WASHINGTON — As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Postal Service is reminding customers that they can help fund Breast Cancer research by purchasing the Breast Cancer Research Stamp, a semi-postal stamp issued to help raise funds for breast cancer research.

Available year-round, the 60-cent self-adhesive stamps are sold in sheets of 20. Each stamp has a postage value equivalent to the First-Class Mail 1-ounce stamped letter price in effect at the time of purchase. The stamps are available at Post Offices nationwide, online at usps.com and by phone at 1.800.STAMP.24.

The amount the Postal Service contributes to Breast Cancer research is determined by the difference between the First-Class rate in effect at the time of purchase and the 60-cent purchase price, minus a nominal amount to offset costs incurred by the Postal Service. The distribution of the Postal Service contribution is specified by law, with 70 percent given to the National Institutes of Health and the remainder to the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense. As of Sept. 2016, the sale of more than 1 billion stamps since its 1998 inception has raised more than $83 million for breast cancer research.

The Breast Cancer Research Stamp was issued at the White House July 29, 1998. It was the first semi-postal stamp in U.S. history.  In 1997, Congress authorized this first semi-postal stamp for the specific purpose of raising funds from the American public to assist in finding a cure for breast cancer.

In 2015, President Obama signed Public Law No. 114-99 that extended the sale of the Breast Cancer Research Stamp through Dec. 31, 2019.

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.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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