GEOList Summary: Electronic Grant Payments

The Dyson Foundation is a mid-sized private foundation ($19.8 million in grants approved in 2011, 285 grant payments made). We are investigating the possibilities and implications, pro and con, of moving toward electronic payments for grant payments, as opposed to mailing paper checks. Do any of you issue grant payments electronically? If so, we’d love to hear your feedback on the following: - How do you track the payments, and what are the considerations in terms of your audit and IRS requirements? - What is the actual method used (ACH, EFT, wire transfer), and what are the associated costs to you? - Are most of your grantees set up to accept electronic payments? Do they prefer this method to paper checks? Are grantees charged fees to accept them? - How has this impacted your internal workflow?