91±¬ÁÏ

Professional service payments to an individual up to $10,000

Example: Consulting for 91±¬ÁÏ program to provide expertise on updating their supports for different student populations. The total consulting charges will be $9,000, split into 3 payments of $3,000 at different project completion points throughout 3 months of service.

Professional service payments are not subject to sales tax and can be paid directly to the individual performing the services rather than to a business. Before beginning to work, confirm with the 91±¬ÁÏ program that work will be paid through Miscellaneous Payment instead of needing to become a registered 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier. If the community partner needs to become a 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier, use the Invoice for Goods and Services pathway below. 

If part of this work will involve using personal information from 91±¬ÁÏ students, employees, or other 91±¬ÁÏ partners, complete Data Processing Agreements (see below) before work begins.

Miscellaneous payments can be paid by check, electronic direct deposit, zelle, or pick-up. Decide payment method with the 91±¬ÁÏ program when planning the activity. 

These payments will require an invoice but this is not the normal payment pathway for invoices described below. All of the Invoice Payment pathways below are for individuals or businesses that are registered as 91±¬ÁÏ Suppliers. See Downloads and Useful Links for a sample Invoice Template. Do not use the Invoice Instructions document because this is not for Miscellaneous Payment invoices.

The community partner may invoice multiple times for the same project, but the total for the planned activity cannot be more than $10,000. If the project will be invoiced multiple times, the 91±¬ÁÏ program will either collect the community partner’s personal information for each payment or keep it securely stored until payments are complete.

Payments on credit cards to a business merchant account. 

Example: Catering for a 91±¬ÁÏ event with a total cost of $4,000, split into a $1,000 deposit and $3,000 final payment after the event.

Credit card payment is generally a fast and uncomplicated option for the 91±¬ÁÏ program and the community partner business.

The 91±¬ÁÏ program will need an itemized receipt to document the purchase and payment. If the online payment portal or in-person checkout does not provide detailed information in a confirmation receipt, create an invoice to give the additional details. See Downloads and Useful Links for a sample Invoice Template.

When planning the activity and billing with the 91±¬ÁÏ program, these situations may take additional time to complete before the activity or payment is completed:

• If the total activity cost is more than $10,000, the program will need to receive 91±¬ÁÏ Central approval before moving forward with the activity. If the program is still in this planning phase, the community partner may be asked for a scope of activities or a quote as part of the program’s market research.
• If part of this work will involve using personal information from 91±¬ÁÏ students, employees, or other 91±¬ÁÏ partners, complete Data Processing Agreements (see below) before work begins.
• If a contract needs to be signed, the 91±¬ÁÏ Central Buying staff will do this on behalf of the 91±¬ÁÏ program and they are the only allowed signers for 91±¬ÁÏ purchasing. This may take a week or so to complete.
• If one of the payments is over the 91±¬ÁÏ credit card transactional limit, the 91±¬ÁÏ program will request a spending increase and will work with the community partner to plan the payment timing.

Goods, personal services or services subject to sales tax up to $10,000

Example: 100 custom printed t-shirts for students in a 91±¬ÁÏ program activity, with one invoice for the shirts, printing, and shipping for $10,000, paid on delivery.

Example: Website design services for a 91±¬ÁÏ program, with one invoice for $7,500 billed at the end of the work.

Plan the activity scope and payment schedule with the 91±¬ÁÏ program. See information below and in the Frequently Asked Questions on planning payment timing and what costs that may be considered when calculating rates or keeping as separately billed expenses.

Community Partners should let the 91±¬ÁÏ program know if they are not already a registered 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier so the program can request the Supplier account set up. Account set-up is completed by providing tax ID and payment information through 91±¬ÁÏ’s secure Supplier account portal. 91±¬ÁÏ Suppliers can be individuals or businesses, but cannot be both at the same time. Two accounts will be needed, one for the individual and one for the business, if a community partner does both types of work. If the work is being paid to an individual 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier (SSN or ITIN for US residents and to international individuals working outside the US), they can only receive check payments at this time from 91±¬ÁÏ. Businesses that are 91±¬ÁÏ Suppliers (domestic with an EIN and international) may receive check or electronic payment through ACH/wire transfer.

