimant is not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, if another family member is considered responsible, or if the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) determines that funds are available elsewhere.”

Through a freedom of information request of the British government, GoFundMe found out that the number of refusals has increased, which also leads me to believe that the number of requests has also increased.

The article also stated, “GoFundMe has reported a surge in memorial fundraising. The number of donors to UK (United Kingdom) memorial fundraisers rose by around 25% between 2022 and 2024, while the average donation increased by about 11% year-on-year. The platform said 2025 is on track to record the highest levels of giving since the pandemic.”

The article also pointed out that the average cost of a funeral in Great Britain has risen to US $ 5,294 and that the average request for assistance is for a shortfall of US $ 2,912.  It is also pointed out that the average award given out in the Funeral Expense Payment request is US $ 1,450. . . . about half of what applicants are asking for.

Related Article — U.S. consumer confidence tanks in November as more Americans see financial pain ahead.  Yahoo Finance.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  A couple of things come to mind as I analyze this article.  First of all, through my work with Funeral Director Daily and readers in all English speaking countries, I have come to realize that the business of Death Care is pretty universal in all of these developed countries — especially the ones where Funeral Director Daily has a number of subscribers such as the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

I also realize that the economies of the world seem to operate in the same cyclical up-and-down economic situation.

That leads me to believe that if Great Britain is seeing an increase in people not having the means to pay for Death Care obligations, that same phenomena is probably happening in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

If that is the case and you are going to be serving more and more families who have this limiting “financial depth” situation you need to be able to point them in a direction that can help them so you can get paid and more importantly so that they can get this obligation out from under their lives.

I would suggest that you take a look at the family funeral home designed and owned crowdfunding site Treasured Memories Community Funding.  This company, that you can access information on here, can not only help your Death Care clients raise funds but it can also be used to help non-profits and others in your trade area raise funds for all kinds of great endeavors. . . . and like I said, it is family-funeral home owned, operated, and developed.

Final Thought — This article is a good article on how family poverty in America was designated and the thought process and way of defining  that designation from the 1963 reasoning about how it was defined that may no longer may be applicable.  For instance did you know the definition of how the “U.S. Poverty Line” is calculated?  Here is the definition — “The U.S. poverty line is calculated at three times the minimum food diet in 1963, adjusted for inflation”.

The author makes the point that with all of the other changes in society in the past 62 years, maybe we should have a different definition of how “family poverty” is defined.  I found it interesting to read and thought provoking and thought today’s subject matter was as good a place as any to insert it for your knowledge.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Funeral Director Daily published this article about 17 months ago that was headlined “Carriage Services’ Mel Payne transitions to advisory role at company”.   The article went on to say that Mr. Payne, who was the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Carriage Services had been in those positions since 1991.

If you have watched Carriage Services since the time of that article 17 months ago you would notice that the leadership team of Carlos Quezada, John Enright, and Steve Metzger have been, in my words, “putting the house in order“.  It appears that in the last year and a half the leadership team has been busy building partnerships with suppliers, strategically reducing debt, and selectively divesting of funeral homes and cemeteries that don’t seem to fit the company’s criteria.

One of the criticisms of Carriage Services in that time of adjustment has been that some in the investment community have not had the patience that the management team has had about future acquisitions to grow the company.  The 2nd Quarter 2025 report, that you can read here, should quiet that group down as in the report Carriage Vice-Chairman and CEO Carlos Quezada made this prepared comment, “. . . .we are excited to announce that we are under contract to acquire new businesses, which we anticipate will close this quarter. Combined, these premier locations served more than 2,600 families and generated more than $15 million in revenue last year. We are excited to return to our long-term strategy of adding shareholder value through high-quality acquisitions.”

The financial results for the quarter for Carriage Services show Total Revenue slightly down — from $102.3 million in 2Q24 to $102.1 million in 2Q24.  However, if you deduct a $2 million revenue figure in 2Q24 for “Divestment” Revenue, then Total Revenue would be up about 2%.

For the first-half of 2025 Total Revenue came in at $209.2 million . . slightly up from the first-half of 2024 where Total Revenue came in at $205.8 million.  Again, the 2025 revenue number would is more impressive when you consider that one-time “Divestment” revenue from the first-half of 2024 is about $3.3 million greater than the same category in 2025.

When it comes to Net Income from Consolidated Operations Carriage Services 2Q25 number in that category came in at $11.7 million as compared to the 2Q24 number of $6.2 million. For the first 6-months of 2025 Carriage showed a Net Income of $32.6 million as compared to the 2024 Net Income for the same period of $13.2 million.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  What do they say?  Patience is a virtue?  I think that this report continues to illustrate how the management team at Carriage Services has a plan and are executing on that plan.  And, they believe in what they are doing.

