The U.S. Postal Service currently has one 55-cent fundraising or "semipostal" stamp available for purchase at Post Offices, online at The Postal Store, and by toll-free phone order at 1 800 STAMP-24: the Breast Cancer Research stamp.

The price of a semipostal pays for the First-Class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund causes that the Postal Service determines to be in the national public interest and appropriate. By law, revenue from sales (minus postage and the reasonable costs of the Postal Service) is to be transferred to a selected executive agency or agencies.

Breast Cancer Research Stamp
The Breast Cancer Research semipostal was issued on July 29, 1998, at a first day ceremony held in the White House. It was the first semipostal in U.S. history.

To date, the stamp has raised over $71 million for breast cancer research. By law, 70 percent of the net amount raised is given to the National Institutes of Health and 30 percent is given to the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense.

Designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, the stamp features the phrases, "Fund the Fight" and "Find a Cure" and an illustration of a mythical "goddess of the hunt" by Whitney Sherman of Baltimore.

Future Semipostals
Legislation was passed and signed into law creating a new semipostal stamp to benefit species conservation efforts. The difference between the normal First-Class Mail rate and the rate charged for the semipostal stamp will go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Multinational Species Conservation Fund. This fund administers grants to help combat poaching, protect habitat, control diseases and support public education efforts. The fund has been successful in helping improve the status of wildlife, including, among other animals, great apes in central Africa, rhinos in southern Africa and Nepal, tigers in Russia and marine turtles in South Carolina.

The Postal Service will begin selling the new stamp by September, 2011.