If part of this work will involve using personal information from 91±¬ÁÏ students, employees, or other 91±¬ÁÏ partners, complete Data Processing Agreements (see below) before work begins.

If the work requires a contract to be signed, then the 91±¬ÁÏ program will request 91±¬ÁÏ to create a Purchase Order (PO) for the community partner to invoice against at the end of the activity instead. The 91±¬ÁÏ program staff are not allowed to sign purchasing contracts and will need to have a PO created for 91±¬ÁÏ to sign the document with the community partner. POs are considered contracts by 91±¬ÁÏ, so a community partner can request that a PO be issued to guarantee the activity terms. If a PO is made, the community partner will follow the instructions on the PO emailed to them by 91±¬ÁÏ for invoicing.

If a contract does not need to be signed and the community partner does not want a PO issued, then the partner will send an invoice to the 91±¬ÁÏ program when the activity is completed. Multiple invoices can be billed and paid once the activities on each invoice are completed. The 91±¬ÁÏ program will submit each invoice to 91±¬ÁÏ for payment. See Downloads and Useful Links for a sample Invoice Template.

All payments over $10,000

Example: Rental of community commons space for 4 91±¬ÁÏ gatherings, each gathering costing $5,000 for a total of $20,000.

If the total activity cost is more than $10,000, the program will need to receive 91±¬ÁÏ Central approval before moving forward with the activity. If the program is still in this planning phase, the community partner may be asked for a scope of activities or a quote as part of the program’s market research.

If the business can accept credit card payment, the community partner can decide to accept payment this way rather than check or ACH. 91±¬ÁÏ prefers payment by check or ACH instead of credit card because it saves the costs of merchant fees, but will pay by credit card if that is the community partner’s business preference.

Community Partners should let the 91±¬ÁÏ program know if they are not already a registered 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier so the program can request the Supplier account set up. Account set-up is completed by providing tax ID and payment information through 91±¬ÁÏ’s secure Supplier account portal. 91±¬ÁÏ Suppliers can be individuals or businesses, but cannot be both at the same time. Two accounts will be needed, one for the individual and one for the business, if a community partner does both types of work. If the work is being paid to an individual 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier (SSN or ITIN for US residents and to international individuals working outside the US), they can only receive check payments at this time from 91±¬ÁÏ. Businesses that are 91±¬ÁÏ Suppliers (domestic with an EIN and international) may receive check or electronic payment through ACH/wire transfer.

If part of this work will involve using personal information from 91±¬ÁÏ students, employees, or other 91±¬ÁÏ partners, complete Data Processing Agreements (see below) before work begins.

Unless the activity has been approved for credit card payment, a Purchase Order (PO) will be issued in advance of the work starting by 91±¬ÁÏ. If the work requires a contract to be signed, then the authorized 91±¬ÁÏ Buyers will sign the contract when the PO is created. The 91±¬ÁÏ program staff are not allowed to sign a purchasing contract with the community partner. Even if a separate contract is not made and signed, POs are considered contracts by 91±¬ÁÏ and guarantee the activity terms. Once billable activities are completed and it is time for payment, the community partner will follow the instructions on the PO emailed to them by 91±¬ÁÏ for invoicing.

All 91±¬ÁÏ purchasing starts with a program need and then 91±¬ÁÏ staff will search for the provider who can best fulfill that need. Community partners can more easily be found by 91±¬ÁÏ staff and partners can see new opportunities to work by:

