# Legacy laughter links

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/1999/11/08/legacy-laughter-links/
- Published: 1999-11-08T12:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Probate analysts Smee and Ford’s quirky humour could generate a Web site with 
a cult following. UK Fundraising takes a trip around the deadlier Web sites and 
suggests some links.**

Hearing Tom Ford of probate analysts Smee and Ford speaking at a seminar last week,
UK Fundraising was reminded of the company’s quirky sense of humour at its ‘Burke
and Hare’ legacy roadshow. Given the Web’s reputation for quirky and downright odd
resources, UK Fundraising would like to suggest the following additions to the Smee
and Ford Web site:

 * [Alcor](http://www.alcor.org/) – cryogenics might mean you get the last laugh,
   if you are successfully thawed out and resurrected. But then will you or your
   new companions remember what the joke was?
 * [Caskets](http://www.caskets.co.uk/) – show your urning power with a top of the
   range casket
 * [Celestis](http://www.celestis.com/) – I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave. Blast
   your bodily remains into the eternity of space.
 * [Deathclock](http://www.deathclock.com/) – find out how long you’ve got until
   you kick the bucket
 * [Desktop lawyer](http://www.desktoplawyer.net/) – get your Will drawn up online.
   While you’re there you can sort out your divorce and other legal matters.
 * [Final curtain](http://www.finalcurtain.com/) – do it your way and design your
   own tomb
 * [Imminent domain](http://www.imminentdomain.com/) – share your obituary thoughts
   with the world
 * [Living Wills](http://www.netlink.co.uk/users/vess/lwvh.html) – not an oxymoron,
   but a valuable tool for many wishing to state how they are cared for
 * [The Loved Ones](http://www.thelovedones.com/) – “a long lasting and professional
   virtual memorial facility”, and its British
 * [Near Death](http://www.near-death.com/) – close shaves with the life (or death)
   beyond the veil
 * [Urn Seller](http://www.urnseller.com/) – not an Eric Morcombe one-liner, but
   a chance to buy your funerary cask
 * [Worldwide Cemetery](http://www.cemetery.org/) – a virtual solution to the lack
   of space in graveyards

Your URL could also follow you to the grave, if you so choose. The Forever Cemetery
in Hollywood and the San Jose Oak Hill Memorial Park wish to “fill in the dash between
the date of birth and the date of death with a dot com”, according to the San Jose
Mercury News. This URL will link to text, video, sound and other recorded effects
of the deceased. How about that as a benefit for a major donor? Online acknowledgement
of their gift _in perpetuum_.

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Does your charity use humour on its legacy fundraising Web pages? (Not that we’re
suggesting you add any of the above to your page!)

_Sources: The Net, December 1999, p.27; Interface, The Times, 29 November 1999, 
p.15_