Grants:Processing/Payments

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This page documents a process common to all or most of WMF's grants programs. Please don't edit this page, but please do leave a comment on the discussion page instead.

Here are a few guidelines around receiving payments of your grant.

Banking requirements

Bank account requirements are detailed in the Requirements by Grantee type page and differ depending on the type of grantee receiving a grant.
All grantees receiving a grant are required to provide a document from their bank^[1] listing the names of the accountholders for the account where the grant funds will be received and stored.
All grantees are required to provide unexpired government issued proof of identification^[2] with the birth date listed for all grant agreement signatories and bank accountholders. We take your privacy seriously, and only requests information/documents as they are needed to process a grant and comply with US regulations surrounding international grantmaking.

Timing of grant payments

Finance & Accounting process payments within 30 days from the date a payment request is made. For grants, payment to a new grant is requested from accounting after the grant agreement is signed by all parties^[3] and bank related requirements have been satisfied. Historically, grant payments are received by the grantee's banking institution within 3 weeks after the grant agreement is signed by all parties. However, the timing of the payment could depend on and not limited to these factors:

Most often, it is dependent on how quickly grantees are able to respond to WMF's requests for information and/or requests for a signed grant agreement.
WMF accounting team has a regular weekly schedule^[4] for sending wire transfers, and the deadline for Grant Administrators to request grant payments are dependent on this schedule.
A grantee's Program Officer may set a schedule with each grantee for paying the grant. Some grants might be paid in full once a grant agreement has been executed, and others might be paid in multiple installments.
As a general policy, WMF is committed to send payment (or first installment, if grant will be paid in installments) within 30 days from the date when the grant agreement was signed by all parties^[5].
For instances where DocuSign^[6] might not be enforceable in the grantee's country, payment may be delayed while gathering the signatures needed using another method to sign the grant agreement.
For instances where the grantee requires signing paper originals of the grant agreement, payment will likely be delayed since gathering the signatures for all agreement signers would be need to mailed by post by all parties involved.

Grantee responsibilities

Provide WMF with bank requirements (in addition to other related grant processing required information/documents) in a timely manner, providing updates if more time is needed to gather information or if there are challenges to obtaining the requested information.
Check that your bank account details are accurate (e.g. no numeric digits missing, illegible, or incorrect) and complete^[7], including any country or bank specific wire instructions.
Confirm with your bank that the type of bank account you have is able to receive international wires from a US based bank.
Confirm with your bank that if our bank is unable to wire funds in your local currency, your bank account be able to receive wires in USD.
If we are not able to wire your grant to you in your local currency and you have special concerns around foreign exchange rate conversions, notify grantsadmin wikimedia.org during the information gathering stage of the grant process.
Check with your bank ahead of time on what the procedures are for you to return unused grant funds to WMF. It is important that you also have a way to return any unused grant funds to WMF once your project is complete.
Check with your bank if there are bank fees charged to you for receiving a wire. It may be possible for you to be reimbursed for bank fees, notify grantsadmin wikimedia.org during the information gathering stage of the grant process.
Contact your bank to request information about the payment, if you do not receive your payment 7 days after date listed in the email sent to you by the Grants Administrator. Then contact the Grants Administrator at grantsadmin wikimedia.org to notify of the delay. The Grants Administrator can reach out to WMF's finance team to research the transaction while you await information from your bank. Please note that some banks may take several days to several weeks to release funds from an international wire to your account.
Notify grantsadmin wikimedia.org to confirm receipt once you receive the wired funds in your bank account.

WMF responsibilities

Make the payment to the grantee within 30 days of executing the grant agreement, unless there is information pending from the grantee needed to meet their bank requirements or some other reason/s.
Make reasonable accommodations, if requested (e.g. wire transfer in grantee's local currency, bank fee reimbursement, payment schedule in installments, etc.)
Communicate with the grantees in a timely manner. Usually, the Grants Administrator will reply to the grantee generally within 48 business hours. Typically, business hours are Monday to Friday 17:00 - 23:30 UTC, excluding US and WMF observed holidays when the office is closed.
Provide bank related requirements for wired funds to be released in the grantee's bank account (e.g. wire transfer confirmation, signed letter for grantee to provide their bank, etc.)

Bank information form

Bank information form for Individual grantees
Bank information form for Groups
Bank information form for Nonprofits including Fiscal Sponsors

