WHO GETS THE SCHOLARSHIP MONEY: THE TRUST SELECTED'S DEAL WOULD DISSOLVE HAS NO PUBLIC PLAN

The merger documents order a charity dissolved, and so far nobody will say on the record where its money lands.

The charity is the Selected Independent Funeral Homes Educational Trust, an unincorporated trust under Illinois law that pays for funeral education. It funds more than 200 named memorial scholarship funds listed on its website, from $500 state-level awards to full tuition for Selected's Leadership Academy, plus second-career scholarships for people moving into funeral service from other professions.

The letter of intent between Selected and the National Funeral Directors Association, effective July 15 and made available to members September 22, contains a single sentence on the Trust's future. It says the Corporation intends that, upon approval of the Illinois Attorney General, the Educational Trust "shall be dissolved according to its terms and its assets distributed to Funeral Service Foundation, Inc., a Wisconsin nonstock corporation exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code."

That is the whole of the public plan. Who asked the Funeral Service Foundation, whether it wants the money, what happens to the named funds, and whether Illinois has signed off are all questions without public answers, two weeks before an Akron judge hears whether the merger vote itself was lawful.

THE TRUST MEMBERS CANNOT GOVERN

The Trust came up during the member revolt that produced the sworn complaint now freezing the merger vote (CV 2026-10-4317, Summit County Court of Common Pleas).

The members' September 15 demand letter, quoted in the complaint, told the board exactly what it owed members before any vote on the Trust's dissolution: a full accounting of the Trust's assets, the legal basis and terms for the dissolution, the status of any required Illinois Attorney General approval, and an explanation of how sending the assets to the Funeral Service Foundation serves members' interests.

The complaint's accounting of what came back lists the Trust under items members have not received answers on. The board's September 28 member update, sent with the association's audit, described the Educational Trust as a separate entity over which members have no governance rights. The board declined the members' records demands.

The board's position and the members' position fit together into one sentence: members are being asked to dissolve their association and hand its assets to NFDA, while the trust that carries the association's name and pays for its members' education is, in the board's telling, none of their business.

THE RECEIVER HAS TIES TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DEAL

The Funeral Service Foundation is not a neutral bystander that happened to appear in a merger document.

The Foundation, based in Wisconsin and founded in 1945, describes itself on its own website as having been "recognized as the charitable arm of the National Funeral Directors Association" since 1997. NFDA, the association receiving Selected's assets under the same letter of intent, is the Foundation's parent in practice and in the Foundation's own framing.

There is also a precedent, and it comes from NFDA's own CEO. Christine Pepper told Obitley in September that the National Foundation of Funeral Service, an older funeral charity, came to NFDA saying it was struggling, and that NFDA's board "took that very seriously and decided to merge the funds" into the Funeral Service Foundation. That is the one prior migration of funeral-scholarship money into the Foundation on the record, and NFDA describes it as a rescue it chose to accept.

NFDA's own merger FAQ, updated September 24, confirms there is no plan yet for a repeat. It says the Trust "would not be able to continue operating separately" if the deal closes, that "specific details are still to be determined," and that "it is expected that the Funeral Service Foundation may be able to fold in these programs into their charitable offerings."

So the associations agree on the outcome, dissolve the Trust, and describe the landing spot as an expectation. Two weeks before a court hearing, that is the entire public record: a required Illinois approval nobody has verified, and a hope expressed in the passive voice.

THE PAYCHECKS NEXT DOOR

The Trust question sits next to another set of unanswered money questions the members put under oath.

The complaint's demand list includes any future compensation or job arrangements for Selected's leadership in the combined organization. The board's response, per the complaint, declined to provide compensation records. Selected's executive director, Rob Paterkiewicz, told members in a September communication that he would remain executive director through the end of 2027, and Obitley previously reported his contract runs through at least Dec. 31, 2027.

The members' filing characterizes those answers as withheld. What the arrangements actually are remains unknown; what is on the record is that the board was asked, and declined to say.

“"The Corporation intends that, upon approval of the Illinois Attorney General, the Selected Independent Funeral Homes Educational Trust... shall be dissolved according to its terms and its assets distributed to Funeral Service Foundation, Inc."”

Source: Letter of intent between Selected and NFDA, effective July 15, 2026, quoted in the sworn complaint, CV 2026-10-4317.

WHAT ILLINOIS HAS TO DO WITH IT

The Trust is governed by Illinois law, which is why a Wisconsin foundation needs a sign-off from the Illinois Attorney General before the assets move. Charitable trusts in Illinois dissolve under the supervision of the attorney general's office, and the letter of intent itself makes that approval a condition of the transfer.

Whether that approval has been sought, filed, or granted is not publicly recorded anywhere Obitley could find. The Illinois AG's charitable trust bureau publishes no filing in the matter. Selected has not said. The members asked and were told the question would not be answered.

Obitley sent written questions about the Trust to all three organizations on October 9: NFDA through communications director Jessica Koth, Selected through its headquarters media contact, and the Funeral Service Foundation through its executive director, Jedd Lapid. Each has until end of business October 15 to answer. Any responses will be added to this article in full.

WHY OCT. 23 MATTERS FOR A CHARITY

The judge's temporary restraining order already requires 30 days of disclosures before any new merger vote. The members' complaint puts the Trust's accounting in the middle of those required disclosures. If the court grants the preliminary injunction at the October 23 hearing in Akron, the board will owe members answers about the Trust, its assets, and Illinois that it has so far declined to give.

The scholarship money is small next to the merger itself. It is also the only part of this deal backed by the names of individual people, most of them memorial funds for funeral directors their families wanted remembered. Those are the names with no public plan attached.

*Sources: Letter of intent between Selected Independent Funeral Homes and NFDA, effective July 15, 2026, made available to members September 22, 2026, Section f as quoted in the sworn complaint; verified complaint, Billow Co., et al. v. Selected Independent Funeral Homes, CV 2026-10-4317, Summit County Court of Common Pleas, filed October 5, 2026 (demand letter excerpts, Item 6, board response accounting, board September 28 member update exhibit); NFDA "Better Together" merger FAQ, reviewed September 24, 2026 (Trust passage); selectedtrust.org scholarship listings, reviewed October 9, 2026; funeralservicefoundation.org About and Team pages, reviewed October 9, 2026; Pepper interview archived by Obitley, September 2026; NFDA bylaws vote news release, October 9, 2026; Obitley prior reporting: selected-loi-released-shutter-clause, selected-tro-freezes-merger-vote, selected-ceo-simple-majority-revelation.*