Project Payments

Once your project has been selected for funding and you have executed a contract with CME, you will receive the award amount in three payments, as follows.

Initial Payment

Upon receipt of your signed contract in our offices, we will send you your first payment equal to 30% of the award amount.

For example, assume you proposed a $100,000 project and received an award of $50,000 – 50% of the project costs. Your first payment will be 30% of the award amount, or $15,000.

Second Payment

You must submit your actual costs for the project before you can receive your second payment. Once that expense claim is reviewed and approved, CME will send you your second payment. If your approved expenses match your budget, your second payment will equal 50% of the award amount. However if your approved expenses end up being less than originally proposed, the award amount will be adjusted accordingly.

For example, assume you proposed a $100,000 project and received an award of $50,000 – 50% of the project costs. Once the project was completed, actual expenditures were only $90,000, so the award amount would be reduced to $45,000, and payments would be adjusted accordingly.

Based on the revised award amount, you will receive a second payment that, combined with your initial payment, brings you up to 80% of the award amount.

Continuing the example above, you would have received $15,000 as an initial payment (30% of $50,000). After reducing the award amount to $45,000, you will receive a second check calculated as follows:

2nd Payment = (80% of $45,000) less initial $15,000 payment = $21,000

After the 2nd payment, you would have received a total of $36,000.

If your actual expenses are higher than originally budgeted, we will not be able to increase the award amount, so be sure to keep close control on your spending during the project.

Third and Final Payment

You will need to report the results of the project in order for us to release the third and final payment. Once the results reports is reviewed and approved, CME will pay the balance of the award amount. If your approved expenses submitted earlier match your budget, your second payment will equal 20% of the award amount. However if your approved expenses were less than originally proposed, the award amount will have been adjusted accordingly, and the third payment will represent the balance to be paid.