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Birmingham City Council Cuts Arts Funding

This Friday Birmingham City Council announced that Birmingham arts organisations should prepare for a further 30% cut to council funding. 

This decision comes less than a year after the council announced its intention to hold arts funding at a standstill until 2020.

You can read more about the situation in this article. 

The cuts will prove difficult for many organisations, especially those that have based their business plans on the promised 2 year commitment.

More Mail for your Money

Over the next few years charities will have to be increasingly careful with how they invest their limited funding. That’s why Central Mailing Services asking charities to get in touch to see how they can save money on their mailings. We have a number of cost saving schemes that are easy wins many charities miss out on. For example:

VAT Free Postage for Charities
VAT free postage is a cost-saving offer we provide in conjunction with Royal Mail. The process involves removing the VAT cost (20% ) on a large portion of the postage. So charities pay less. It is available to all registered charities that are otherwise unable to reclaim VAT. The offer is entirely above board and governed by HMRC. 

How it Works
The cost of postage is normally charged with VAT added on top (currently 20%). This can add a lot on to the total cost of a mailing. 
Our method involves splitting the postage element into 2 parts to save money:

Part A

Logistics Management Cost
This is the cost for moving the post from our production centre to the individual Royal Mail centres throughout the country. 

Part B 

The Royal Mail Cost
This is the cost for the mail to be processed at Royal Mail centres and hand delivered by Royal Mail postmen and women.
Our method involves removing the VAT cost of the Royal Mail part (Part B) so you do not have to pay 20% extra on that part of the postage.
Using this method we recently saved a client £1,300 on a 35,000 item fundraiser and £1,900 on a 20,000 item raffle ticket mailing.