Charitable funeral donations see ‘strong’ post-pandemic growth
The NAFD said that families who were unable to meet or hold wakes during the pandemic relied heavily on online tributes to share memories and photographs, and that this trend has grown post-Covid
Online tribute and charitable donation services have seen “strong” post-pandemic growth, according to the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD).
Charities that faced a reduction in income during lockdowns relied on income from donations from funerals, which increased as people were unable to spend on other traditional ways of tributes, such as flowers, due to restrictions.
The NAFD said that families who were unable to meet or hold wakes relied heavily on online tributes to share memories and photographs, and that this trend seems to have not just continued, but grown despite all restrictions ending post-Covid.
Just last month (August), the charity MuchLoved, a UK online tribute and fundraising organisation, announced that it had raised over £100m for charities and good causes in the UK since it was founded in 2007.
Working with over 2,000 funeral branches throughout the UK, the charity provides online memorial tribute pages for families, where they can celebrate loved ones and donate to causes.
Jonathan Davies, chief executive at MuchLoved, said: “We are delighted to have reached such an incredible milestone, and know that these donations will have helped many worthy causes. This just goes to show how much in-memory giving matters; not only to the families remembering their loved ones, but also to the charities they are supporting.
“The extraordinary times we have been through, during the pandemic, have highlighted exactly how vital online tributes are for families coping with a bereavement.”
