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Nonprofits Could be Forced to Pay to Save the Postal Service

It’s difficult to find numbers that don’t contradict each other, some reports say nonprofits are doing better than expected in this uncertain economic environment while others insist it’s still rough out there, especially for organizations that rely on donations to get by. For nonprofits, it doesn’t matter how the year is going, it may soon cost more to send out those pleading donation mailers.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is looking at a 2 cent increase for first class mail, an 8% increase for periodicals (just what the doctor ordered for struggling print publications) and a 23% increase on parcels. While they have not specifically mentioned an increase in nonprofit mailer pricing, the PRC has already identified certain “underwater” mail classes, non-profit mail being one such case.


As is, authorized nonprofits get a price break of about 40% over commercial mail prices so you could see why a struggling USPS might go straight for non-profits when looking for additional revenue sources to close its $7 billion budget gap.

Overall, postal prices are expected to rise 4 – 5%, a huge jump from the legally allowed .6% the Postal Service can use to adjust for inflation. Seeing as how we supposedly haven’t experienced any inflation this year, the jump is that much more disheartening to mass mailers.

Not surprisingly, there’s a nonprofit set up to focus on postal issues around nonprofit mail and they’re all over it. Said Tony Cooper of the Washington-based Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, the USPS delivery system “is a system that’s built to handle about 300 billion pieces of mail, and they’ve got about 170 billion, and it’s set to decrease. It’s basically twice as big as it needs to be. It’s that excess capacity and costs that are creating the need in their minds to do this.” Hear that, USPS? Cut the fat before you start going after the little guys.

Adrienne Gonzalez is the founder of Jr. Deputy Accountant, a former CPA wrangler and a Going Concern contributor. You can see more of her posts here and all posts on the CPA Exam here.

Dear Nonprofits, Today Is Really Your Final 990 Deadline (No Seriously, Final)

Just in case you have been hiding under a rock for most of 2010, the big deal for nonprofits has been this whole 990 requirement and, more specifically, the fact that many still haven’t filed information returns despite every trick in the book by our friends at the IRS to get them to comply.

First they asked nicely. Then they sent out reminders. And then they went so far as to give procrastinating charities an extension on the May 15th deadline so they could get their butts in gear and start filing away. Apparently this wasn’t enough for some offenders so the Service stepped it up a notch by calling everyone out in the hopes that being publicly humiliated might do the trick. We can only hope.


We found it especially interesting to see the Cal State Sacramento Accounting Society on the list of California 990 slackers but unfortunately didn’t have the time nor energy to comb through all 1,162 pages to see who else we know on the list. 1,162! In California alone!

We did manage to skim it, finding Oakland’s “Get Legit” and “Get It Together Inc” charities hilariously ironic considering the Service is just trying to get these lazy procrastinators to get it together. Perhaps those guys need to focus efforts on their own affairs and stay out of the community until they can figure this simple little task out. Get it together!

Listen people, this is serious. Sure the IRS said it was serious months ago but we’re serious it’s serious, one need look no further than the IRS document calling these guys out to know just how serious. “Exempt Organizations At-Risk of Revocation” makes it pretty clear at this point. Now we’re not saying today’s deadline is absolutely 100% but we’re pretty sure the Service is done playing around while nonprofits figure this out.

Want another good laugh? The American Tax Reform Committee, American Tax Reform Foundation and the American Taxpayers Alliance (all DC-based) must have been so busy trying to hook us up on some tax reform that they forgot to do some important interacting with their favorite agency. Whoopsie.

Even funnier, apparently the DC Internal Revenue Agents Association and Internal Revenue Service Employees Beneficial Association must have missed out on the memo as they are on the 990 slacker list too. Shock that.

P.S. – Internal Revenue Service Bowling League of Dallas, you guys are on the list too. Put down the ball and get on it instead, you of all people should have been the first ones with your 990s ready to go! Let’s not forget the IRS Employees Association of the District Direct in NY, Internal Revenue Service Employees Fund of Des Moines and Internal Revenue Service Employees Association of Wilmington, you guys have some ‘splainin to do.