Stamp price hike could hurt fundraising groups
Organizations and charities that rely on mass mailings say the rising cost of Canada Post stamps will hurt fundraising.
Canada Post announced that as of March 31 a single stamp would cost one dollar, up from 63 cents. If purchased as a pack, stamps will cost 85 cents each.
The Crown corporation also suspended sale of permanent stamps, in advance of hiking the cost.
Iliana Ordaz-Jeffries, marketing director at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, said the change will impact the cost of many of the 40,000 season brochures it sends out.
"It's sales. It's marketing. It is my fundraising. It is donations. It's the way that we get into people's homes," said Ordaz-Jeffries.
"For any arts organization it's going to be a burden," she said.
She said GCTC would now have to cut back on direct mail to save money and consider other strategies.
"But there really aren't that many," she said.
At The Shepherds of Good Hope, the news of the price jump was also unwelcome.
To get money from donors, the not-for-profit organization mails out as many as 90,000 envelopes with prepaid postage to get donations back.
Executive director Anna Silverman expects to take a huge hit.
"We rely on donations every day to continue to do our work. So the cost of doing business for us is going to increase greatly," she said.
Silverman doesn't know yet exactly how the postage rate increases will impact the mass mailouts for Shepherds of Good Hope but she said they're preparing to adjust their budget.
"We'll have to seriously look at how we do business, and where we can find some cost savings moving forward when it comes to direct mail," she said.
People and organizations who have already purchased permanent stamps can still use them without topping up with additional postage, said Canada Post.
Canada Post announced major changes to its service Wednesday, including the phasing-out of urban home delivery over the next five years.
It will also eliminate 6,000 to 8,000 jobs across Canada in that time period.
