About PMFC
Peoples’ Memorial Funeral Cooperative is wholly owned by the members of the People's Memorial Association (PMA). It is one of a handful of funeral cooperatives in the US. People's Memorial Association also provides education and advocacy for consumers regarding end of life issues. PMA is the oldest and largest non-profit funeral consumer group in the US and is a member of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, which advocates for the rights of consumers throughout the United States,
PMA has been pivotal in protecting the rights of funeral consumers in Washington State. For example, in 2005, PMA advocated for the rights of families to care for their dead in their own homes. In 2006 People's Memorial advocated for the rights of individuals to have up to 24 with the unembalmed remains of the deceased at a funeral home for religious and cultural purposes. In addition, we preserved the right of families to have up to an hour long private viewing of an unembalmed body. The funeral cooperative has been an advocate for environmentally responsible final arrangement, including green burial and carbon-neutral cremation.
To support PMA’s education and outreach efforts, you can join or donate to the association.
Our Mission:
People’s MemorialTM Funeral Cooperative, a not-for-profit funeral home, serves the Greater Seattle area with dignified and affordable burial and cremation arrangements.
Our Vision:
People’s MemorialTM envisions a future where all of us have information about and access to death care options that reflect our personal values and resources.
Our History:
People’s Memorial Funeral Cooperative was started in June of 2007 to provide cremation and burial services in the Seattle/King County for members of People’s Memorial Association and the general public. After two consecutive funeral home contact cancellations in 18 months, PMA was left with no funeral providers in the city of Seattle willing to serve its members at the prices our members have come to expect. The group was founded in 1939 to provide dignified and affordable cremation services to its members in Seattle. Since then, PMA has expanded its scope of services to include burial and cremation options in both western and central Washington.
Since its inception, People’s Memorial Association had been able to contract with existing funeral homes to provide services to members. For some 65 years, the association contracted with one provider in Seattle—Bleitz Funeral Home. The Association’s large membership (currently 80,000 living members) enabled the group negotiate fair pricing based on a bi-annual price survey of all funeral homes in Western and Central Washington.
This is still how the Association provides services to members outside of the Seattle. In an eighteen month period the Association experienced two contract cancellations which affected 11 of its funeral service providers. The first contract cancellation ended a 65 year relationship, an emotional and costly experience to the association’s members. The second contract cancellation, on the basis of the association’s refusal to accept a 65% cost increase in the middle of the contract period, sent the message that this group had to take control of its own destiny! At the annual meeting in April 2007, the membership voted unanimously to proceed with establishing a member-owned funeral cooperative.
The People’s Memorial Funeral Cooperative will serve as a model for other groups, to support access to dignified and affordable funeral services throughout the US.