Save on Postage by Mailing Less

To the Editor:

Along with being an active community member in Berkeley, I am also the family bookkeeper; I sort our mail and decide (most of the time) to whom we make charitable donations.

I have something to say about how charities can save postage costs (“First-Class Struggle for Charities,” March 21).

Sometimes my charitable donations feel more like irritable donations — and you know why. I support ecological responsibility and am simply outraged by the number of solicitations we receive and the tons of newsprint that I am forced to recycle. It is not simply the matter of the sale of lists among organizations, but also the rate at which one receives donation inquiries from groups that one does support.

This year, with certain key cases, I decided to give early in the year, hoping to stem the tide. I am trying to make it clear that my charities will get less money next year if they fail to realize that the annual membership is already in the bank. So far, I have not had much success. In brief, there seems to be no connection between the accounting department and the solicitations section. Keeping up a steady stream of “agony” letters (four a year seems normal for most groups) is surely no way to make giving enjoyable.

At a small Berkeley foundation I know well, checks are deposited and dates recorded, and asking happens only once a year, on an appropriate date. It is better to run computer sorts that remove unnecessary, duplicated requests, thus making us all feel that money is being spent wisely. Please don’t put so much blame on mailing costs while the charity industry continues to embrace the seriously misguided notion that one more letter is always a good thing.

Valerie J. Herr
Berkeley, Calif.