In-memory giving

Nothing makes us more proud than closing a charitable collection and seeing the funds transferred to charities throughout the UK.

In January 2023, the total amount donated to charity in memory of loved ones on Funeral Notices broke all previous records. The generosity of people, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, blew us away. Almost 50% of notices published on funeral-notices.co.uk includes a request for in-memory donations. The average amount a person donates has also increased to £38. That's such positive news for families and the charities who benefit.

Giving donations to charities or local groups in lieu of flowers at funerals has become an increasingly common trend in the UK. Industry estimates calculate that the total raised through in-memory donations managed by funeral directors is circa £100 million per year and growing.

You can now choose to raise funds online for any charity or cause when you place a main notice with us. The service is free to add and can be done with a single click when you make your booking. You can even raise money for multiple charities or causes with a single notice!

Adding donations to your notice is simple and saves you time as we take care of everything for you - it also raises more money for the loved one's chosen
beneficiaries as donations can be made by anyone, anywhere and at any time. Donations can be made by people unable to attend the service, by the growing number of people who don’t ordinarily carry cash and by those who have no idea where their chequebook is!
Raising funds online also benefits the charity by making it easier to claim Gift Aid, which adds up to 25% to the amount donated. Since we launched this service, more than three-quarters of all donations have been boosted by Gift Aid, which has added thousands of pounds to the money we have paid over to charities and good causes.

Family and friends can donate online via their local newspaper website (selecting the “Funeral Notices” tab) or by going directly to funeral-notices.co.uk.

It's really easy to book a notice on funeral-notices.co.uk - simply click 'create a notice' in the top right corner and follow the instructions.

When writing your notice, if you mention a charity the booking system will automatically add the online donation facility to the notice. This means as soon as your notice is published your friends and family will be able to donate online.

The donation service is provided by our partner, Donatis Payments Ltd. Visitors to the notice can make donations for 5 weeks following the date of booking, at which point the collection is closed and Donatis transfer the funds raised to the beneficiaries. Wherever possible, funds are paid directly to the beneficiary but in some instances (for example, if funds are being raised for a cause other than a registered charity), it may be necessary to transfer the funds to the funeral director’s charity account / to the account of the person who placed the notice.

The beneficiaries receive a report of all the donations made when the funds are transferred (so they can reclaim Gift Aid) and the funeral director receives a confirmation email with details of the funds raised.

It is good practice to include the text 'donations may be made on funeral-notices.co.uk' or similar within the notice.

Yes, of course. Simply ask your funeral director to include online donations when they book your notice. You can ask them to add your email address to the notice too so you will receive an email as soon as the notice is published online. You can then share the notice on social media, email or via messaging apps and ask people to add their own tribute or make a donation.

As soon as the notice is live on funeral-notices.co.uk it will appear with a 'Donate Now' button and will name the charity/ies. Click the button and follow the instructions, it's really easy to do. If you're a UK taxpayer, don't forget to select the Gift Aid option to make sure the donation is worth 25% more to the charity.

Take a moment to look at the notice for the late Howard Robert MILLER. Howard's family have requested donations in his memory be made to Woodlands Hospice Charitable Trust. Donations so far total £1,600 and there have been 124 tributes paid to Howard. Even though the donation collection closes after 5 weeks, the notice remains online forever as an everlasting tribute to Howard's life. The charitable collection remains visible on the page even after it has closed, as in the notice for the late Anita Marie MOORHOUSE.

To create a notice with a charitable collection, click here.

Check out our previous blogs here.

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