Across the United States, more than 500,000 people are now members of such societies. Memorial societies range in size from fewer than 100 members to 87,000. They conduct periodic price surveys of all funeral homes in their area and publish the results. They promote public education about alternatives to body burial, including cremation and donation of bodies and organs for transplant or research. They provide newsletters and information about wills, legal matters, local and national trends and regulations.
Many societies negotiate prices with local mortuaries or work through a particular funeral home.
One, People's Memorial Society in Seattle, the oldest and largest in the nation, provides all basic funeral services at extremely low cost. The societies, both individually and collectively, monitor the funeral industry and advocate for consumers with state and federal authorities. The Cape Cod memorial society offers a comprehensive price survey of funeral parlors on the cape and several crematories off the cape. Alicia Scott, a social gerontologist and member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kansas City, Mo., gives the senior citizens she works with the same advice. A member of the Kansas City Funeral and Memorial Society, Scott would like to see churches help in the effort by organizing planning workshops.