The Sumter Cemetery Association & The Historic Sumter Cemetery

The Sumter Cemetery Association, which has oversight of the Historic Sumter Cemetery, is a 501( c )(13) nonprofit cemetery (the “13” is an IRS designation for cemeteries specifically). To our knowledge, the association has had this status for as long as it has been available and possibly since its charter in 1857. The association is made up of the lot owners and led by a president and board of directors/trustees that are elected/appointed/confirmed to those positions. Large, nonprofit perpetual care cemeteries are rare. The Sumter Cemetery is one of few in the state of South Carolina if not the only one. Many nonprofit cemetery associations have been set up to provide maintenance for historic cemeteries that are no longer operational. Many, including church and potter’s field cemeteries, may be nonprofit but not perpetual care. Most large community cemeteries are owned by companies/organizations with the objective of making profit. Typically, they offer a complete range of services to facilitate this objective, which might include grave services, gravestones and memorials, cremation, caskets and urn sales, cremation niches, columbariums and even funeral services. This is not typically the case for nonprofit cemeteries. Additionally, for a nonprofit cemetery, there are limitations on the way any revenue can be used. Any revenue generated in a nonprofit cemetery must be used to operate, maintain and improve the cemetery grounds. It can be used to purchase more property. The association maintains a trust fund to provide for perpetual care. This fund was established such that the principal can never be touched. The association and the cemetery receive quarterly dividend checks to be used for the maintenance and operation of the property and also make a quarterly contribution to the trust fund based on a formula established by the S.C. Perpetual Care board, a South Carolina organization that comes under the SC LLC. In 2023, the Sumter Cemetery Association was advised by the head of the S.C. Perpetual Care Board that its status had been changed to “exempt” from the S.C. Perpetual Care certification process. The association bylaws do, however, require that we continue to operate under the standards within this process. The only benefit operationally to a nonprofit cemetery is that funds can be raised through individual and corporate donations and grants as tax-exempt. Donations can be received either for operational expenses or for capital improvements but must be utilized for the operation, maintenance and improvement of the cemetery. Unfortunately, nonprofit cemeteries are increasingly at a disadvantage. They do not have the revenue stream that for-profit cemeteries have, and people are less willing to make donations to cemeteries. Despite these limitations, nonprofit cemeteries face the same rising operational costs as any other cemetery, profit or nonprofit. Furthermore, all cemeteries face increasing challenges as more people are cremated (cremation burials generate far less revenue in lot sales and burial fees) and fewer people purchase large monuments (reduced revenue from placement fees). Finally, our quarterly dividend checks are impacted by the performance of the investments and the stock market. If the investments do poorly, it will result in a extremely small dividend check (operational costs are not so impacted). All these things impact the Sumter Cemetery Association and the historic Sumter Cemetery and continue to challenge us accordingly. We must continue to focus on efficient spending and raise the prices we have to charge new and existing association members to accommodate inflation. The Sumter Cemetery benefited greatly in 2023 from renewed interest in the cemetery with significant contributions in money and time made by community members for specific capital projects. We are hopeful this interest will remain into 2024. This money does not, however, go into our general operational budget. Donations to that cost are most welcome, and we appreciate any consideration for that part of the cemetery’s operation.