Fundraisers Must Protect Nonprofit Mail Discounts, Charitable Tax Breaks

During the Nonprofit Organization of the Year Award Luncheon at the 2011 New York Nonprofit Conference last Wednesday, the talk prior to the Human Rights Campaign accepting the honor centered around the measures to eliminate nonprofit mail discounts and restrict charitable deductions.

As you know, Rep. Darrell Issa proposed a bill to reduce the current 40 percent USPS discount that nonprofits have been getting since 1951 by 5 percent a year for six years, until the discount is at just 10 percent. While it is certainly true that the USPS needs to find a way to stop its financial bleeding, this proposal could cripple direct-mail fundraising as we know it.