Reimbursements
While paying for project goods/supplies via a project expense card or via the invoice payment form is preferred, project representatives may use personal funds for purchases of project goods/supplies and travel expenses that fall within eligible expense guidelines and if a project expense card is not available. Project representatives may then submit a reimbursement request. For example, if your project has an activity and a project staff member or volunteer needs to buy supplies for that activity at a store, they may do so and then an authorized portal user can subsequently submit a reimbursement request, as outlined below (Reimbursement Process).*
Please make sure the project has the funds in place to pay for any items for which reimbursement is needed, and accounts for the processing time for the reimbursement to reach the payee after a valid request is submitted. Please note that interest charges on a personal credit card, even if related to project purchases, are not an eligible project expense.
Please note: Reimbursement requests are not allowed for expenses that require a) W9, or b) a contract. Because W9s are required for payments to individuals, LLCs, or partnerships, Social Good Fund is unable to track these payments as required by the IRS guidelines if paid by a project representative directly. * In order to use project funds for 1099 vendor purchases, the project would need to follow the standard procedure to set up the vendor in the Members Portal and submit an invoice payment request. The payment request would be for the entity providing the service (the vendor), and if that vendor were earning $2000+ in a calendar year, a correspondingn approved/signed contract would need to be on file. Social Good Fund would then make payment directly to the vendor.
If a project representative were to use personal funds to pay for these expenses, Social Good Fund will NOT be able to reimburse the project representative. The reason for this is that when a payment is made using project funds, that payment is using funds from SGF, the legal entity, and as such anyone making payments would be beholden to the same 1099 rules as is SGF as a whole. Meaning that if a project representative (of any project) pays any applicable person or organization $2000 or more in any given year (as of January 1, 2026), SGF is still required to collect W-9s and issue 1099s when applicable in January to that person or organization. We have a fiduciary duty to ensure we are keeping a proper account of totals paid out for SGF overall, so that the tax burden is appropriately applied.
In the rare case that a vendor payment was made by a project representative that needs to be reimbursed, the reimbursement/refund would need to come from the vendor after the vendor received a payment directly from SGF.
Note on travel: Reimbursements related to travel, such as for purchase of airline tickets, will only be made after the travel is completed. Therefore it’s recommended whenever possible for projects to purchase items like this directly using a project expense card.*
Reimbursement Process:
If you are requesting a reimbursement to a project employee, go to the reimbursement request page of the Members Portal, select the employee, and follow the instructions/complete the form.
If you are requesting a reimbursement to a non-employee, first add the recipient as a vendor (if not there already.) Once the vendor is approved, go to the invoice payment form page of the Members Portal, check off the box stating “this request only contains reimbursements”, and follow the instructions/complete the form.
The payment will be made via the method chosen. Depending on the method chosen it may take up to 10 days after payment processed for the individual to receive the funds in their account/in the mail.
Make sure to provide legible receipts.
Credit card and/or bank statements, if provided, must be accompanied by a secondary document showing what goods or services were provided
Individual receipt image files must be submitted for each expense type (please do not send in 1 file with multiple receipts unless they are all considered the same expense type, i.e., all Travel)
After submitting the form the requester will receive an email confirmation.
Provided all information is complete, the request will be processed in about 10 SGF business days; the requester will receive confirmation once that happens.
*Note if your project is regularly making purchases of goods and/or travel and has sufficient funds, it is highly recommended to procure a project expense card to minimize the need for reimbursements
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