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Modern Grant Disbursements: Why It's Time to Move Beyond Paper Checks

Sonia Nigam
July 7, 2025
Sonia Nigam

For companies and foundations that support nonprofits, distributing funds should be the easy part. After the strategic planning, the proposal reviews, the partnerships, and the paperwork, sending the actual money is often viewed as a final administrative step. But for many organizations, this “last mile” is where things slow down or even fall apart.

If your team is responsible for disbursing charitable grants or donations to a large number of nonprofits, you’ve likely experienced this firsthand. Whether you manage grant programs at a private foundation, distribute funds as a community trust, or run charitable giving infrastructure at a tech company, the act of paying out is more complex than it should be.

And if you’re still writing paper checks? The challenges multiply.

Disbursing Grants Today: The Friction Beneath the Surface

Most companies and foundations don’t talk publicly about the backend of their philanthropic operations. But behind the scenes, disbursing funds to hundreds or even thousands of nonprofits can be a logistical headache.

Many organizations still rely on a patchwork of manual processes. That often includes writing and mailing paper checks, keeping Excel spreadsheets to track grant cycles, and emailing nonprofits one by one for bank account details or W-9s. Some use third-party portals that weren’t designed for philanthropy and lack features like nonprofit vetting, 501(c)(3) status checks, or grant tracking. Others work with fiscal sponsors or giving platforms that introduce additional delays and complexity.

This creates risk, both operational and reputational. Grants get delayed. Checks get lost. Nonprofits don’t receive timely confirmation. Internal teams spend hours chasing status updates and reconciling disbursement reports. For a sector focused on impact, this is a problem.

What If Disbursing Funds Was as Easy as Sending an Email?

This is where disbursements APIs come in.

A disbursements API allows companies and foundations to programmatically send funds to pre-vetted nonprofits, with full transparency and auditability built in. It eliminates the friction of paper checks, reduces the chance of errors, and improves the experience for both the sender and the recipient. Instead of managing payouts manually, teams can automate grant payments, send funds via ACH, and track them all in one place.

For grantmaking teams, this means less time on admin and more time on strategy. For nonprofit partners, it means faster access to funds, better visibility, and fewer emails asking “when will we get the check?”

Ready to get started?

Explore the ins and outs of our disbursements platform.
Learn more

Why Change Is Built for This

Change offers a turnkey disbursement platform designed for companies and foundations that want to simplify their charitable grantmaking. Built in partnership with Our Change Foundation, a registered donor-advised fund (DAF), Change enables organizations to send funds directly to verified nonprofits via ACH, with built-in compliance and customizable workflows.

Every nonprofit in our network is vetted for 501(c)(3) status and OFAC compliance. Our dashboard makes it easy to upload recipients, trigger payments, and track grant status in real time. And for developers, our Donations API provides seamless integration into internal tools, product flows, or existing grantmaking software.

What sets Change apart is our blend of infrastructure and insight. Unlike legacy systems or general-purpose payment platforms, we’re built specifically for charitable giving. Our experience supporting commercial co-ventures, cause marketing campaigns, and nonprofit compliance gives us a unique perspective on what funders and recipients actually need.

We also understand that many foundations work with multiple grantees over multiple cycles. That’s why our tools support recurring grants, payment scheduling, donor attribution, and more.

The Paper Check Is No Longer the Default

The world of charitable giving is moving fast. As more companies incorporate social impact into their business models and as foundations look for more scalable ways to support nonprofits, the systems that support grant disbursements need to evolve.

Using a disbursements API can create a more transparent, equitable, and efficient experience for everyone involved. When nonprofits get paid faster, they can deliver impact faster. And when funders reduce friction, they can do more good with less overhead.

If your organization is ready to modernize how it gives, we’d love to help.

Learn more about our disbursements platform here.

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