September 16, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
Washington
The U.S. Postal Service last week issued a new regulation that allows charities to use low-cost postage rates to send some types of solicitations encouraging supporters to buy insurance.
The Postal Service previously said such mailings had little to do with organizations’ charitable missions and should be subject to commercial postage rates.
Now, however, insurance offers can be mailed at nonprofit rates if a charity itself underwrites the insurance policy or if the insurance coverage, as the Postal Service stated, “is provided or promoted by the nonprofit organization to its members, donors, supporters, or beneficiaries in such a way that those parties may make tax-deductible donations to the organization.”
Lobbyists who represent nonprofit organizations said that means charities can now use nonprofit rates on insurance offers that encourage recipients to purchase life insurance and name the charity as a sole or partial beneficiary or use their insurance dividends to make a gift.
The new rule came after a lawsuit by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which said it deserved to send its insurance mailings at nonprofit rates.
A court agreed with the organization, so the Postal Service made changes in its policies.
The new rule on insurance mailings was published in the September 7 issue of the Federal Register and posted online at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html.
