Good Neighbor Fund

Since 2001, almost a whole decade before ‘GoFundMe’ or ‘crowdfunding’ was even thought of, the Cournoyer Funeral Home has been assisting families with our Good Neighbor Fund.

The Good Neighbor Fund was created by the Cournoyer Family as an alternative to the custom where many funeral homes inevitably cause embarrassment to a family by suggesting in an obituary that memorial contributions be made to the funeral home to assist with funeral expenses. Instead, our Good Neighbor Fund is quietly listed in lieu of flowers, just as any other organization would be, and no one is aware that a family needs a little extra help.

Our Good Neighbor Fund is one of the earliest and most basic forms of crowdfunding, and has consistently been more successful than GoFundMe with local funerals. The most significant difference ever mentioned is that the Good Neighbor Fund is a local alternative, and it does not cost the family a penny in fees or processing charges.

In a direct comparison, GoFundMe is the more popular crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money from friends for funerals and other events. The company is based in San Diego, California, and while starting a ‘campaign’ costs nothing, significant fees are taken from each donation.

With a GoFundMe ‘Personal Campaign’, 7.9% in charges and fees, plus $0.30 is taken from each donation. Therefore, if a donation of $100.00 is made towards a campaign, only $91.80 out of the $100.00 is offered to the family. With our Good Neighbor Fund, when someone donates $100.00, the full amount of $100.00 goes towards assisting the family with the funeral expense.

No fees. No processing charges. No nonsense.

After donations have slowed, a list of contributors along with their mailing address is provided to the family for sending acknowledgment cards. No individual donation amounts are disclosed in order to protect the interests and privacy of the contributors, only the total of all amounts applied towards the funeral bill is ever shared.

The Good Neighbor Fund. It’s local; it’s free, it is neighbors helping neighbors at a very difficult time in their lives. We should all be good neighbors.