Postage rates set to drop this month

• Date: 01 April 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30174
• Published date: 01 April 2016

APRIL 2016

3

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

these big societal problems in effective and efcient

ways.” Start-ups often offer new approaches to

an issue, and are typically led by young, entrepre-

neurial-minded individuals who are willing to try

unorthodox strategies that would never get the go-

ahead in the largest, more established organizations.

• An interest in charities and charity start-ups

that are actively using technology to solve problems.

This should come as no surprise, considering the

outsized role that tech has played in millennials’

upbringing. They favor organizations that nd

innovative ways to leverage new technology to ad-

dress social ills, whether that’s developing smart-

phone apps that help rural craftsmen buy and sell

goods in a global marketplace, or creating new ways

to educate students through “virtual classrooms”

staffed with teachers located half a world away.

But even less ashy ways to improve operations

through technology earn praise and support, Tripp

said.

“Nearly all nonprofits could improve upon

their systems in one way or another,” Tripp said,

whether it’s accounting or human resources or

facilities management. “The biggest way may be

using technology to make advances in ways to give

to charity—making it easy for people to give on a

moment’s notice when the impulse hits.”

• A keen interest in charities that speak to millen-

nials in language and imagery that they nd compel-

ling. For prior generations, Tripp said, imagery that

aimed straight for the heart—think, for example,

of an emaciated child shown in a commercial for a

hunger relief organization—was effective at spur-

ring donors to action. With millennials, that won’t

y, Tripp said.

“Millennials have a big B.S. lter,” Tripp said.

“They want communications that are straightfor-

ward, authentic and hopeful that change is possible.

Don’t try to pull on their heartstrings. They don’t

want you to make them cry … they want you to

inspire them.”

For more information

Meg Fowler Tripp is director of editorial strategy at Sametz

Blackstone Associates, a Boston-based branding rm that

provides communications counsel to leading corporate,

cultural, academic, professional service and life science

organizations—to help them to better navigate change.

For more information, visit http://www.sametz.com. ■

Nonprofits are set to see some savings on

postage thanks to the expiration of an “exigent

surcharge” that will force the U.S. Postal Service

to lower its rates sometime this month, likely on

or about April 10.

Postal service prices for mailing services are

capped by law at the rate of ination as measured by

the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers.

However, the law does allow for exigent pricing—

that is, prices above the CPI-U cap—due to ex-

traordinary or exceptional circumstances. That

was the case when the USPS sought and received

approval for the current exigent pricing, citing the

severe effects of the Great Recession on USPS

mail volume.

However, the PRC strictly limited the period of

time that the USPS could continue to collect the

exigent surcharge. Specically, the PRC required

the 4.3 percent exigent surcharge to be reversed

after the USPS has collected surcharges totaling

$4.6 billion—an amount the USPS expects to

reach by April 10th.

Absent Congressional or court action to ex-

tend or make the surcharge permanent—which

seemed highly unlikely at press time—the USPS

will be required to eliminate the surcharge and

reduce certain prices on that date. The surcharge

removal means these First-Class Mail prices will

be adjusted to the following:

• Letters 49 cents 47 cents

• Letters additional ounces 22 cents 21 cents

• Letters to all international

destinations $1.20 $1.15

• Postcards 35 cents 34 cents

Prices for commercial and bulk mail will also

decrease, offering potentially sizeable savings for

charities that rely heavily on direct mailings for

fundraising and donor relations and outreach.

A complete listing of the new prices is available

on the USPS website at http://www.usps.com. ■

Postage rates set to drop this month