Purpose
To ensure that all parish cemetery care funds are properly secured and invested in ways that maximize growth while providing an annual percentage of earnings to support items covered under a uniform set of criteria. With this foundation in place, diocesan and parish leaders can collaborate to determine an appropriate and sustainable endowment care reserve that ensures dignified long term administration and maintenance of the cemetery. With the data in hand it will be possible to address the diocesan/parish structures where care funds are held and investment strategies identified and implemented.

Audience
Pastors, finance councils, cemetery boards, and diocesan administrators responsible for financial  planning and stewardship. A second audience includes national organizations whose members have expertise in administration and financial management.

Content
A calculator and explanatory guide that organizes essential data and identifies a target
endowment fund size. It provides instruments to collect data on all elements covered under the care fund umbrella, enables annual calculation of replacement, repair, and maintenance costs, and consolidates all elements into an organized document that presents a reliable estimate of the required care fund corpus for each cemetery. With this information, leaders at both diocesan and parish levels can develop approaches beyond collecting care funds from new sales to increase the size of the corpus upon which earnings are based.