October 24, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
Charities are protesting Congressional plans to gradually phase out the discounts they receive for mail appeals and other materials.
Today nonprofits pay 26 percent less, on average, than businesses to send direct-mail solicitations and other communications to supporters. Those mailings are important for many big groups; while electronic appeals have taken off in recent years, few large nonprofits have found anything as effective for fund raising as direct mail.
In the summer, Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, introduced a bill that would gradually eliminate the discount charities receive.
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, last month proposed similar legislation.
Both lawmakers are concerned about huge deficits faced by the Postal Service, which lost $10-billion last year.
Charles D. Connor, chief executive of the American Lung Association, sent a letter of protest to Mr. Issa, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The lung association raises $31-million a year from direct mail and says it now spends $6.3-million on postage.
On Thursday, Special Olympics, which raised some $35-million from direct mail last year, also sent a protest letter to Mr. Issa.
“There is an assumption within the committee that nonprofits can … simply move all of our fund raising to online channels,” wrote J. Brady Lum, the charity’s president. “This assumption is startling. … Be assured that if online fund raising were as successful as direct mail, with a substantially lower cost, it would not take a spike in postage rates for us to change our investment strategies.”
