The results of a Postal Rate Commission (PRC) study on nonprofit postage are in. And the Nonprofit Mailers Federation (NMF), a Washington, D.C.-based lobby representing some 600 churches and charities, has voiced disapproval.
The federation is bothered primarily by proposed restrictions on organizations now receiving a subsidy for fund-raising and educational mailings. If Congress adopts the PRC’s proposals, organizations offering a premium in return for a contribution would lose nonprofit mailing privileges.
Specifically, the PRC recommends that parachurch organizations pay the commercial third-class rate if premiums offered are not manufactured by the organization. This would work against groups that send books, records, tapes, and other items to donors. “We’re talking about a huge amount of money that will be lost forever in Washington’s bureaucratic maze instead of going into ministry projects,” said Carolyn Emigh, NMF’s chief economist.
Opponents of preferred rates for religious and charitable groups maintain the government should not subsidize sectarian causes. At a PRC public hearing last spring, John Stapert, postal liaison for the major Protestant press groups, listed publications or mailings serving as “vehicles for news and information,” or for “morally and ethically enhancing articles” among the proper beneficiaries of preferred rates. But he added he opposes preferred rates “for commercial purposes or for mailing promotional materials for insurance, travel, or some product.”
Emigh emphasized the role of churches and charitable groups in “promoting the well-being of … society as a whole without regard to a profit motive.” She said the postal service should not be allowed to rob “America’s Good Samaritans to finance its own inefficiencies.”
By Brian Bird.
