Stipends for mentor organizations

Current phase:
The 2020 Season of Docs program finished on March 15, 2021. See timeline.

Google uses Payoneer to pay the open source organizations taking part in Season of Docs.

Follow the instructions below to create a Payoneer account and manage your payments.

What's included in the payment to your organization

  • $500 per technical writer mentored by your organization. (This payment is often called the mentor stipend.)

How to claim your payment

  1. Complete the payment request form linked below, by November 1, 2020. You must include the email address for the person responsible for accepting payment at your organization.

    This form is no longer available.

  2. If you did not participate in a previous Season of Docs program, you will receive a personalized registration token link via email. This email will arrive soon after November 1, 2020. Important: You must register with the personalized registration link that you receive by email. Do not sign up directly on the Payoneer website, as that causes delays in payment.

    If you participated in a previous Season of Docs program (i.e. 2019), you already have an active Payoneer account and do not need to register. Go to your Payoneer dashboard and ensure that all of your banking and contact information is up date and accurate. If any changes are needed, you can do it via your Payoneer dashboard or if you are having problems you can contact Payoneer to request changes be made on your behalf. Skip to step 4.

  3. When you receive the registration link, the designated person responsible for accepting payment must follow the one-time registration instructions on the Payoneer website. You must complete the Payoneer registration by December 3, 2020.

    When the account has been approved by Payoneer, the designee receives an email message with a link to complete their tax form. You must complete the tax form by December 3, 2020.

  4. Payoneer starts transferring funds to all organizations on March 15, 2021.

FAQ

It says my Payoneer account is not linked to the Season of Docs program. How do I fix that?

This means you did not register via the link sent to you from Payoneer. Please contact Payoneer directly and let them know you are part of the Season of Docs 2020 organization distribution. It can take several weeks to sort this out.

How can I contact the Payoneer support desk?

You can contact Payoneer directly via their contact page. Payoneer offers multilingual customer support for all payment-related issues via email, telephone and live chat.

What tax form am I required to complete?

We cannot provide any tax advice. As you go through the tax form wizard on the Payoneer website it asks questions which will help you determine which form you need to complete.

I need to change or update my bank account in Payoneer. How do I do this?

You can go to your Payoneer dashboard and update your account as needed.

My organization is based in India and I am not able to choose the prepaid card option on the Payoneer website. What's going on?

At this time, the pre-paid card option is not available in India. You must choose a direct bank transfer instead.

I am having problems setting up my account. Where can I go for help?

If you have any questions regarding your Payoneer account, please be sure to contact Payoneer directly via their contact page. You can also use the link in your Payoneer My Account page. Payoneer offers multilingual customer support for all payment related issues via email, telephone and live chat.

If your card is lost or stolen, please contact Payoneer immediately so it can be disabled and a new card will be sent to you.

I'm an individual claiming money on my organization's behalf. Can I still be paid by Payoneer?

Yes, you can be paid by Payoneer and set up the account in your name to receive the funds on behalf of the organization.

You may also want to consider joining the Software Freedom Conservancy or a similar organization that can provide infrastructure for FLOSS projects and can help you manage the payment process.

What if my organization doesn't want to accept funds?

Please complete the payment request form even if you do not plan to accept any money from Google. There you will have the option of declining funds, so you will not receive a link from Payoneer.

What if my organization would like to donate these funds?

We cannot issue payment to another charity/non-profit for you. You are welcome to accept the funds and then distribute them yourself. Please consider donating your funds to Software Freedom Conservancy.

What if we need to change the email address associated with our initial registration?

Google submits payment based on the email address provided in the payment request form. The email address becomes the identifier for your organization. If you decide to change that email address after registration you must contact season-of-docs@google.com so that the Google program administrators can update the email address. If you are the person in charge of receiving payments for two or more organizations then you should notify the Google program administrators so that we can make special arrangements for your multiple payments.