Postage Rates Make a Record Jump
Follow these strategies to contain your mailing costs
Communicating in print works, but it isn’t cheap. And this past July, it got more expensive to engage your donors through the mail.
The cost of Forever Stamps jumped from 68 cents to 73 cents! And nonprofit mail rates edged a bit higher, too.
It’s all part of the U.S. Postal Service’s 10-year strategic plan called Delivering for America. The main goal is to create a financially stable Postal Service. But with mail volume plummeting, what’s Postmaster General to do? You got it … raise rates!
You can’t control USPS and most nonprofits should not stop fundraising by mail. But you can take steps to wisely control your costs:
1. Make sure your USPS Nonprofit Authorization is in place and up-to-date.
Securing your NPA is the first step to ensuring you’ll receive the lowest postage rate possible. Don’t have your NPA yet? It’s free, but the USPS doesn't make it easy to obtain. But Abeja’s got you covered with this NPA Guide. If you’ve renamed your nonprofit or moved recently, you’ll need to update that information with USPS to get the discount.
2. Clean your data.
Data is one of your nonprofit’s most valuable assets. Experienced fundraisers obsess about cleaning up errors in their databases and making sure donor names, addresses, and emails are updated. They manage data well because every undelivered donation letter is wasted money — and a missed opportunity to steward a donor. And don’t be afraid to be ruthless: Does every person in your database really need your letters? Summer is a great time to work on this project so you’re ready for year-end mailers. Here’s our step-by-step guide to clean your data.
3. Use data services.
Printing is a volume business with discounts at higher quantities. It’s counterintuitive, but by adding names to your mailing list, you could cut your printing costs, cover your increased postage bill, and bring in more revenue for your nonprofit. One common data service that can help is a reverse email append. It adds mail addresses to email-only contacts in your database. Think event attendees, volunteers, and pet adopters. And it’s cheap to run. Email us for details.
4. Choose paper stock and mailing formats wisely and early in your process.
The USPS is big on automation. That means the easier your mailing pieces move through their machines, the lower your postage cost will be. That standard, rectangular #10 envelope is your best friend for appeal letters. Remember to keep your mailers light and flexible so you don’t have to use the dreaded non-machinable butterfly stamp. Here’s Abeja’s guide to Choosing the Right Mailing Options.
5. Plan your year-end appeal season now.
Don’t get caught in a fall frenzy, especially in an election year. Where is your organization in its lifecycle? Still young with a small donor base? Then perhaps doing your donation letter in-house makes sense. Or has your donor base grown over the years? Then outsourcing will save you time and potentially money, too. Measure your goals against your costs: time, material, and your energy. Do the math with our Ultimate Giving Season Budget Planner Guide.
There’s an old saying that “You can’t fight city hall.” Another wise person said, “You can’t control what the Postmaster General is going to charge to send your mail.” Might have been Mark Twain. Or T-Swift.
But you do have the power to contain your printing and mailing costs. And you won’t even have to dragon hoard Forever Stamps to do it.
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