Reference

↑ The document from the Grantee's banking institution must include the account number (last few digits are okay), all account signatories, and something that verifies the document is from their banking institution. This bank document is part of the process to ensure WMF is complying with US regulations surrounding international grant funding, and so it is required for all grantees. There are a number of ways to satisfy this request, but the most common documents we receive are a scanned bank letter signed by a bank representative, an email from a bank representative sent directly to grantsadmin wikimedia.org from their bank representative, a recent bank statement, the signed bank account contract for newly opened accounts, or a screen shot from their current online banking account.
↑ If concerned with privacy, let us know at grantsadmin wikimedia.org. We will work with you to find a way that helps ease your privacy concerns. A couple of options are: 1) sending a password protected compressed file of the sensitive information requested to grantsadmin wikimedia.org; or 2) sharing a link in Dropbox/GDrive/a similar service and removing our access/the documents after we have confirmed receipt. In both cases, we will provide you with a mobile number to text the password (with options of using Signal/Telegram, if grantee is outside the US). More information related to privacy and grants is at Privacy FAQ.
↑ For grants with paid in installments, payment requests to accounting for the subsequent installment/s are made after the dependencies are satisfied (e.g. midpoint grant reporting, milestone met, etc.). For grants that receive an increase, payment for the additional amount awarded can be made after an Amendment to the original executed grant agreement is signed by all parties. In both cases, bank related requirements must also be satisfied before our accounting team can wire funds to grantees or fiscal sponsors.
↑ The weekly wire transfer schedule is dependent on US and WMF observed holidays when our office might be closed.
↑ Delay in sending payment may occur if, after an agreement is executed, WMF is still awaiting for the grantee to provide their banking requirements. Delay in the grantee receiving their wired funds may occur if their bank takes several days/weeks to process an incoming wire. Most often delays occur due to incorrect account information or missing information needed to send the wire. It is important for grantees to provide accurate and complete information to help minimize delays. Some countries or banks have specific wire instructions. Please provide these instructions to WMF.
↑ WMF uses DocuSign electronic signature service to execute our grant agreements. If you are unsure whether DocuSign is enforceable in the grantee's country, the agreement may be signed electronically in any method that is convenient for the grantee (e.g. print, sign, scan, email to WMF; sign using another e-signature service and email your signed document to WMF for the countersignature, etc.) and email the pdf of the signed agreement to WMF for the countersignature.
↑
Some banks also require specific wire instructions depending on the type of account that you might have or the currency that the funds will be wired in. It is important for us to know this information to minimize delays to your receiving your grant funds. Some countries require additional information for WMF (the sender) to provide at the time the wire is requested. Examples include (and not limited to):
- Australia - BSB number
- Brazil - CPF
- Canada - complete Address, Bank Code (usually 3 digits), Transit Number (usually 5 digits)
- Colombia - phone number with country code
- Mexico - CLABE
- India - IFSC
- Italy - personal tax ID number (for some banks)
- Rwanda - recipient's complete address (including post code, if applicable)
- UK - Sort Code + Account number + IBAN

[bankdoc-1] The document from the Grantee's banking institution must include the account number (last few digits are okay), all account signatories, and something that verifies the document is from their banking institution. This bank document is part of the process to ensure WMF is complying with US regulations surrounding international grant funding, and so it is required for all grantees. There are a number of ways to satisfy this request, but the most common documents we receive are a scanned bank letter signed by a bank representative, an email from a bank representative sent directly to grantsadmin wikimedia.org from their bank representative, a recent bank statement, the signed bank account contract for newly opened accounts, or a screen shot from their current online banking account.

[ID-2] If concerned with privacy, let us know at grantsadmin wikimedia.org. We will work with you to find a way that helps ease your privacy concerns. A couple of options are: 1) sending a password protected compressed file of the sensitive information requested to grantsadmin wikimedia.org; or 2) sharing a link in Dropbox/GDrive/a similar service and removing our access/the documents after we have confirmed receipt. In both cases, we will provide you with a mobile number to text the password (with options of using Signal/Telegram, if grantee is outside the US). More information related to privacy and grants is at Privacy FAQ.

[timing-3] For grants with paid in installments, payment requests to accounting for the subsequent installment/s are made after the dependencies are satisfied (e.g. midpoint grant reporting, milestone met, etc.). For grants that receive an increase, payment for the additional amount awarded can be made after an Amendment to the original executed grant agreement is signed by all parties. In both cases, bank related requirements must also be satisfied before our accounting team can wire funds to grantees or fiscal sponsors.

[4] The weekly wire transfer schedule is dependent on US and WMF observed holidays when our office might be closed.

[delay-5] Delay in sending payment may occur if, after an agreement is executed, WMF is still awaiting for the grantee to provide their banking requirements. Delay in the grantee receiving their wired funds may occur if their bank takes several days/weeks to process an incoming wire. Most often delays occur due to incorrect account information or missing information needed to send the wire. It is important for grantees to provide accurate and complete information to help minimize delays. Some countries or banks have specific wire instructions. Please provide these instructions to WMF.

[DocuSign-6] WMF uses DocuSign electronic signature service to execute our grant agreements. If you are unsure whether DocuSign is enforceable in the grantee's country, the agreement may be signed electronically in any method that is convenient for the grantee (e.g. print, sign, scan, email to WMF; sign using another e-signature service and email your signed document to WMF for the countersignature, etc.) and email the pdf of the signed agreement to WMF for the countersignature.

[bankreqs-7] Some banks also require specific wire instructions depending on the type of account that you might have or the currency that the funds will be wired in. It is important for us to know this information to minimize delays to your receiving your grant funds. Some countries require additional information for WMF (the sender) to provide at the time the wire is requested. Examples include (and not limited to):
Australia - BSB number

Brazil - CPF

Canada - complete Address, Bank Code (usually 3 digits), Transit Number (usually 5 digits)

Colombia - phone number with country code

Mexico - CLABE

India - IFSC

Italy - personal tax ID number (for some banks)

Rwanda - recipient's complete address (including post code, if applicable)

UK - Sort Code + Account number + IBAN

[8] Australia - BSB number

[9] Brazil - CPF

[10] Canada - complete Address, Bank Code (usually 3 digits), Transit Number (usually 5 digits)

[11] Colombia - phone number with country code

[12] Mexico - CLABE

[13] India - IFSC

[14] Italy - personal tax ID number (for some banks)

[15] Rwanda - recipient's complete address (including post code, if applicable)

[16] UK - Sort Code + Account number + IBAN

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