Payment Release for Grantees Policy

1.0 Rationale

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is accountable for the public funds it distributes to grantees.

2.0 Purpose

The Payment Release for Grantees Policy aligns with the principles of the Transfer Payment Accountability Directive. It supports accountability for public funds by ensuring grantees demonstrate an ability to manage their grant terms and conditions, activities and project funds responsibly to deliver on their grant contract.

3.0 Policy

OTF releases payments based on the satisfactory review of the information required and submitted to OTF, by the grantee.

The application, grantee engagements, and grantee monitoring reports provide information used to determine the state of readiness for the release of scheduled grant payments. Grant funds will only be released to grantees demonstrating financial need and readiness in their project implementation to proceed with the next scheduled payment.

The first payment will be released after the signed grant contract has been submitted to OTF, the grantee has met all prerequisites (e.g., completed OTF’s grantee onboarding) and OTF has deemed the grantee is ready to proceed with the implementation of the project. Subsequent payments are released by OTF based upon the satisfactory completion of a grantee engagement or review of a progress or final report.

OTF will hold back 10% of the final year's grant amount until the grantee has submitted the final report and the report has been reviewed by OTF to verify the satisfactory completion of the grant and its contractual requirements (e.g., recognition activity), at which point the final payment will be released to the grantee.

4.0 Definitions

Grant Contract: The legal agreement between The Ontario Trillium Foundation and the grantee.  It includes the terms and conditions of the grant including a payment and reporting schedule.