Postal tariff limbo

By Maurizio Regosa

If it’s not a crash, one is not far off. Take for example the Don Gnocchi Foundation. In these last months of the suspension of the postal service subsidy for non profits it has not sent out any communications to its usual donors (to which it usually attaches a donation form). The results are visible and “if under the old system we were receiving 50 to 120 returned donation forms a day, today we have dropped to a medium of 20,” confirms Stefano Malfatti, head of fundraising for the foundation. “After the dramatic and unpredicted [price]increase, we put all initiative in progress on the blocks, including those mailings already on the calendar. We hope to send them out in October for the first anniversary of the beatificationof Don Gnocchi,” he says. A widespread condition that is preoccupying.

“A block to correspondence, more than stopping the flow of relevant information. It also concerns the soliciting of donations,” says Rossano Bartoli, secretariat general for the Lega del Filo d’Oro (league of golden thread). “Therefore, we receive less funding from our sponsors, who, otherwise, barely hear from us anymore. We are ready to send out the third issue of our periodical. In the end, we will send it knowing that a significant delay would cost more and would serve less.” CESVI is also starting to tally the damages. This year the collection for the festival of mothers was skipped. Translated this means €50,000 were not collected. “Then there is a slowdown in fundraising for Haiti. But the real worry is for the fall,” says the president Giangi Milese. At AISM they also tried to quantify the shortfall in incoming funds. “We are at around 20 per cent less. For now the situation is bad but not unbearable. Certainly, if we have to go on longer, we will be in a jam. Thankfully we were able to send out the material for the 5 per mille (5 for a thousand)campaign before the increase,” says Paolo Giganti, head of fundraising. “A few weeks ago we sent a letter to Gianni Letta and Paolo Bonaiuti, to alert them but we have not received any sort of response.”

Already, politics. The institutions seem to be inactive. Giulio Tremonti, Minister of Economics, has not yet signed the decree to a lot 30 million in favour of a new postal subsidy for non profits. The question on this subject was put forward by Luigi Bobba, deputy for the PD, vice-president of the labour commission, and Gabriele Toccafondi of the PDL. “The fact that the government continues to attack the non profits is not only incomprehensible but shameful,” says Bobba. Even Toccafoni asks, “how it’s possible that the ministers of the economy have yet to sign. Running the risk of endangering the collection of 5 per mille, the instrument he himself invented.”    

Dates: the hoax in several steps

1 April: in a flash of light the subsidised postal tariffs for non profits are suspended.

2 April: Vita Non Profit Magazine launches a petition (collecting over 15,000 signatures)

6 April:  approval of the incentives decree. The minister of development could now decide on new subsidies. The text called for a decree for the allotment of €30 million.

24 July: Berlusconi, interim Minister of Economic Development, signs the decree and sends it to Giulio Tremonti, Minister of the Economy and Finance, who blocks it.

More reading:

On April 19 Riccardo Bonacina, Director of Societa Vita Editoriale Spa, posted a blog response to the government’s decision to suspend a postal subsidy for Italian non profits. To read more click here. 

On May 19, 2010, the government reversed an earlier decision and reinstated special terms for postal costs to Italian non profits organizations. To read more click here.