January 24, 2017

It’s all about mail supporting good causes

Here at the Alliance, we like to remind ourselves often of our main purpose: helping nonprofits achieve critical missions. We also know that our readers are already bombarded with too much information, so we try to share important messages without overloading our members and supporters.

Today we share two great articles that illustrate important points. The first describes how critical postal mail is to a small, but very important nonprofit—the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department in Arlington, VA. If you live or work or have family in the CVFD service area, they mean a lot to you. You want them to have outstanding volunteer staffing and state-of-the-art equipment. As a nonprofit, that means annual fundraising. Like many nonprofits, CVFD relies on mail to raise the majority of its operating budget.

The rest of the story is about how mail can be more or less time-consuming and more or less effective. Fortunately, there is an excellent “mailing industry” that assists nonprofits, large and small, in getting the most they can out of mail. In this case, Click2Mail helped the CVFD improve and optimize their most important fundraising tool. And they incorporated enhancements that the United Stated Postal Service has been promoting recently—Every Door Direct Mail and QR codes. The result was increased support for the volunteers at a lower cost to the CVFD.

The second article we are sharing today illustrates a longstanding collaboration between nonprofits to ensure that mail continues to be their most effective fundraiser. The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers has helped represent nonprofits who rely on mail for over 35 years. In this case, a landmark review of the pricing regulation of the USPS agency that holds a monopoly on mail delivery has begun. At stake is the possibility of changes to the regulatory system that was put in place ten years ago, with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.

The Alliance, along with MPA—The Association of Magazine Media, filed two motions last week that are designed to enhance the process that the Postal Regulatory Commission will use to review the current system. The NonProfit Times article gives a great explanation of these motions.

But do not lose the larger point in the technicalities. How this review plays out will either continue the ability of many nonprofits to generate most of their funding through mail, or greatly reduce it.

We want nonprofit mailers to know that the Alliance is on the case for you, and also that we will ask you to participate directly a bit later in the process.

Click2Mail Helps Historic Virginia Volunteer Fire Department Mobilize Donors with a Modernized Mail Strategy 

It’s Benjamin Franklin’s 310^th birthday—and did you know that America’s first national postmaster also created America’s first volunteer fire department? 

Arlington, VA — January 17, 2017 – Like most volunteer fire departments, the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department in Arlington, VA, depends on local donations to provide support services to Arlington County Fire Department and keep facilities and equipment up to date as they receive no funding from the tax base. But Cherrydale has an additional challenge – the station, built in 1919, has been designated an historic landmark so a reliable flow of donations is essential.

For the 2016/2017 fundraising season, Cherrydale modernized its approach with the help of local experts at Click2Mail.com who agreed to volunteer their direct mail expertise to the cause of those who have served a community that includes the Pentagon for over a century. Cherrydale VFD paired personalized direct mail – a proven fundraising tool – with a modern-day twist — Every Door Direct Mail and QR codes that can be scanned with a mobile phone to connect givers instantly to a donation page. Compelling mailpieces reminded the station’s entire neighborhood about all that Cherrydale VFD does in the community in addition, of course, to fighting fires and supporting career firefighters in the area. The response has been outstanding!

“We did less work, spent cents-per-letter, and got more responses,” says Bo Pryor, a long-time member of the station. “You load your letter into Click2Mail’s online system and everything is printed, processed, and mailed automatically. But most important, the new approach has grown our community of supporters and increased the amount of funds we’ve raised.”

“For the last decade, the CVFD has relied on its annual fundraising letter for the majority of its operating budget. They printed letters, stuffed envelops, applied postage, and lugged boxes of letters to the Post Office,” explains Lee Garvey, President of Click2Mail–“not the best use of a firefighter’s time.” He added, “Benjamin Franklin might appreciate the collaboration, since not only was he was America’s first postmaster, he also created America’s first volunteer fire department.”

Cherrydale is an important part of its community. It plans a number of annual events: a coat drive, a Santa visit, open house during Fire Safety Week in October, and general safety events. The station comprises members who are cross-trained as both firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Volunteers provide support to the career Arlington County Fire Departments with personnel, resources and apparatus.

About Click2Mail

Click2Mail (C2M) is the nation’s most comprehensive digital-to-print mailing service — a unique platform that has redefined the way organizations large and small create physical mail for business and marketing.  Whether the need is to send a ten-page Certified letter with a Return Receipt, 500 simple postcards, or tens of thousands of direct mail flyers to targeted lists, C2M puts everything you need in a browser window – on any device. What that means for customers is: no printing, no postage meters, no permits, no subscription fees and, best of all, no trips to the post office.  C2M, founded in 2003, has disrupted the traditional mailroom model to provide affordable cloud-based, just-in-time mailing services that would otherwise be difficult and costly. Now any size organization – large or small – can make sending postal mail as easy as email. For more information, visit www.click2mail.com or call our U.S.-based customer service team 866-665-2787, M-F, 9 a.m.- 8p.m. EST

Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department volunteers

Nonprofit Mailers Seek More Data From Postal Service

JANUARY 19, 2017       MARK HRYWNA

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers (ANM) has asked the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to request more information from the United States Postal Service (USPS) and also to change the procedures for its 10-year regulatory review of the rate-making system.

ANM, along with the MPA – The Association of Magazine Media, filed a motion yesterday with the PRC.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 requires the PRC to review the current rate system 10 years later to determine whether it’s achieving the objectives established by Congress. The PRC announced its review on Dec. 20.

ANM Executive Director Stephen Kearney said the PRC promised a two-stage process, first to determine whether the current system is adequately meeting objectives. Only after making that determination should the PRC consider how to change the system, he said, such as whether to change the Consumer Price Index (CPI) cap. “In their order for Stage 1, the PRC threw in a request for Stage 2 comments on how to change the system; that is premature,” Kearney said.

The alliance also requested more data, including estimates and calculations of the USPS’ actuarial liabilities, real estate valuations, and scorecard performance metrics of the Flats Sequencing System (FSS). Such information, Kearney said, would help everyone comment more intelligently to the PRC questions about how well the objectives are being met.

“We also think the regulator would be able to do its best job if it allowed all parties to file reply comments after the initial comments are published,” he said. Public comments are due March 20.

If the PRC finds that the objectives are not being met, it has the authority to either propose rules that change the system or adopt an alternative system to achieve them.

“This is a critical process for all nonprofits that rely on USPS mail to raise funds and distribute information,” Kearney said.

The PRC’s review will include evaluating all aspects of the ratemaking system, including:

• Annual limitation on the percentage changes in rates;
• Schedule for rate changes;
• 45-day notice before implementation of rate adjustments;
• Expedited rate changes due to extraordinary circumstances;
• Class level application of the annual limitation;
• Rounding of rates and fees;
• Use of unused rate authority; and,
• Worksharing discounts.

© The NonProfit Times