• Check Existing Solicitations: 91±¬ÁÏ and Washington post their calls for work, called Solicitations, so businesses can submit bids for the contracted project. Generally, individuals will need to register as sole-proprietor businesses to be eligible for government contracts, but this may not be required. Posted solicitations tend to be for larger value contracts and for work that could be done by many businesses, so finding the best value needs to happen through public bidding. Washington also has resources to support small and diverse businesses learning how to bid for contracts and participate in public solicitations.
• Agency and Organizational Registrations: When the work needed does not require a posted solicitation by Washington policy, 91±¬ÁÏ programs will look at agency or organizational registrations to see which businesses and individuals listed there could fit the activity needs. Besides the larger, governmental and professional register lists, 91±¬ÁÏ programs will also search for community-specific lists or resources to connect with individual partners and small businesses.
• 91±¬ÁÏ Registration and Connection: Besides searches made by 91±¬ÁÏ programs, 91±¬ÁÏ Procurement (91±¬ÁÏ’s purchasing office) will find individual and business providers that could fit 91±¬ÁÏ’s activity needs. Community partners that provide goods and services can register with 91±¬ÁÏ Procurement’s internal registry. When 91±¬ÁÏ Procurement is asked by 91±¬ÁÏ programs to assist with finding a goods or services provider, this internal registry will be checked as a first step in the search process. 91±¬ÁÏ Procurement and the Consulting and Business Development Center at 91±¬ÁÏ Foster School of Business have additional learning and support resources available community partners. Generally, 91±¬ÁÏ programs and individual staff will not offer additional connection opportunities to specific individuals or small businesses since this can give an unfair advantage to those select partnerships. Community partners should use the 91±¬ÁÏ, governmental, and community-based resources to increase their visibility and connections with 91±¬ÁÏ staff and programs.

See Downloads and Useful Links for more information on these opportunities and links to the 91±¬ÁÏ, Washington, and Federal government resources.

It is often difficult or impossible to change the costs, timeline, and activity description after 91±¬ÁÏ has reviewed and approved the spending plan provided by the community partner and 91±¬ÁÏ program. If the changes are possible, it can take weeks to update an existing contract, and if it is impossible to make the changes, the existing contract will need to be cancelled and a new one made. These changes will delay payments, sometimes significantly, for community partners. To make sure the activity and payments proceed as quickly as possible, community partners can make sure their proposed plans and scope of work gives both details and flexibility.

• Costs: Activity costs can be by goods or service type, or it can be an hourly rate based service. Community partners can decide if they want to include all of the associated costs they will have to produce the goods or to deliver on the services in their rates or list out these expenses as separate line items.Example: $100 per t-shirt… or … $90 per shirt and $10 for printing set-up and delivery per shirt.Example: $50 per hour worked for 1 hour… or… $40 per hour worked for 1 hour and $10 travel expense reimbursement for 1 hr consulting work on 91±¬ÁÏ campus.Keep in mind that reimbursement activities on invoices are business expenses and not processed as a reimbursement to the community partner by 91±¬ÁÏ. Plan with the 91±¬ÁÏ program to see what business expenses they are allowed to pay for while working through the rest of the activity details. Reimbursed business expenses need to be identified as a cost separate from other activity items on 91±¬ÁÏ issued Purchase Orders and invoice payments.
• Timeline: Community partners and 91±¬ÁÏ programs should plan payment and activity dates using these requirements and recommendations:
  • 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier set-up could take a couple of weeks, especially if direct deposit is selected as the primary payment method. If the community partner is a new 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier, include this waiting period into the timeline planning before paid activities start.
  • Paid activities cannot start before 91±¬ÁÏ has approved the spending. This means that Purchase Orders (PO) or purchasing over $10,000 will need to be approved by 91±¬ÁÏ Procurement before the activity begins. Use the ‘Planning Payments and Timelines for Community Partners’ document in Downloads and Useful Links to see how far in advance activity start dates should be when requiring 91±¬ÁÏ Procurement approval.
  • Invoicing and payment needs to happen after the activities are completed, so plan the invoicing times and activity completion benchmarks in the scope and make them into separate invoice service lines when POs are made.
  • Invoice payments from POs may take up to 30 days for 91±¬ÁÏ to issue the deposit or check. Plan for this wait time.
• Details and Flexibility: Including details in the activity scope gives clarity on what payments will be and when they will happen. Community partners and 91±¬ÁÏ programs can also provide details to give helpful project flexibility, such as:
  • One service line item on a PO that all service invoices will pay out of. This can be invoiced against as frequently as needed but the frequency or benchmarks for invoicing should be documented in the scope of activities.
  • Since it will cause payment and work delays to add additional project funds to an activity plan, the plan and its created PO may be made for the maximum possible amount to pay for goods and services. The full amount does not need to be invoiced and terms can be included in the scope to cover the anticipated spend but the additional funds are available if approved for more activities by the 91±¬ÁÏ program. This additional activity amount can be a separate invoice line in the PO.

