Talking Back: Postal Rulings

If this USPS rule is taken too literally, it could potentially exclude nonprofits from ever being able to jointly allocate their mail costs. And that could deal a severe blow to their ability to make the best use of their donors’ charitable gifts.”

Ellenor A. Kirkconnell, assistant director, Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, Washington, D.C.: “This new USPS rule flies in the face of our obligations under [accounting standards] AICPA SOP 98-2 and BBB Wise Giving Standards for Charity Accounting. Nonprofit development campaigns usually serve multiple purposes: to raise awareness, educate the public or to motivate action, for example. These multiple-purpose appeals are often the only contact a donor has with a charity and may be the sole impetus for giving. In order to allocate costs jointly among any program, fundraising and administrative expenses, the nonprofit must not include any personal information beyond the date, name and address of the recipient in the mailing — or we must mail at the first-class rates.”