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

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?”