Since 91±¬ÁÏ serves so many individuals and populations, there are required processes to minimize risk in 91±¬ÁÏ partnerships and protect the served community in real and digital spaces. Incorporate these protective process steps into the planning time so the start of the activity and payments are not delayed.

• Working with Sensitive Information: The 91±¬ÁÏ program will complete any needed forms for data processing with the community partner. There may be additional questions to the community partner describing how sensitive information is gathered, used, stored, and disposed. Expect additional forms to be completed before partnered activities may start when working with:
  • Any identifying information for 91±¬ÁÏ students, staff, and participants in 91±¬ÁÏ-sponsored programing
  • Identifying information specifically for youths/minors
  • Healthcare data
  • Educational records
  • Identifying information or data coming from individuals in the European Union.
• Working with Youth and Vulnerable Populations: 91±¬ÁÏ has additional requirements to prevent incidents when activities include youth or any group which may have increased vulnerabilities. Incorporating specific practices to decrease risk may need to be incorporated into the initial scope and impact how the activities are conducted.
• Working with Food: Preparing, handling, and service permits are required documentation for most activities where food is served at 91±¬ÁÏ. If documentation is required, the 91±¬ÁÏ program will submit this for 91±¬ÁÏ approval before the start of the activity, at least 3 weeks in advance of an event. The community partner and UE program may want the step completed before the submission of other agreements concerning payment, if there is concern about the approval being completed in time.
• Insurance: 91±¬ÁÏ students, staff, and those working on the university’s behalf are covered with limited liability. Proof of coverage may be given to the community partner and is also available for viewing and download from . Depending on the activity, additional coverage may be necessary and this should be completed before the beginning of paid activities with the community partner.
• Proprietary Information: IP and innovation ownership generally only comes up with payment agreements within research activities. Ownership of information (including patents, copyrights, and tangible materials) covers who owned and used it before the project, who accesses and uses it during the project, and who owns and uses it after the project. This needs to be a part of the project agreement and will take additional review and approval time by various 91±¬ÁÏ central offices. This will need to be fully approved before work may begin or any exchange of proprietary information.

The 91±¬ÁÏ program will collect the business name, address, contact information, and billing contacts from the community partner. It is not necessary to collect a US tax ID number for customer registration. The 91±¬ÁÏ program may ask for a tax ID number since it is a field on 91±¬ÁÏ’s intake form for the customer profile information, but it is not needed and the community partner can decline to provide one. Customer profiles can be created for businesses and individuals. Customer registration usually is completed within several business days.

Once 91±¬ÁÏ has completed the Customer profile set-up with the information provided to them by the 91±¬ÁÏ program, the 91±¬ÁÏ program will submit a request for 91±¬ÁÏ to create and issue an invoice to the community partner. The invoice will be sent to the community partner by email or mail, using the instructions collected earlier by the 91±¬ÁÏ program. If the community partner needs to update their billing or contact information, they can ask any 91±¬ÁÏ program that they are working with to submit the updates to 91±¬ÁÏ.

Follow the instructions on the invoice for payment methods. 91±¬ÁÏ can accept check and electronic payment through ACH/wire transfer. This payment will go directly to 91±¬ÁÏ (instructions on the invoice) and should not be sent to the 91±¬ÁÏ program that the community partner is working with. Invoices generally are created and sent out at the end of an activity with payment due after the activity is completed.

If the community partner needs to create a Purchase Order (PO), the 91±¬ÁÏ program can follow whatever is needed to complete that process for the community partner, then invoice against the PO once the activity is completed.

Note: Customer Registration is different from the 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier Registration. Both will need to be completed if the community partner is sending invoices to 91±¬ÁÏ and will be invoiced by 91±¬ÁÏ.

The 91±¬ÁÏ program will collect the business or individual’s name, address, contact information, and billing contacts from the community partner. Invoices generally are created and sent out at the end of an activity with payment due after the activity is completed.

The community partner will create and mail a check back to the 91±¬ÁÏ program using the remittance instructions given on the invoice. The 91±¬ÁÏ program is then responsible for completing the payment deposit to 91±¬ÁÏ.

Note: It is currently possible to make invoice payment without customer registration, but 91±¬ÁÏ may change this policy in the near future. Community partners are encouraged to complete customer registrations to prepare for any process updates. See information above on 91±¬ÁÏ Customer registration.

