Associations
Fund something your members will actually use. Get your investment back when they do.
Help your members start offering RetURN.org IDs without asking each organization to pay for its own starter kit. Your association can sponsor the initial IDs, distribute them to participating members, and track aggregate adoption. As families activate those sponsored IDs, RetURN.org reimburses your association’s investment, up to the amount you contributed.
Your members get the benefit. Families get permanent identification. As the IDs are activated, your association gets its money back.
How the association program works.
- Your association sponsors starter kits. Choose how many participating members you want to support.
- Members receive RetURN.org IDs. Each provider starter kit includes 25 IDs and 25 family cards.
- Members offer the IDs to families. Families activate the IDs and create their own RetURN.org profiles.
- Members earn replacement IDs. Every activated ID earns the participating member a free replacement ID.
- Your association earns back its investment. RetURN.org reimburses the association as sponsored IDs are activated, up to the amount the association originally contributed.
Association funds starter kits → members offer IDs → families activate → members earn replacements → association gets its investment back.
What it costs, and what comes back.
Association pricing starts at $1 per ID, in packs of 25 for each participating organization.
Per ID
The association rate, in packs of 25 for each participating organization.
Equips one member
25 RetURN.org IDs, enough for the next 25 families that member serves.
Equips 200 members
5,000 IDs into the field, and up to 5,000 families reached from one association investment.
The money comes back as the IDs are used.
We track the sponsored IDs that an association funds. As families activate them, RetURN.org returns the association’s investment over time, up to 100% of the amount originally contributed. Take that $5,000 program: 200 members, 25 IDs each, and on every activation of one of those 5,000 IDs:
- The member earns its normal free replacement ID.
- The association receives reimbursement toward its original $5,000 investment.
- The family receives the RetURN.org ID service it paid to activate.
Once the association has recovered the full amount it contributed, association reimbursement stops.
The reimbursement never comes out of a member’s replacement benefit. Every family activation still earns that member a free replacement ID, exactly as it would without an association behind it.
Every association program is quoted rather than bought off a shelf: size, distribution, reporting and reimbursement terms all differ. Tell us what you have in mind and we will put the package together.
A member benefit you can actually measure.
Put something tangible in members’ hands
Sponsor IDs members can begin offering to families immediately. This is not a discount code, a webinar, or a benefit members have to remember to use later.
See whether members actually use it
RetURN.org can provide aggregate program reporting, so the association can understand adoption and participation rather than guess at it.
Get your investment back as the IDs are used
Every activation of a sponsored ID reimburses the association toward its initial investment, up to the amount originally funded.
Reinvest the money however you choose
Returned funds can go to another round of RetURN.org IDs, to scholarships, to member programming, or to another organizational priority.
Nothing complicated for your staff to administer
RetURN.org manages the IDs, the provider portal, family activation, profiles, the replacement program, and reimbursement tracking. The association helps select or distribute the initial program.
What the reporting can show.
Aggregate, and depending on the rollout:
- Number of participating member organizations
- Kits distributed
- IDs assigned
- IDs placed or used
- IDs activated, and the activation rate
- Replacement activity
- Association reimbursement earned
- Remaining unrecovered association investment
Association reporting does not include family wishes or private family profile information.
What you do with the money that comes back.
Your association decides: another round of member starter kits, more chapters or regions, association scholarships, another member initiative, or straight back into the operating budget.
What a participating member receives.
Each provider starter kit includes:
- 25 RetURN.org IDs
- 25 family information cards
- Access to the RetURN.org provider portal
- Eligibility for free replacement IDs as families activate them
That gives a participating member 25 opportunities to offer a permanent RetURN.org ID to the families it serves. Every activated ID earns the member a replacement at no charge.
Different members can participate in different ways.
Members that work directly with families
Funeral homes, cemeteries, crematories, retailers, and other providers can receive starter kits and offer RetURN.org IDs directly to families.
Members that manufacture urns
Manufacturers can incorporate RetURN.org IDs directly into their products. Assigned IDs and production artwork are free.
Members that receive cremated remains
Families holding cremated remains use the RetURN.org directory to find funeral homes, cemeteries, crematories and other organizations that may be able to help. Eligible members are listed at no charge.
A member can be listed without offering IDs, offer IDs without being listed, or do both.
Members may participate in one part of RetURN.org or several, depending on what they do. Each program page explains what that member signs up for.
And what the family ends up with.
- An ID that stays with the urn, so someone encountering it years later can identify the remains and reach what the family chose to record.
- A profile RetURN.org issues and maintains, so access does not depend on the original provider still being in business, and the member is identified on it.
- Privacy: members see appropriate ID activity, never the wishes or other private information a family records.
Put RetURN.org in your members’ hands.
Tell us what you have in mind. We will work with you on:
- How many members you want to support, and how many kits that takes
- Shipping and distribution, whether kits go to members directly or to the association
- Chapter or regional rollouts, and member eligibility
- Program tracking and reporting
- How your investment is reimbursed as sponsored IDs are activated
Frequently asked questions
How does our association get its investment back?
If your association sponsors starter kits or IDs for participating members, RetURN.org tracks the IDs associated with that sponsorship.
As families activate those sponsored IDs, RetURN.org reimburses the association according to the terms of the sponsorship program, up to the total amount the association originally contributed.
The participating member still receives its normal free replacement ID for each qualifying activation.
Is the reimbursement a commission or referral payment?
No. The reimbursement is designed to return the association’s original sponsorship investment as the sponsored IDs are successfully activated.
The association cannot receive more through the reimbursement program than it originally contributed, unless a separate written program provides otherwise.
What information can our association see?
RetURN.org can provide aggregate program information such as member participation, IDs assigned, activation rates, and reimbursement activity.
The association does not receive access to family wishes or other private information stored in individual RetURN.org profiles.
What does a member pay after the starter kit?
Nothing on a schedule. There is no membership fee and no annual program fee. Families pay to activate the IDs, and each activation earns that member a free replacement ID.
Can members put their own branding on the ID?
The physical ID uses RetURN.org branding because it needs to remain useful even if the original provider is no longer operating years from now. The member organization is identified on the profile as the provider associated with the ID.
How is RetURN.org sustainable if industry participation is free or low-cost?
Families pay to activate RetURN.org IDs. That revenue funds the long-term operation and maintenance of RetURN.org, including the database that keeps IDs working over time.
We also use a portion of revenue to support industry scholarships, organizations, and other programs and initiatives of Buried in Work Charitable.
The model is designed so RetURN.org can remain sustainable without adding another recurring cost for the funeral homes, cemeteries, crematories, manufacturers, associations, and other organizations helping families.
Tell us what you have in mind
Tell us roughly how many members you may want to include and what you would like the program to accomplish.
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