The confraternity always made its members contribute. One-off membership and annual fees, alms collected and other forms of income were used for a variety of purposes: purchases of freedom from slavery, festivals, religious obligations, payments for masses, charity, clothing. In the case of Boa Morte, whose members were relatively poor and almost all elderly—from 50 to 70 years old—the funds raised during members' lifetimes were always meant to pay for a decent funeral, whose preparations, given the dual religious activities of its members, required both rigor and understanding, besides being a nest-egg for the burial. Funds also paid for burial plots for individual members because most cemeteries restricted black burials in white cemeteries. The sisters also typically set aside some small amount of funds for the family of the deceased.
