Nonprofits Tighten the Belt on Premiums

Perhaps because of budget constraints and more conservative direct-mail strategies, support for premium usage in the nonprofit sector continued to erode, and at a rapid pace. The calendar year of 2005 saw premium usage among nonprofit mail shrink to 12.5 percent and, among total premiums, the percentage was practically sliced in two — leveling out at a measly 8.7 percent. The next year had almost as bleak an outlook, with only 12.3 percent of nonprofit mail including a premium and 9.3 percent of total premiums coming from the nonprofit sector. All this was occurring while premium use surged in the mailstream as a whole, from representing only 11.9 percent of the total mail in 2003 to 19.3 percent in 2006.