Description
The Coopérative Funéraire de Nantes is a funeral home run as a cooperative (SCIC), owned by its members, including families, which pays no dividends and offers funerals around Nantes, with sister cooperatives in Rennes, Bordeaux, Caen, the Vendée and Rouen.
The project started in 2015, when an association was set up with nearly 100 members, inspired by funeral cooperatives in Québec. In a SCIC each member has one vote, whatever their share; a share costs at least €20, and anyone can join. A members’ committee assists the director, and all members meet once a year. The cooperative says no dividend is paid to members and that its prices are on average 9 % lower, a figure its pages don’t date.
It has offices in Nantes and Orvault and works across the Nantes area and beyond, from Saint-Herblain and Carquefou to Saint-Nazaire and Pornic. A death helpline answers seven days a week, from 8 am to 10 pm, on 02 85 52 38 39. The prices page describes its services but shows no euro amounts and links no price list. Its values page says five cooperatives are now active in western France, then lists six.
Strengths
- Families can become members and have a say, and no profit goes to outside shareholders.
- It is an independent, member-owned alternative to large funeral groups such as OGF and Funecap.
- The helpline answers seven days a week until 10 pm.
Weaknesses
- The website gives no prices in euros and no price list, so comparing quotes means calling.
- It only works in the Nantes area; elsewhere a family has to find one of the few other cooperatives.
- The 9 % lower price is the cooperative’s own claim and isn’t dated.
Who it is for
Families around Nantes who need to organise a funeral and prefer a cooperative that doesn’t pay shareholders, and people who want to plan ahead and join it.