Find a Grave - The Extra Things You Can Do at Find A Grave

Once you have entered a memorial, asked for changes and additions, received a memorial transfer or set up your virtual cemetery, what is left to do? Plenty!

Request a photo - Once you enter a memorial on Find A Grave or locate one of your ancestors memorials without a headstone photo,  you may request a photo be taken.  Just go to the memorial and click on the "Request A Photo" button.  This will take you to a new screen where you can add additional information for the photo volunteer such as location in cemetery.  Then click the "Submit Photo Request" button.  The email will go out to all the volunteers in the area.  It is always to good idea to contact the cemetery office ahead of time to determine the grave's location.  Many cemeteries will only provide that information to a relative and not a photo volunteer.


Virtual Flowers - When you enter a memorial or find one of your ancestors you may leave a virtual flower for them along with a brief note.  Go to the memorial to which you wish to add flowers.  There is a box on the right side that says "Leave Flowers and a Note for this Person".  Click on that box and follow the instructions to leave your flower.  You must be a Find A Grave member in order to leave flowers and notes.
I always state my relationship in the notes section.  Taking this step has helped me connect with living relatives who visit the same memorial.

Sponsor a Memorial - Sponsoring a memorial page costs only $5.00 and will remove those annoying ads.  It also allows you to add more than 5 photos to the memorial.  To sponsor any non-famous memorial just click on the sponsorship link at the top of the memorial page.  Fill out the secure form and you are done!  If you are not the memorial manager, they will receive an email that you have sponsored their memorial.  This does not mean that you are now the memorial manager although most memorial managers, when they receive this email, do transfer to you.

Volunteering for Find A Grave - Because Find A Grave members have been so helpful to me by posting memorials of my ancestors, I feel moved to give back.  You can become a Find A Grave photo volunteer in your area.  Just log in to your account, go to your Contributor Profile page and click on the "Edit My Profile" link in the top right corner.  From here you can enter your zip code and choose to be a photo volunteer in your area. Remember that there may be many volunteers in your zip code and all of you will receive the same email request when it comes through.  If you are willing to take the photo you need to "claim it".  You then have 14 days to upload the photo before it goes back into the system as "unclaimed".  Note:  Find A Grave does not allow volunteers to charge money for their service.

There are so many facets of Find A Grave that I still haven't covered.  My #1 suggestion to anyone new to the site is to read through the FAQ's.  They are quite extensive but will cover any question you may have!  Just follow this link to access the page.