Since 91±¬ÁÏ serves so many individuals and populations, there are required processes to minimize risk in 91±¬ÁÏ partnerships and protect the served community in real and digital spaces. Incorporate these protective process steps into the planning time so the start of the activity and billing are not delayed.

• Working with Sensitive Information: The 91±¬ÁÏ program will complete any needed forms for data processing with the community partner. There may be additional questions to the community partner describing how sensitive information is gathered, used, stored, and disposed. Expect additional forms to be completed before partnered activities may start when working with:
  • Any identifying information for 91±¬ÁÏ students, staff, and participants in 91±¬ÁÏ-sponsored programing
  • Identifying information specifically for youths/minors
  • Healthcare data
  • Educational records
  • Identifying information or data coming from individuals in the European Union.
• Working with Youth and Vulnerable Populations: 91±¬ÁÏ has additional requirements to prevent incidents when activities include youth or any group which may have increased vulnerabilities. Incorporating specific practices to decrease risk may need to be incorporated into activity agreements and impact how the activities are conducted.
• Insurance: 91±¬ÁÏ students, staff, and those working on the university’s behalf are covered with limited liability. Proof of coverage may be given to the community partner and is also available for viewing and download from . Depending on the activity, additional coverage may be necessary and this should be completed before the beginning of paid activities with the community partner.
• Proprietary Information: IP and innovation ownership generally only comes up with payment agreements within research activities. Ownership of information (including patents, copyrights, and tangible materials) covers who owned and used it before the project, who accesses and uses it during the project, and who owns and uses it after the project. This needs to be a part of the project agreement and will take additional review and approval time by various 91±¬ÁÏ central offices. This will need to be fully approved before work may begin or any exchange of proprietary information.

When payment is coming to 91±¬ÁÏ for goods and services, the 91±¬ÁÏ program may be able to sign and enter into agreements with community partners. If a written agreement is needed, plan for document review, including additional time for risk and compliance concerns, before the start of the billed activity.

Paying funding to 91±¬ÁÏ for activities where the general public benefits, such as research.

Example: A Washington educational foundation awards funding to a 91±¬ÁÏ program for research on their services to elementary school students in rural Washington.

Sponsorship payments go through the Office of Sponsored Programs, not through the partnering 91±¬ÁÏ program. The 91±¬ÁÏ program will need to have completed steps on their end for the award proposal (the paid sponsorship) to be ready for payment deposit. If the sponsored program is research, then there are additional process steps for the 91±¬ÁÏ Program. See Research payment resources for more information.

91±¬ÁÏ may also send sponsorship payments to community partners for 91±¬ÁÏ’s participation in an event or cooperative activity that is mutually beneficial to the partner and 91±¬ÁÏ’s mission to serve its students and Washington. 91±¬ÁÏ-outgoing sponsorship payments generally require invoicing 91±¬ÁÏ or a cooperative agreement. 91±¬ÁÏ cannot gift or donate money as a sponsorship (see ‘Gifts and Donations’ below).

Small payments for guest speaking and special educational speaking activities

Example: An honorarium of $200 paid to a community partner for guest speaking at an informational session hosted by a 91±¬ÁÏ program for their students.

Honoraria are a type of Miscellaneous Payment. Review the ‘Miscellaneous Payments’ section above and ‘Planning Payments and Timelines for Community Partners’ document in Downloads and Useful Links for payment timeline. Miscellaneous Payments are taxable payments.

Money, materials and other valuables given to the 91±¬ÁÏ for 91±¬ÁÏ to use in support of their programs with limited to no limitations restricting the use of the gift.

Example: A community partner gives money and an in-kind gift to a 91±¬ÁÏ program to support their student activities.

All gifts must be used for allowable 91±¬ÁÏ business purposes, but gifts have some flexibility on what types of items they can be spent on compared to other university funding. Having flexibility allows 91±¬ÁÏ programs to take care of emerging needs for students and educational service activities in the external community.

Note: As a public university, all 91±¬ÁÏ funds and resources belong to the public and cannot be given away (see Glossary and Policy Information).