From my point of view, as an outsider but also as an individual stockholder, I can visualize the plan.  To me, it appears that the management team has analyzed the company’s situation and are taking the steps to make it better.  I see a management team that values “quality” over “quantity”.  In June of 2024 Carriage Services stated that they had 165 funeral homes and 31 cemeteries under their umbrella.  In this latest report they have stated that they have 159 funeral homes and 28 cemeteries — that’s almost a 5% reduction in number of facilities.

So, there has been some divestitures of properties for some reason.  Maybe because of underperformance, or maybe a facility was not located in the geographical sphere that the group wants to be in, or maybe the facility was not located in a demographically advantageous area.  Whatever the reason, one number that I ascertain from that is that even with about 5% less facilities the revenue numbers between 2Q24 and 2Q25 are almost equal.

One conclusion to that mathematical equation could be that Carriage Services must be getting, on average, more revenue per location which can only be a positive in my eyes.  And, if you are gaining revenue per location that beats the alternative and one can be hopeful that Carriage can duplicate that feat with the new acquisitions they are pursuing.

Disclaimer —  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder of Carriage Services.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

This article from North Country Now of New York announces the acquisition of the Green Funeral Home of Gouverneur, New York, by the Frary Funeral Home.  From the company’s website which you can access here, it appears that the Gouverneur location will be the 6th location operated by Frary.

The article from North Country Now makes the following statement, “Both businesses have deep-rooted histories as multi-generational family businesses, committed to serving the community.”

It also appears from the article that Wesley McGill, a funeral director at Frary’s had been a funeral director previously at the Green Funeral Home.  It appears that Mr. McGill was born in Gouverneur and a natural fit to now be working with the Gouverneur location.

According to the newspaper article the press release also made the following comments, “With Wes’s guidance, Frary Funeral Home looks forward to continuing its tradition of excellence while offering fresh, thoughtful solutions to meet the evolving needs of our community. . . .We are committed to serving Gouverneur and the surrounding area with care and compassion, just as both Frary Funeral Home and Green Funeral Home have for generations.” 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  A viewpoint of mine is that the anticipated sale of existing funeral homes by so many owners who are reaching retirement age is happening.  It’s been predicted for years and I now think it is upon us.

A simple suggestion to those funeral homes who want to expand is now is the time to make sure that your finances are in order and you have the resources available to do such.  I would also suggest that if you have not talked to potential acquisition site owners, now is the time for that also . . . before you miss the opportunity.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Funeral Safe announced last week that they had received almost $US 9 million in additional funding to expand their funeral-based consumer finance company.  In business since 2016, the latest round of capital investment by Black Lion Ventures will give Black Lion Ventures a controlling interest in the company.

Funeral Safe is a United Kingdom-based consumer-facing finance company designed to help consumers with death care payments.  According to a recent article in the British publication Funeral Service Times the company is described as “A consumer credit provider that specialises in tailored funeral finance, which allows individuals to spread the cost with monthly payments.  Funeral Safe works with more than 2,000 funeral homes and legal firms nationwide”. 

The article in Funeral Services Times is behind a pay wall, but Funeral Director Daily found this short article that explains more on the transaction.

Here’s what Robin Hyde-Chambers, founder and CEO of Funeral Safe said in the Funeral Service Times article, “This significant funding marks a major milestone in our journey, enabling us to accelerate our growth and innovation in the UK market. This investment underscores the confidence our investors have in our vision, our team, and the future of the firm.”

Service needed as United Kingdom faces growing “funeral poverty” —   According to this The Guardian article from earlier in 2024, Great Britain faces a growing trend that they refer to as “funeral poverty”.  The article states that a recent survey indicates that “. . . a growing number of grieving families are having to sell belongings, raid their savings or borrow from friends to cover the cost of a loved one’s funeral”.

The article from The Guardian also states that “One in five families experience “notable financial concerns” when paying for a funeral” and that “There has also been an increase in the number of “public health funerals”, formerly known as pauper’s funerals, which are arranged by the local council for someone who has died without relatives, and with no way of paying”.

Finally, it is surmised that this issue of cost is one of the leading reasons that “Direct Cremations with No Services” has grown to a 20% market share of dispositions in the United Kingdom.

Topic Related Articles:

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Nothing real surprising here.  Obviously Funeral Safe must be showing progess on its business plan to instill continuing confidence on the part of its equity partner.  And, in my opinion, the idea of the equity partner now becoming the lead partner shows a likelihood of continuing confidence in the Death Care sector by private equity.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”