Find a Grave community members are committed to recording burial locations worldwide and memorializing individuals. Find a Grave has been able to help so many people due to the hard work and volunteerism of you, the Find a Grave community. We appreciate all you do!
Hosting the site for the millions of people who visit each month and paying the team that helps run the site, makes improvements, and provides member support costs a fair amount of money. Advertisements on the site help cover some of these costs. Members can also sponsor memorials on the site. This sponsorship removes third-party ads forever and allows the sponsor to add ten additional photos. Sponsoring a memorial is a way for you to honor and recognize the individual who passed away, show your support to family members and support Find a Grave.
We have redesigned memorial sponsorship and are offering premium options such as a new memorial layout with larger photos and an option to sponsor a memorial anonymously. All previously sponsored memorials will include these new options. To see a preview of a memorial when it is sponsored, select the Sponsor button from a memorial and then click on Preview Memorial. To learn more about Sponsoring a Memorial, click here.
The one-time fee for sponsoring a memorial is $10 (USD). Here are a couple of examples of the layout on a sponsored memorial.
To sponsor a memorial:
First, go to the memorial and select ‘Sponsor this page’ or the button ‘Sponsor and Remove Ads.’
Then choose a method and fill in the fields for payment of the sponsorship. You can click on ‘Preview Memorial’ to see what the sponsored memorial page will look like after the sponsorship. Choose whether to display your member name or not display your member name on the sponsored memorial. Select ‘Sponsor Memorial’ to complete your sponsorship.
Photos on a Sponsored memorial
We’ve made updates to display the photos in a larger format and also display more of them on the memorial. The cover photo is designed to feature the individual. There are four other photo containers next to the cover photo which display photos in our photo sort order or the order in which you have arranged the photos. If there are fewer than five images, those images will display. Image resolution for cameras has improved year after year. If a cover photo has low resolution, you can choose or upload a new cover photo for your sponsored memorial. If you are the manager and a family member contacts you with a request about setting a cover photo, please show sensitivity and try to help with those requests. Another option is to transfer management so the family member can choose the cover photo and update the memorial.
We hope you enjoy the redesign of sponsored memorial pages. Thank you for all the different ways that you contribute and volunteer your time and efforts to the site. We appreciate all that you do!
I really like the look of the new pages for Sponsered memorials.
This new version is terrible.. it takes up too much room and looks tacky. Also with the new edit system! It it confusing and annoying.
I don’t like it either. Maybe it looks better on a big monitor. It looks cluttered on my laptop
It most definitely looks better on a larger screen which, I’m guessing, most people doesn’t use.
Hmm. I have mixed reactions to the new display.
PROS on a laptop
– more white space, easier to read
– larger photos
CONS on a laptop
The photos appear to be disorganized and added with little to no thought. They might display best in a type of gallery with arrows OR display one large person photo and the remainder photos as small thumbnails that become larger on selection. It looks messy.
It’s a start in the right direction, but the new page layout needs more work.
I wonder what it looks like on any device smaller than a laptop or stand-alone monitor that both have more space.
It looks great on an iPad.
I see you currently have over 516,000 sponsorships. The true test is how many new sponsorships you sell going forward.
I do not like anything at all about the new layout, including the cluster of photos at the top, the deceased’s name banner with just years of birth and death, the pink lettering, the name superimposed on the photos, nor the tacky pink diamond icon. I have spent a good chunk of money sponsoring the memorials of those most special to me to improve their memorials. Now, they look worse—terrible, in fact. I hate looking at them. So disappointing. I had a list of more memorials I had planned to sponsor, but will not be sponsoring anymore at any price. Too bad they didn’t ask the members’ opinions first.
Thank you for your time and for writing in. We are reviewing feedback for the redesigned sponsored memorial page. If you have other specific feedback, please write to feedback@findagrave.com.
