Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals (OACFP)

What Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals (OACFP) does

The Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals (OACFP) is a non-profit membership association founded in 1913, serving Ontario's bereavement sector. The association represents 3,500+ individual members drawn from 400+ member organizations, spanning cemeteries, funeral establishments, crematoriums, transfer services, monument retailers, and allied service providers. OACFP functions as the established industry body for Ontario bereavement professionals, operating within the regulatory framework of the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act (FBCSA), 2002, alongside the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), and holding affiliations with the Canadian Funeral Society and the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA).

OACFP's core product offerings include the OACFP ACE (Advancing Continuing Education) online learning platform, an annual conference and trade show, a podcast series, a member portal with online learning resources, a career listings service for the bereavement sector, and advocacy representation before regulators. The technology stack is conventional web-delivered — member portal, online course delivery, podcast distribution — without disclosed proprietary AI, data, or platform differentiation. Rebranded in 2003 to include all bereavement professionals, the association has broadened its addressable member base beyond traditional cemetery-and-funeral operators.

OACFP's revenue model is membership-fee driven. Regular Members pay a base fee (C$185) plus per-disposition fees scaled to cemetery/crematorium/transfer service volume; Associate Members pay a flat C$240 fee. The association operates with a lean staff of approximately 6 employees, indicating a small-scale non-profit structure. No funding rounds, acquisitions, or material capital events are disclosed; the organization's growth posture is incremental, focused on member engagement, education programming, and conference execution.

Name

Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals (OACFP)

Legal name

Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals

Website

https://oacfp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1913

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OACFP is a 110-year-old Ontario non-profit membership association serving 400+ bereavement-sector organizations and 3,500+ individual professionals through continuing education, advocacy, an annual conference, and a member portal, funded primarily by membership dues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

North Bay

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: OACFP generates revenue primarily through membership fees from various categories including Regular Members (licensed sector establishments), Student Members, Supplier Members, and Affiliate Organization/Individual Members. Regular membership includes a base fee plus per-disposition fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

OACFP is a unified professional membership association for bereavement sector professionals in Ontario. It sells annual memberships across multiple tiers (Regular, Student, Supplier, Affiliate Organization, Affiliate Individual) and delivers education, certification, advocacy, networking, and industry resources to funeral homes, cemeteries, crematoriums, transfer services, suppliers, and consultants operating across Ontario.

Product overview

The Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals (OACFP) is a professional membership association providing a unified support network of education and resources for bereavement sector professionals. The organization operates as a unified association with multiple interconnected products and services: a membership platform with various tiers (Regular, Student, Supplier, Affiliate Organization, Affiliate Individual), the OACFP Academy of Continuing Education (ACE) for certification programs, the annual OACFP Conference for networking and professional development, the 'Common Ground: Bereavement Sector Chats' podcast for industry outreach, career listings for employment services, a member directory for networking, and advocacy services for government relations. The association serves over 3500 members from more than 400 organizations and is the only Ontario association open to all bereavement professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• OACFP Academy of Continuing Education (OACFP ACE): Extended education and certification programs in various aspects of the bereavement sector offered by OACFP.

Products and services

• OACFP Membership Program Annual membership subscriptions offered in five tiers (Regular Member, Student Member, Supplier Member, Affiliate Organization Member, Affiliate Individual Member) for licensed bereavement establishments, students, suppliers, and affiliates. Includes education access, networking, advocacy, member directory listing, and continuing education credits.
• OACFP Academy of Continuing Education (OACFP ACE) Extended education and certification programs covering Cremation Symposium, Front Line Cemetery Operator Training, Funeral & Cemetery Sales Training, Funeral Home Operations and Administration, Cemetery Administration, and Mausoleum training, with BAO-approved webinars (6+ per year).
• OACFP Annual Conference and Supplier Trade Show Annual in-person conference held in October at various locations in Ontario featuring professional speakers, current consumer trends, new maintenance techniques, modern business practices, and a supplier trade show.
• Common Ground: Bereavement Sector Chats Podcast Podcast series exploring the funeral, cremation, and cemetery services profession, featuring industry professionals and conversations about the bereavement community. Distributed via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Pocket Casts, and Castbox.
• Career Listings and Employment Services Online employment opportunity board connecting bereavement sector professionals with job openings across member organizations.
• Advocacy Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 3500 Bereavement Professional Members
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature2 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Canadian College of Funeral Service: Canadian education institution offering funeral-service and bereavement-sector training programs. Comparable to OACFP ACE's continuing-education and certification offerings; both serve the same death-care student and licensed-professional segments in Canada.
• International Cemetery and Funeral Association (ICFA): International membership association for cemetery and funeral professionals. Directly comparable membership, education, and trade-show model to OACFP, with overlapping cemetery-operator and supplier member categories across a broader (international) geography.
• Cremation Association of North America (CANA): North American membership association for cremationists and crematorium operators. Directly comparable to OACFP for its crematorium-operator member segment, with similar education, certification, and advocacy offerings—particularly as cremation's share of dispositions grows.
• Funeral Service Association of Canada (FSAC): National Canadian trade association for funeral professionals. Operates the same member-based model serving licensed funeral establishments across Canada, with overlapping membership bases (Ontario funeral homes that join both associations) and similar education, advocacy, and conference offerings.

Broad incumbents

• National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA): The largest US-based funeral director association, offering membership, education, advocacy, and an annual convention. Operates the same association model as OACFP at significantly larger scale and broader (US-wide) geography, serving a comparable licensed-professional member base.

Emerging players

• Green Burial Council: US-based organization setting standards and certifying providers in the green/alternative burial segment. Comparable membership-and-certification model to OACFP, focused on an emerging sub-segment of the bereavement sector that intersects with OACFP's cemetery-operator members.

Others

• Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO): Ontario regulator that licenses and oversees funeral establishments, cemeteries, crematoriums, and transfer services—precisely the organizations that comprise OACFP's Regular Member base. Not a competitive peer, but a defining ecosystem participant whose CE-approval function drives OACFP's training-program lock-in.
• Selected Independent Funeral Homes: International member-based network of independently owned funeral homes offering affiliation, peer networking, and educational resources. Operates a membership model comparable to OACFP, though focused on US independents and structured as a network rather than a sector-wide trade association.
• Funeral Consumers Alliance: US-based nonprofit advocating for consumer rights and affordable death care. Adjacent rather than directly competitive to OACFP—comparable in nonprofit association structure and advocacy orientation, but serving consumers rather than licensed professionals.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ontario-association-of-cemetery-and-funeral-professionals-oacfp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals (OACFP)