The cryonic suspension fee minimum of $28,000 (Option One) or $35,000 (Option Two) pays for the perfusion, cool down and storage of a patient in the Detroit, Michigan area. The $28,000 or $35,000 does not include the services of a funeral director outside of the Detroit area nor for shipping costs to Detroit. A person living in California, for example, should allocate up to $5,000 in additional funding (bringing the sum to $33,000 Option One, $40,000 Option Two). This is for the Local Help Rider of the Cryonic Suspension Agreement if Members wish to make these payments through insurance. Otherwise, funeral service costs & shipping must be paid for by relatives or friends of the Patient unless they have been prepaid and by the Patient to the funeral director.

The Local Help Rider is an agreement for the Cryonics Institute to use money above the minimum (above $28,000 or $35,000) to pay for shipping and preparation by a remote funeral director. Minimum funding is risky and ill-advised. Funding well above the minimum also allows Members to pay for more expensive cryopreservation technologies should these become available in the future -- or should cryopreservation prices increase for some reason.

The NonSuspension Rider of the Cryonic Suspension Agreement specifies what is to be done with the Suspension Fee money if cryopreservation cannot be accomplished (as, for example, would happen if a Member died in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and no human remains were found). Returning money to the estate may benefit relatives, whereas giving money to CI would benefit the cause of cryonics. Leaving the money to CI, whatever happens, may also prevent relatives from trying to block a cryopreservation for their own financial benefit.

Members are required to send CI verification of insurance or other funding at least once per year. CI will act immediately to cryopreserve a Member whose funding has been verified within the past year. Members experiencing a cryonics emergency on a weekend who have not verified funding within the past year may have to wait for funding verification before receiving cryonics services -- thus risking being straight-frozen rather than perfused. The yearly verification process can be avoided by making CI the owner of the insurance policy. CI will return ownership to any Member who decides to reclaim ownership.

The Foreign Funds Rider is for use by CI Members living outside the United States. The purpose of the Foreign Funds Rider is to protect both the Member and CI against large drops in the value of a foreign currency against the US Dollar. Funding in the foreign currency should be high enough to assure both the Member and CI that if the foreign currency drops in value, then the drop is unlikely to be large enough to reduce the Member funding levels below an amount required to pay the minimum costs ($28,000 Option One, $35,000 Option Two) plus funeral director and shipping charges.

Pet storage can be done by Option One CI Members or by Option Two Members who have paid a full year’s dues. The cost of storing a cat is $5,800. A cat-sized dog (15 pounds or less) will cost $5,800. The cost of storing a dog increases at the rate of $150 per pound up to a maximum of $28,000. Shipping costs must be paid-for by the Member. Storage costs for pets other than cats and dogs are negotiated on an ad hoc basis.

Every CI Member has the privilege of storing up to two inches of folder space (which must include all of the sign-up paperwork) in the Member or Patient filing cabinets at the CI facility (room enough for some CDs or a collection of photographs). Full file folder drawers for personal perpetual storage can be purchased at $1,000 per drawer.

Like donations to the Research Fund, bequests to the Cryonics Institute are a means of not only increasing the probability of success of the cryopreservation of an individual Member, but of benevolently contributing to the probable success of all CI Members. By remembering the Cryonics Institute in a Will or highly overfunded life insurance policy, Members help make CI stronger -- more capable of coping with future political, economic or legal challenges, more capable of attracting new Members and more capable of investing in new storage, perfusion, cool down and reanimation technologies.

Subscriptions to THE IMMORTALIST are $25 per year in the United States, $30 per year in Canada or Mexico. Air-mail to Europe, South America is $52 per year. Air mail to Australia or Asia is $62 per year. Full membership in the Immortalist Society requires dues of $75, which includes air mail delivery of THE IMMORTALIST anywhere in the world.. Check or money-order can be sent to The Immortalist Society; 24355 Sorrentino Court; Clinton Township, MI 48035 USA or payment can be made by PayPal to immsoc@aol.com or by phoning (586) 791-5961 and giving a credit card number -- Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

The same payment methods to The Immortalist Society can also be used to make a donation to the Research Fund. The Research Fund pays for the cryonics research being conducted by the Cryonics Institute's in-house cryobiologist Dr. Yuri Pichugin, who is developing means to reduce or eliminate ice formation (freezing damage) during the cryopreservation process.

The Immortalist Society is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, which means that money donated to The Immortalist Society for the Research Fund can be deducted from income tax in the United States. Regular monthly payments can be made to the Research Fund by automatic pre-authorized deductions from PayPal or from a Visa, MasterCard or American Express card. Phone (586) 791-5961 to pre-authorize monthly deductions for the Cryonics Institute Research Fund.