My primarily work on Find a Grave is on my laptop computer. When I openedity my father’s memorial after learning of this change in sponsored memorials, I literally felt sick. I could not believe what I was looking at. Large photos cluttering the screen. And if you look at this through the eyes of someone who isn’t a member, it really isn’t obvious that one should scroll down to find the information. I’m still shaking my head at the layout. The current layout of the non-sponsored memorials is very dignified. Isn’t that what the underlying theme has always been on the site — show dignity in honor the deceased? I only hope that no one pays to “support” any more of my memorials because the dignity, the respect will be gone from the memorial. At this point, I’m glad that only a few of my memorials have been supported. I’m trying to be nice but honestly, I don’t like the layout at all. Please can you possibly do away with that layout and go back to having all the memorial keep that dignified respectful appearance. When opening those that are not sponsored, the bulk of the memorial page comes up — with a photo to one side and unless there is a lengthy bio, pretty much the whole page is right there in front of the viewer. Please remove the new formatting. Please.
The photos being featured at the top of the memorial help feature the individual being memorialized. We’re sorry for this experience with your father’s memorial. We’ll see what we might be able to do to help. Thank you for your time and for writing in. We are reviewing feedback for the redesigned sponsored memorial page. If you have other specific feedback, please write to feedback@findagrave.com.
I think it looks great, and personally I don’t mind paying an extra $5 to sponsor a memorial.
They upped it to 10
I sponsor every memorial that is special to me, otherwise the slow-loading, flashing ads overpower the content. There is nothing dignified or respectful about advertisements for cat food, ice cream sandwiches, savings banks, bathing suits, tickets for the “Cigarettes After Sex” world tour, strapless bras, car insurance, medicine for bleeding uterine fibroids and all other medical conditions not to mention the countless ads for Ancestry.com. I pay to make those disappear and to keep FindAGrave viable.
As a maintainer of a memorial I can easily adjust the order of the photos. One could also add placeholder photos if needed to push low value photos off to the right.
I have always used tactics to push low value photos out of sight. Until now, that only required posting three good photos. Now, it will require five. I’ve no objection to the price increase. I object to what is now being offered for the increase.
“sponsorship removes third-party ads forever” – Guess this means ads by Ancestry and Bloom-bridge (flower delivery button) are still okay and are now more visible on the right side column instead of at the bottom of the page.
So, we pay for the privilege of promoting Ancestry and have memorials and photos ruined.
I really dislike the new layout of the sponsored memorials. My sister’s and mother’s memorials look horrible. PLEASE undo it!!!!!
Agree! Please change it back or at least allow the memorial manager to choose which layout for their sponsored memorials.
Agree with MARQUAND that the memorial manager should have a choice of layout view, no one else. If not, I personally wish to UN SPONSOR all of mine to retain the original layout. Don’t need a refund, I just won’t sponsor any more having witnessed mine with the redesign. OR, please offer EXISTING sponsored memorials a ‘choice’ button to change to the new design, and otherwise, keep the classic view the Default view.
Giving managers an option to choose which they prefer would be ideal. Please! I have spent over $425 sponsoring memorials, which I would not have done for this new layout. That might not be much money for some, but it is a heck of a lot for me. It seems deceptive, basically a bait and switch, to make such drastic alterations after payment. It is more than a helpful update, it is a complete change of product/service. It’s like purchasing a granite monument with a nice and simple inscription, but the dealer delivers concrete, with a busy unattractive inscription. This is not okay.
My question is this: will refunds be given to those who decide to cancel sponsorships, if this new layout is permanent???
Thank you for your time and for writing in. We are gathering and reviewing feedback. Please send an email with any other specific feedback to feedback@findagrave.com. Sponsorships are non-refundable. We will continue reviewing feedback and working with the Find a Grave community.
Can anyone sponsor a memorial or is it only the person who maintains it? If anyone can sponsor a memorial then what is the sense of maintaining a memorial when anyone can change it. Would be interested in knowing the answer to this question.
Any member can sponsor a memorial. One does not need to be the manager. Sponsorship removes ads and allows the sponsor to add 10 additional photos. The new design has the same elements as the original memorial.
Why was my comment on ADS removed?
Ads by Ancestry and Bloom-bridge are still on sponsored pages and are now more visible on the right side column instead of at the bottom of the page.
And, since anyone can sponsor a memorial, the manager now has no way to prevent a cherished memorial from being changed to the terrible new layout, if someone else sponsors it.
Researchers want reliable information that is backed up by records. Dumbing down information such as using only the year of birth and death is purely ridiculous.
Hi LaVerna, the detailed information is below the photo area along with the biography, other details, and family member relationship links.
Yes, any member can sponsor a memorial.