Payments to a community partner who is collaborating on the project design, information gathering, and/or analysis with 91±¬ÁÏ on a research award.

Example: Another college is collecting and analyzing data on their students as part of a 91±¬ÁÏ-awarded grant on college students.

For funds to go to the community partner for their research expenses, the community partner needs to be set up as a 91±¬ÁÏ Supplier and payment will come through a Purchase Order (PO). Review the ‘Payments’ section above and ‘Planning Payments and Timelines for Community Partners’ document in Downloads and Useful Links for Supplier registration and PO timeline. 

Payments to an individual for their personal involvement as a research participant.

Example: Cash payment of $25 to a community partner for their participation in an information gathering session from researchers studying their community.

Research participants may receive incentive payments, expense reimbursement, or provided services to make their participation possible. The offered payments and services will depend on what funding and resources the researchers or 91±¬ÁÏ program has available. Reimbursements and services, such as childcare, are less common because most research funding sources only allow for incentive payments. The most common incentive payments for 91±¬ÁÏ research participants are a digital gift card or cash. Payments of cash and cash equivalents (gift cards), are taxable payments. 91±¬ÁÏ will collect recipients’ names and tax ID numbers with payments totaling over $1500 a year and create IRS tax form 1099 for annual payments over $2000.

Community partner businesses may only participate in research as a consultant, supplier, or subrecipient. Those payments are covered in the ‘Selling to 91±¬ÁÏ’ section above.

Payments to community partners to repay expenses necessary for participating in activities for 91±¬ÁÏ programs.

Example: Mileage reimbursement for a community partner traveling from Renton to 91±¬ÁÏ Bothell campus for participation on an expert panel on South King County housing services.

Reimbursements are payments which happen after the expense has happened and need to be for the expenses required for participation, like travel to the activity location. Personal expenses generally are not reimbursable, such as childcare, and when personal expenses are possible with the 91±¬ÁÏ funding source providing payment, the payment may be taxable. Since reimbursement options are limited, 91±¬ÁÏ programs will generally use Miscellaneous Payments or Honorarium (see those sections above) when paying community partners for their services or contributions.

Note: Reimbursements of business expenses are allowed with certain types of expenses but will need to be invoiced (see ‘Selling to 91±¬ÁÏ: Costs’ section above for reimbursement for business expense through invoice).

The partnering 91±¬ÁÏ program will work with their unit leadership and other 91±¬ÁÏ approvers to determine which type of agreement is needed for the situation and to complete it. Most types of agreements cannot be signed by the 91±¬ÁÏ program and will need another representative to sign on behalf of the program for 91±¬ÁÏ. These are the most common agreements between community partners and 91±¬ÁÏ that do not involve funding:

• Non-Award Agreement: These agreements are generally setting up the relationship which will eventually turn into a sponsored program.
• MOU: A Memorandum of Understanding is an agreement that does not commit the community partner or the 91±¬ÁÏ to terms and responsibilities, but records that both groups intend to work cooperatively with their own resources towards a common goal. If it is important to have resources, risks, and responsibilities committed to, the 91±¬ÁÏ program will assist with identifying what agreement type is the best fit for the situation.

Sometimes agreements require additional documentation to go into more detail about specific aspects of an activity, particularly to ensure that participants understand and agree to any risks or rules. These are some of the most common types:

• Risk Acknowledgement: These documents are designed to keep everyone involved in the activity safe and to prevent damages by describing all the possible risks, what the precautions will be, and the responsibilities.
• Data Processing Agreement: Data Processing Agreements (DPA) and Standard Contractual Clauses are used when any personal or identifying information about a student, staff member, or 91±¬ÁÏ sponsored activity participant is being gathered, processed, or stored. 91±¬ÁÏ will require a DPA when this information/data is outside of 91±¬ÁÏ-owned and secured digital spaces. This agreement covers what type of information is being processed, why it is being processed, will the data be processed by any other software or services, what will be the response in the case of a data breach, and who will be the contact people if a breach happens.
• Personal Release Form for Media: Many 91±¬ÁÏ events or activities are documented in some way. If a community partner is at an event where images (photos), video, or voice are recorded to be used for 91±¬ÁÏ marketing or promotional purposes, a personal release form will be given to review and sign if they agree to participate.