Paying Speakers

Speaker Fees for UMN Extension Programs

An update about paying speakers is coming soon—stay tuned!

Before committing to any speaker fees and payment, contact your coordinator or mgweb@umn.edu for assistance.

Master Gardeners as Speakers

When Master Gardeners speak at public events (e.g., horticulture days in other counties), they are encouraged to do so as Extension volunteers and should not be paid.

An exception can be made if a Master Gardener is invited to speak as an individual or expert in their personal capacity. In that case, they may accept payment (e.g., speaker fee, mileage), but they should not wear a Master Gardener badge or branded clothing, and the time should not be reported as volunteer hours.

If they are representing the Master Gardener Volunteer Program (wearing a badge or branded shirt), they may not accept payment or mileage reimbursement personally. However, the county program may initiate a speaker agreement and arrange for the fee to be paid to the program’s general expense and revenue account. Alternatively, the speaker can suggest the organization make a donation to the program’s foundation account.

Before committing to any speaker fees and payment, contact your coordinator or mgweb@umn.edu for assistance.

Paying Speakers

When paying speakers, let them know that they will receive a check within 30 days of the event.

• Expediting payments: 

  • Staff:   Use the Regional Support Staff (RSS) Work Request Form; view the payment request routing instructions (requires login).

  • Volunteers: use the online Master Gardener Funds Request Form (Smartsheet).

• When submitting the payment request, provide a list of the speakers including the names, addresses, payments, mileage including start and end point (if requested), and a copy of the event flyer.

Paying Speakers who are University Employees

When booking speakers for meetings or events, if they are currently or recently employed by the University there are some additional things to consider. Due to tax regulations we must pay employees through payroll (possibly recently terminated/retired as well). When paying through payroll, the purchaser is also responsible to pay the portion of the fringe benefit related to this additional salary for the employee. This additional amount is a percentage and is  around 37% of the amount paid. So if the speaker employed by the University is charging $250, you will need to pay that as well as about $80 in fringe. This will bring your total cost for this speaker to $330. See below for the process and email template to use when your group needs to pay a UMN employee's speaking fee through payroll.

The process for using the template email to pay a speaker fee through payroll:

The Extension employee/program will fill out the template email below, then email it to the speaker and ask them to confirm it accurately captures what was agreed upon.  Assuming it does, the speaker can simply reply to the email in the affirmative, and then that email chain can be forwarded on to Extension HR/Finance for them to process the agreed upon payment, which will be added to the speaker's next payroll.

Ideally, HR would like to receive the email twice - once when the agreement is first reached, as an fyi and so they can make sure handling the payment through payroll is the best way to proceed, and then a second time after the presentation has happened, so they know the event went forward as planned, and payment is now due - basically in lieu of an invoice from the presenter.  

Draft email:

This email summarizes the agreement made between [speaker name] and the [insert Extension program ie Anoka Co. Master Gardener program] for a presentation on [insert date].  As a current UMN employee, [speaker] will receive a lump sum for giving this presentation as additional pay that will be paid through payroll.  Details are outlined below.

Presenter's Name: [speaker name]

Employment status with UMN: Sample to show level of detail needed: Dr. Smith is a full time employee with the UMN Department of Forestry, employee ID 1234567.  This presentation is outside of the scope of his work with the Department of Forestry, which focuses on conducting research and teaching undergraduate students.

Work to be performed: [Speaker] will present a talk entitled "XXXXX" for [list audience and purpose of the talk] on [date] at [location].

Amount to be paid to Speaker:  [insert amount - note that fringe rate will be added]

EFS Chartstring to pay on: [insert]

Submitted by [name] on behalf of the [Extension program].

If you do not want to have the additional fringe charge, here are some suggestions when booking a speaker.

• Work directly with a University/Extension department that works with the topic your group is interested in. See if one of their educators/researchers would be available to present at your meeting. If the department charges a fee for speakers, this fee would be paid directly to the department and not the speaker as it's in their scope of work. Some departments may not even charge a fee depending on their outreach policies.

• Let the employee know that you will be required to cover the fringe associated with this payment. Ask if they would consider reducing their fee by the percentage, so that expense would be covered in your budget for the meeting or event. It is highly unlikely the employee knows that there would be this additional fee to your program.

• Work with non-UMN employed speakers.

Requests for Day-Of Payment

There may be an expectation from certain speakers that they be paid "as they walk off the stage." This custom can pose a serious challenge. Please manage speaker expectations by letting them know that they will be paid within 30 days after the event.

The University pays for professional or consulting services after the work has been completed. Payment terms for businesses or consulting firms are usually "net 30" meaning vendors give us a bill (an invoice), we enter the information into our financial system, get approvals, and payment is sent to the vendor 30 days after the invoice date. Reputable firms and speakers are usually willing to present an invoice and accept payment a number of days later.

Reminder to staff: Never pay a speaker or entertainer out of your own pocket. This is not a reimbursable expense.