Anyone may sponsor any memorial and then have the ability to post an additional ten photos. It is the manager’s discretion how the photos are arranged—what order they appear in on the memorial, that is. That’s if the manager even notices more photos have been added. Currently, managers receive notification when a memorial of theirs has been sponsored, but not when new photos are posted.
I also dislike that one must now click on “Read More” to view the transcription of the gravestone inscription and that the transcription is now located at the bottom of the bio field, instead of having its own distinct field.
The inscription is in an individual field. Do you have an example of where this is occurring? Please send an email with this example to support@findagrave.com along with details and we’ll look into this further.
Why was this comment removed?
“Intensely dislike the new sponsored layout! Please change it back or at least allow the memorial manager to choose which layout for their sponsored memorials.”
I like the new sponsored layout, EXCEPT, my name now appears five times in this section on my son’s and my first husband’s memorial. With their names appearing only once at the top of the page it looks like the memorials are more about me that the deceased. Can’t the “Photo added by” comment be removed from this section and still appear when you view all photos.
Thank you for this specific example. We’re reviewing feedback and will take this into consideration. Thank you for your time and for writing in.
Pink banner on memorials is very distracting and downright tacky! I agree with others the photos are too big. Please remove the new design or at the very least, let the manager change the look of what they see. Or have an option when you are signed in that all memorials are shown in old format.
Dislike it . What was the reason to change the layout and have the profile take up a large part of the page. I plan on keeping the ones I have sponsored, but won’t be sponsoring any others.
I just noticed the pink sponsor label on flowers I leave. Don’t like it. Please, PLEASE give us the option of the original layout and etc.
The pink banner is obnoxious.
You are owned by a Venture capital firm (Blackstone) Why are you nickel-and-diming people on this website, between the sponsorship and the tacky ads?
I absolutely hate the new version. When I saw my father’s memorial, I almost cried. I’ve sponsored all the memorials of my family members (over a hundred), and now I wish I had never done it. Please, PLEASE go back to the old format. Or at least give us an option to be able to choose which version we use. Please.
PLEASE GO BACK THE WAY MEMORIALS WERE DONE SPONSORED & UNSPONSORED. I do not care at all for the changes made. Memorials now look tacky & cheap. Hate the pink bar.. . I was shocked when I saw the big pictures displayed at the top. I have taken great pride in creating memorials for family and friends. Some memorials I sponsor are not mine. It is impossible to rearrange the pictures on these when not the owner. One showed several pictures of the marker plus entrance to cemetery. ( not sure why contributors feel several should be taken as takes up photo room). The photo of the person did not show at all. I have invested quite a bit of money on sponsoring, but will no longer continue to do that. Sorry I even sponsored any now. The unsponsored memorials actually look better than sponsored except for the tacky pink bar. The new changes just take away from both sponsored or unsponsored. Please consider going back the way the memorials were. I wonder how many people will pay $10. Price went up 100%, but I feel we are getting less.
We are reviewing feedback for the redesigned sponsored memorial page. Thank you for your time and for writing in. You can click on Edit or Suggest Edits to remove your display name as sponsor. Then toggle the button to remove the display name. Then only the word Sponsored will display in the box in the upper right corner. The pink notification on unsponsored memorials can be closed by clicking on the ‘x’ in the box. That will close the pink notification on all memorials. We will continue to review feedback. If you have other specific feedback, please send an email to feedback@findagrave.com.
I have done BETA testing for FG often but, unfortunately, not for this change. This change is absolutely a downgrade. When clicking on the link to a sponsored memorial it hits you in the face and not in a good way. The old version was way better than this new version
1. Photos are way too large, especially if the added photo is at low resolution, which many that were added early on are. Also, the “Added by” takes away from the photo.
2. The Floral section has a more prominent placement than the previous version. It is too large and should remain at the bottom of the memorial and not compete with the BIO field and the other fields that are more important than flowers.
3. Not a fan of the pink “Sponsored By” banner either. The color pink sticks out too much and is tacky. And, relatives who sponsor a memorial have more than likely uploaded a lot of photos. Having their name splashed across the photo is very tacky and just doesn’t look good. The memorial should be all about honoring the deceased, not giving credit to others.
