Home

Ask Evelyn

Nonprofit Postal Privileges for U.S. Chapters

By Evelyn McCamey, STC Community Relations Manager

Small chapters will probably send newsletters by first-class mail. As the chapter grows, you might wish to investigate the savings by mailing at nonprofit postal rates. To be eligible to use bulk mail and nonprofit postal privileges, you need to mail at least 200 copies of your chapter newsletter.

 

Requesting Nonprofit Postal Rates

Get Form 3624 from your local post office and complete it. You may also find this form online at the United States Post Office Web site. Return the form to the post office along with samples of your newsletter. Please allow at least thirty days for processing.

Additional support documentation to include with your Form 3624 is as follows:

  1. Proof that the organization is a nonprofit and exempt from paying federal income tax. That information is detailed below in Proving Tax Exempt Status.
  2. Documents that describe the organization’s primary purpose. A copy of the Society’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws (Society Bylaws, not chapter bylaws) will suffice.

Get Form 3615 from your local post office and complete it. You may also find this form online at the United States Post Office Web site. This is the form for requesting a permit for precancelled stamps to use when mailing your newsletters. You can use precancelled stamps for presorted first-class, presorted standard, and nonprofit standard mail.

  • Buy coils of 500, 3,000, or 10,000 stamps at the post office where you have your permit. Remember, you can’t return unused stamps. Affix precancelled stamps just like regular stamps. Some letter shops and presorted bureaus have machines that apply precancelled stamps to mail pieces.
  • Place precancelled stamps in the upper right corner of the mail piece. If you’re using precancelled stamps on a flat or non-letter, then the stamp goes to the upper right of the delivery address.

Proving Tax Exempt Status

To prove your tax exempt status, you will need:

  1. STC’s IRS identification number.
  2. Your chapter’s IRS identification number (EIN). Each chapter has its own EIN on file at the Society office.
  3. The letter from the IRS stating tax-exempt status.

If you do not already have this information in your chapter financial records, I encourage you to request it from the Society office. Please contact me if you would like to request this information or if you have any questions.