FAQs (General) - Charges and Billing

What does it cost to add an account or close/delete an account from the system?

There are no setup, installation, training, maintenance or support fees.

There are no charges to open/close grantmaker accounts or to add/delete users.

There are no per user charges and there is no maximum number of users per account.

What is the annual fee or minimum commitment to start using the system?

Grantmakers are only charged a monthly subscription fee after they choose to start receiving applications from applicants. Grantmakers pay on a month by month basis, for the upcoming month of service. There is no annual fee or commitment required. They may close their account at any time.

Is any trial or acceptance period available for grantmakers?

We have no formal trial and acceptance periods. Grantmakers can open and setup their account for free. Moving to our system is fairly simple. We ask for some information about your organization and for any current applications you use for your existing process. We'll then work to build up an initial account in a demonstration sandbox. After we've put together something we'll then work with you to review your account and teach you how to navigate and use the system. We'll work back and forth until you are happy with the account and application setup. We'll also provide a test applicant account so that you can view the application and application process from the applicant perspective. Once you've settled on the application and other account details we'll then create a YouTube video for your applicants, showing them how to submit an application to your organization. We create a first version of the video and then provide it to you for review. You come back to us with your notes and comments and we'll modify the video. After you tell us it looks good we'll then post it on YouTube and then also link it into our system so that applicants may watch the video from the first step of the application process. After this is all done we move the account to our production system, you enter billing information and then flip the switch to start receiving, reviewing, evaluating and managing applications.

At any point in this process you may decide to stop using the system. Even after the switch is flipped, you may stop using our system at any time. No long-term commitments are required to use our system.

How are grantmaker charges calculated for an application?

Each grantmaker is assigned a billing plan upon their registration and initial login. Your billing plan was automatically set at the time your account migrated from another service provider, or to the billing plan in effect the first time you logged into your account.

Grantmakers will be charged a fee for each application or LOI that is successfully submitted to the grantmaker. Nothing is charged to the grantmaker if the application or LOI is not successfully submitted to the grantmaker. Applications or LOIs submitted by the grantmaker, to the grantmaker, through the "Add an Application" feature are not charged to the grantmaker.

How are grantmaker charges calculated for the monthly subscription?

Grantmakers will pay a monthly asset-based subscription fee. The monthly subscription fee will start being charged when the grantmaker starts accepting applications for consideration. Grantmaker subscription fees are charged in advance for the upcoming month of service. Each billing cycle runs from the 1st of the month to the end of the month (either the 28th, 29th, 30th or 31st depending on the month). If the grantmaker starts accepting applications for consideration on the 1st of the month, the first charge will consist of one full month. Otherwise the first charge will consist of the pro-rated amount of the month the grantmaker joined. Subsequent charges will be made one full month at a time. The pro-rated month's charged is calculated by dividing the subscription fee monthly rate by the number of days in the month, and then multiplying this by the number of days left in the month. For example, if the monthly subscription fee is $60 and the grantmaker starts accepting applications on the 10th of a month that is 30 days long the pro-rated subscription charge will be $60 divided by 30 and then multiplied by 20 days which equals $40.

What is the refund and proration policy?

In general, grantmaker per application fees are only charged to the user account upon successful submission of an application from an applicant to a grantmaker. The Common Grant Application provides a service that facilitates the grantseeking and grantmaking process. It does not have any responsibility or control over the information provided by, or the decision making process of applicants or grantmakers. It has no responsibility or control over whether an application is accepted or rejected by a grantmaker or withdrawn by an applicant. Application fees are not refundable other than for a verifiable technical problem. Grantmaker monthly subscription fees are charged in advance for upcoming month of service and are not refundable or prorated if a grantmaker decides to discontinue use of the service. To avoid being charged the subscription fee for an upcoming month, the grantmaker must request closing of the account no later than the end of the month.

When are charges made to my credit card?

Grantmaker subscription charges, if any, will be made to the grantmaker's credit card on the 1st of each month. Grantmaker application charges, if any, will be accumulated at the time an application is successfully submitted to the grantmaker until the 1st of the following month. Any accumulated application charges from the preceding month will be made to the grantmaker's credit card on the 1st of the month, at the same time the subscription charges are made to their credit card.

What name will show up on my credit card bill when I am charged by this website?

Although this website and service are known as the "Common Grant Application" your credit card bill may show either the name "Common Grant Application" or "Oceanpeak, Inc". Common Grant Application is a brand name and Oceanpeak is the corporate entity that has developed and runs the Common Grant Application. The name you will see, depends on the particular credit card company.

What steps does the Common Grant Application take to safeguard my credit card information?

We take the security of your credit card information very seriously. To that end, we have implemented a number of safeguards to protect this information. We use a variety of administrative, technical and physical measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

Your credit card information is only shared with our banking service provider and the credit card processor or bank that you have chosen in order to complete online payment of applicable fees. It is not shared with other users or third-parties. We do not store any sensitive information on our own servers - it is stored with our credit card processor service provider. We pass your credit card information to our credit card processor service provider the first time you submit it using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security mechanism. At no time are any Common Grant Application personnel able to view a customer's complete credit card information. We store only a minimal amount of information (last 4 digits, type of card, and expiration date) about each transaction on our servers so that we may serve you if you contact us with questions about a transaction.