4. With the sponsored memorials looking like this, I will never sponsor another one. Terrible!
I read all the comments and find some dissatisfied as I am to see the sponsored memorials so “botched” looking. I have had Ad Blocker on my Find A Grave page for a very long time which takes care of all those annoying ads. I could not find a method to “undo” my sponsorship of just three memorials, but if it was available I would. I certainly won’t be sponsoring any other memorials.
I prefer the clean look of the Memorial pages as they were before this update, but without all the ads. Since I’m paying as a sponsor, I’d like to have the option to retain the original layout.
I’d ‘almost’ like to unsponsor and return to ads. (Seriously!).
I agree with points others have made that this new layout looks cluttered and confusing, as cluttered as it was with ads before. The information about the person is obscured by the enlarged photos, too many of them – the Person photo and the gravestone are all that are needed on first view. One can look at the other photos later if interested.
The useful links to spouse, parents, children are far down, out of sight.
The flowers are intrusive, not needed until everything else can be seen. And the sponsor’s flower, if available, should automatically be the first seen.
I meant to say, I won’t be sponsoring any memorials from now on, unless I can choose to maintain the clean simple memorial version we had. The two I just sponsored to test were mistakes. I should have looked at the ones I previously sponsored first.
I’m very disappointed.
Fran
And please remove all the places where my name shows, as photo supplier, as sponsor. This memorial is not about me. My name as manager at the very bottom, if I am, is all that is needed. The pink sponsor flags are an inappropriate style of advertising.
Let’s get back to what the original focus was, a way to memorialize a person who has died, their life and death details, a photo of their face and their gravestone if possible, links to memorials of close family members, a way to find their grave if someone wants to visit, a short bio if available.
Everything else should not be intrusive.
Dear FindaGrave designers, please, let’s think about and honor the person who has passed.
I do not like the new layout on sponsored memorials. Please give us the choice on using the previous layout if we prefer. I’m very disappointed in what’s been done. Please take all these comments into account; this wasn’t a good move at all.
Under each person’s “Account Settings” there are “Site Preferences” that include “Memorial Theme” and “My Language “. That could be extended to include “Sponsored Memorial Layout”. The previous design could then selected therein.
For sponsored memorials I would want the number of photographs down the left side to be similarly increased, using space no longer needed for advertisements.
I woke up this morning hoping that yesterday’s Find a Grave experience was just a bad dream, but it wasn’t. My father’s memorial still has huge photos with blurry gray space surrounding them. The biographical information, “bio,” and family links are very small. The “flowers” are now in a prominent position on the side. And there are obnoxious pink sponsor labels throughout. I was told by an administrator that my sponsorships could be removed, but the ads would be back on the memorials. I think I would rather see the ads! But I’ll wait to see if Find a Grave makes changes. Please, please return to the previous design, or at least give us an option to choose.
I’m suddenly glad I waited to sponsor some of my favorite memorials. The new sponsored layout is a disappointment and an eyesore. It was nice to simply have the ads removed…. will not be sponsoring in the future!
I sponsor a lot of Memorials and I’m disappointed in the new layout, which I don’t like at all. A Memorial should be respectful and subdued and about the person, not the sponsor or the person who submitted photos. Photos in the new layout are way too big, prominent, and crowded, rather than the person’s birth and death information, biography, and family relationships. Find A Grave needs to be reminded that many of the photos are submitted by people other than the sponsor, and the sponsor and the manager have no control over what is submitted. At least before, when we changed the photo order, we could make sure the least useful photos could at least be hidden. When someone adds a page from a reference book, for example, or something else equally ugly, or a photo or document we don’t like and would never have submitted ourselves, not only can we not remove it as the manager or sponsor, we can no longer hide it behind the first 3 photos, making it less obtrusive and disturbing the dignity of the Memorial. Alternatively, if there are no photos because there isn’t a grave marker or we don’t want a personal photo on the Memorial, you are left with blank ugly spaces. Also, a banner with name, and only birth and death year crowded up above the photos looks ugly, and is an actually an insult for the many people who do extensive research to find and document an exact date and place of birth and death, which in the old layout is right there at the top where you need and want to see it. Please, either bring back the old layout, or allow Sponsors to choose whether they want the new or the old layout. This was not a way to bring about change, without input from the people who sponsor Memorials.
