Proposed postal rate structure could lead to big jump in nonprofit mailing costs

• Date: 01 February 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30410
• Published date: 01 February 2018

FEBRUARY 2018 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

3

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

resources goes into selecting recipient organizations

that are on the up-and-up.

“It’s just too hard to have every possible nonprot

sufciently vetted,” she said.

The same issue crops up with matching gift pro-

grams, McDanels said. According to the survey,

about 40 percent of companies offer matching gifts,

but the inherent limits to such programs—namely,

determining who is included on the list of charities

eligible to receive matches—can make them less at-

tractive for workers who have specic organizations

they would like to donate to.

Eventually, these trends will result in nonprots

seeing fewer donations from some long-established

programs that are losing favor among American

workers.

For more information

Maryann Fiala is the communications and marketing

director at the Association of Corporate Contributions

Professionals. Caitlin McDanels is the ACCP’s marketing

technology and communications manager. The mission

of the ACCP is to empower corporate citizenship leaders

to improve the world and strengthen their companies. For

more information, contact Fiala at maryann@accprof.

org or McDanels at caitlin@accprof.org. ■

Proposed postal rate structure could lead to big jump in nonprot

mailing costs

The Postal Regulatory Commission has an-

nounced a proposal that would revise the Post

Ofce’s current pricing system so that it meets the

regulatory requirements of a law passed in 2006 that

aims to get the agency’s scal house in order. For

nonprots—and anyone else that regularly sends

large amounts of mail—the proposed changes could

mean steep price increases and, potentially, a mass

exodus from the government’s postal service.

As laid out in a 200-page proposal, the PRC

is calling for across-the-board rate increases of 2

percent above the Consumer Price Index, a com-

mon gauge of ination. There would also be an ad-

ditional 1 percent fee imposed, based upon certain

performance benchmarks, and another 2 percent

fee for products that are not fully covering their

attributable costs—the most likely of which are

periodicals and marketing mail ats.

Taken together, the proposed fee structure could

result in mailing costs rising 30 percent to 40 percent

over the next ve years.

According to the Alliance of Nonprot Mailers,

which is tracking the proposal closely, a price jump

that big would lead many charities to consider other

options for delivering their brochures, solicitations

and other communications to current and potential

donors.

“In a world where most business and nonprot

costs and revenues are limited to less than the Con-

sumer Price Index, the concept that they will stay in

the U.S. Mail with these kinds of increases, to any

degree close to current volumes, is a non-starter,” the

group wrote in an analysis of the proposal posted

on its website.

The alliance also noted that there seems to be little

support for the proposal, even from the PRC itself.

When the plan was announced, only PRC Chairman

Robert Taub was present. The remaining members

all issued press statements indicating hope that al-

ternatives might be put forth from impacted postal

services users during the public comment period.

And, the alliance said, legal challenges are likely

in any case.

“Finally, everyone involved seems to agree that

one or more parties is likely to appeal any PRC de-

cision in federal court. So, the process of deciding

the future pricing regulation of USPS is likely to

stretch on and on,” the alliance said.

For more information, visit http://www.

nonprotmailers.org. ■

Check out our improved

NBA website

Our secure website, www.nonprotbusiness

advisor.com, provides subscribers with access

to all of our Nonprot Business Advisor content

online—including additional content not pub-

lished in each issue—at no additional charge.

Access it for a quick and easy way to

locate news affecting nonprots, business

strategies, best practices and tools to help

your organization make an impact and meet

its mission.

Contact cs-journals@wiley.com

for more information.