The Opportunity
The Funeral Industry Is Changing. Are You Adapting?
Cremation has won. Over 60% of American families now choose it, and for funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries alike, the trend is reshaping the economics of the industry.
With direct cremation as the default, families often lean to the lowest-cost option, walking away with no services. Margins are declining. So are the ceremonies, gatherings, and moments that give this work meaning.
You already know this. You see it every day.
But here's what most funeral directors and operators haven't considered: Terramation, or Natural Organic Reduction, is often seen as a natural form of cremation.
2 Types of Cremation. Most Don't Know About the Second One.
For decades, cremation has meant one thing: flame reduction. It's fast, it's familiar, and for most families, it's chosen by default instead of conviction or alignment with values.
Water cremation — alkaline hydrolysis — has emerged as one alternative, though access remains limited for most families. More significantly, a second option has arrived: Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), or Terramation.
Terramation is a gentle, managed biological process that transforms remains into nutrient-rich, Regenerative Living Soil™. Instead of flame and ash, families receive living soil that can grow a memorial garden, nourish a tree, or restore land.
It's legal in a growing number of states. It's scientifically proven. And it's the form of disposition that produces the greatest environmental outcome, sequestering approximately half a ton of carbon per case rather than releasing it.
Approximately 20% of families who are introduced to terramation as an option choose it. That's right, one in five families who walk in expecting cremation will choose Terramation if someone offers it to them.
What Happens to Your Business When One in Five Families Chooses the Premium Service of Terramation?
It's not just the economics that are compelling, but the level of care and attention.
Terramation reintroduces the participatory services that have been disappearing from the industry: Laying-in ceremonies. Memorial plantings. Distribution of soil to family members and friends.
Even services where your team plants a memorial tree on the family's behalf. These are the moments that restore meaning to the work, and they represent truly valuable services and additional revenue streams that direct cremation has stripped away.
- Participatory services return Ceremonies, rituals, and family engagement that direct cremation eliminated.
- Community differentiation You reinforce your legacy of evolving with the needs of the community you serve.
- A service that reflects values Families increasingly seek environmentally responsible end-of-life options, and you meet them where they are.
- Higher revenue & margin per disposition Multiples of what a direct cremation generates, with partners who set their own pricing.
This is more than marginal improvement. For most operators, it fundamentally changes what's possible in their business.
The Natural Funeral team will walk you through a personalized revenue model on your discovery call so you can see exactly what this looks like for your facility and your market.
The Window Is Open. But It Won't Stay Open.
Terramation is legal in 14 states and counting. Legislative momentum is accelerating. Every major industry publication has covered it. Consumer awareness is growing rapidly.
A small number of companies are working to bring terramation to market. Most of them use a centralized model: They are both marketing directly to consumers and attempting to partner with funeral homes as a wholesale provider, asking them to ship remains to a remote processing facility, perform the terramation, then send a portion of the soil back to the funeral home or family.
The funeral home's role? Logistics coordinator. The funeral home's compensation? At best, basic services and a referral fee.
That model typically doesn't serve you or your client families best. And it doesn't build your business.
There is another way.
Own the Service. Perform the Service in Your Facility.
The Natural Funeral's TerraCare Partner Program takes a fundamentally different approach.
Instead of centralizing terramation at a remote facility, TerraCare provides you with everything you need to offer terramation directly — in your own building, under your own name, with your own staff.
You receive the equipment, the training, the certification, the communications materials, and the ongoing operational support. You set your own pricing. You serve your own families. You build the relationship and the reputation.
The revenue stays with you.
Of the companies offering terramation services in the United States, TerraCare is the only program that empowers funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries to operate the process themselves.
This is the difference between being a shipping agent and being a service provider. Between referring families out and serving them yourself. Between watching a new category emerge and owning it in your market.
This Isn't Theoretical. It's Operating Today.
The Natural Funeral in Colorado, TerraCare's founding entity, has completed hundreds of terramations. We were the first funeral home in the country to operate the TerraCare system at scale, and our results are the proof of concept for every partner who follows.
At The Natural Funeral, over 20% of all families served choose terramation. The remainder mostly select other eco-friendly options. Only about 15% choose traditional flame cremation.
These aren't projections. They're the outcomes of real conversations with real families, people who came in not knowing this option existed, heard it explained with care, and chose it.
The model works. The willingness to shift is real. Families are choosing it when given the option.
The question is whether you'll be the one to offer it to them.
Ready to See What TerraCare Could Look Like in Your Facility?
A TerraCare expert will walk you through the full partner model: equipment, training, communications, economics, and timeline, in a confidential conversation tailored to your facility and community.
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