To add to my comment above, I also noticed that useful links to search for your loved one’s surname in other local cemeteries or in the county, state, or country, or all of Find A Grave is no longer there on a sponsored Memorial, and links to records in Ancestry are no longer there. I’m assuming the reason is because the new layout doesn’t leave room for those links because the ugly giant photos and flowers are taking up all of the space on the page. Again, either take the layout back to the old one, or please allow Sponsors to choose their layout. This new layout is not only ugly, it is much less useful for research.
Another unhappy customer. I do not like the way sponsored memorials look. I have looked at the memorials I sponsor and do not like the way the photo layout looks.
I also don’t like the pink banners on every memorial begging me to sponsor them. I am not going to sponsor memorials of distant relatives. I know which memorials I am willing to sponsor and have done so and will continue that same practice going forward if/when any of my close relatives pass. They are the only ones I will sponsor.
I am puzzled by FindaGrave’s silence on the comments being made herein.
If you click the X in the top right of that pink banner it will no longer be displayed going forward, on any memorial.
Please provide us a way to undo sponsorships! I have been a contributor for almost eighteen years and this is the worst “update” the site has made since Ancestry took it over, seemingly for a monetary plea for what has always been a free site.
I fully agree wit you. I have spent over $3,000 with 2017 sponsored memorials.. I felt very proud of the nice way they looked. They were family & friends & special people in my life. I feel I just wasted my money as they look so horrible now. The unsponsored ones look better than sponsored ones. I hate the pink bar. Even prefixes like Dr are so much smaller than the name, it takes away instead of adding. Ancestry, please reconsider what you have done. I will not be sponsoring anymore.
Absolutely horrible. You don’t allow an obit to b read by anyone for 90 days after the deceased name is posted on FG but yet you’re allowing all this uncertain data to be posted. It looks terrible, Please remove it
I often wonder where this money ($10) goes. You should be offering the best layout without asking for money since I also pay for Ancestry to see my work and research on their website and yours. So I am paying, in essence, to see my own work, and, of course, Ancestry is the one making big money and charging excessive amounts for subscriptions, and getting free research from the FG contributors. Something not right about this. Perhaps Ancestry could offer discounts to FG contributors. This is a lucrative business for these companies and we are the losers.
I’m 100% with “Small Town Girl” (July 23, 2024 at 1:02 PM) regarding the new Sponsored Memorial format. I was completely devastated when I saw what Find a Grave had done to the memorials of the people who are so special to me, and I felt so helpless because I couldn’t do anything about it. They should at least allow the sponsor to select between the new and the “old” formats. This would really be the only fair and considerate action to take.
Dear FindaGrave,
Can you please acknowledge that you’ve read the concerns of those who have posted here?
Yes, we are reviewing all comments left here and also emails sent to feedback@findagrave.com. We will continue this over the coming weeks as we look at this further.
Why will it take multiple “weeks” to review?
We are gathering feedback from the community through different methods, taking that feedback into consideration, and then looking into any changes.
There are contributors who walk cemeteries and create hundreds and even thousands of memorials—and we’re all grateful to the folks who do that—but then, most of the time, they never look at them again. Sponsors actually care for the memorials they manage. Sponsors make sure the memorials are accurate. They correct or add information and often share photos that otherwise wouldn’t even be on them. Sponsors spend their time, money, and effort (my heart goes out to the lady who spent over $3,000) because the memorials mean something to us.
And then this happens.
By giving us this cringe-worthy new design (most people don’t like it and think the un-sponsored memorials look better) and doubling the cost of sponsorship, who would even want to sponsor memorials now? I suspect that Find a Grave will actually lose revenue because of this.
The Redesign for Sponsoring a Memorial is the “New Coke” of Find a Grave. It’s a flop.
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN. I LIKE EVERYTHING YOU SAID.
I was getting ready to sponsor several memorials until I seen this new update for sponsorship. Doubling the price is too expensive in my opinion, especially if you are the manager of the memorial. Why, because after you pay to sponsor a family memorial of a family member and then someone comes along and requests a transfer for the memorial. I don’t think a family member that has sponsorship of the memorial should have to transfer memorial after paying at $10 fee. Then the new manager can make changes to the photos and change all the work you have done. Just not right.
The new layout is disagreeable in every aspect. To the admins:
“Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake.”