Payment & Reimbursement Information
Please click on the items below to show detailed information on each topic.
Contract & W-9 Form (Mandatory for all artists)
All participants must complete a contract and a W9 form. These forms must be filled out completely before your first performance.
(If you enrolled in Gusto with the Moisture Festival last year, you don’t need to take any action unless updates are needed for any of your personal information. Please log in to Gusto and double check your information is correct prior to your performance!)
- Each performer will receive an email titled “Moisture Festival 2025 Contract”, which will contain a link to this document.
- This link is personalized only for you. Please do not share this link.
- Open the link and complete the contract.
- Make sure you remember to hit “Send Contract” when you are done.
A completed contract is needed for each individual performer, even if you are part of a group. For group acts with more than one person, each member will receive their own individualized contract link.
- Your “share” payment will be made by direct deposit via our payroll system, Gusto, unless you have indicated “No Pay” on this contract.
- Once your contract is signed, you will be invited to enroll in Gusto (click here) (if you did not perform last year), where you will securely complete all your payment paperwork.
Direct deposits will be made thirty days after the close of festival, once the net revenue has been determined.
Moisture Festival can no longer issue checks for share payments or expense reimbursements. All payments will be made securely via Gusto.
If you have/are a child or teen under 18 years of age performing in the Festival, a parent or guardian must fill out the “Under 18 Performer Contract“. Please contact david@moisturefestival.org for that paperwork.
Direct Deposit | Gusto Signup 2025
Detailed Instructions to Sign Up for Gusto
Note – If you have performed in Moisture Festival since 2024, you do not need to sign up in Gusto again. Please log in to your Gusto account and double check your information for accuracy!
Important! We will be gathering your SSN, other W9 details, and bank account details for Direct Deposit through this portal.
1. You’ll receive an email from Gusto titled “Help Moisture Festival Pay You For Your Hard Work”.
2. When you click the ‘Complete Setup’ button, you’ll be redirected to a webpage where you will set a password.
This is a very secure system (all of your personal and bank details will be encrypted and hidden even from Moisture Festival staff) and there’s no chance that your payment will get lost in the mail.
3. You’ll also be asked if you want to set up 2 Factor Authentication. This is recommended as a security measure, but you can choose to skip it (using the Skip For Now link).
4. The next couple of screens will ask you to complete personal information, and then we will get an alert once you’ve done your part.
5. When the time comes for you to be paid, you’ll receive a Direct Deposit and an email notification from Gusto that payment is on its way.
Gusto will also automatically generate and e-file form 1099 NEC next January. You will be able to log on and access that through Gusto if you need it for tax purposes.
Please Note:
- If you cannot find your invitation email, you should be able to set up your account by visiting https://app.gusto.com/login.
- Select ‘Having Trouble Signing In?’ and then enter the email you submitted to Moisture Festival under ‘Password Reset’. You should receive a link & then will be prompted to set a new password.
- If you find you are still having trouble, please contact admin@moisturefestival.org for assistance.
Travel Expense Reimbursement
The following expenses are considered reimbursable by Moisture Festival:
- Airfare
- Baggage Fees
- Mileage, if driving from outside of the Seattle Metropolitan area and within a 200 mile radius, reimbursed at the IRS rate of $0.67 per mile
- If you are interested in driving farther than that, please reach out to admin@moisturefestival.org – mileage reimbursements of greater than 400 miles round trip will have to be preapproved.
- Ferry tickets to and from the theater
- Theater parking
*For mileage reimbursements, please include a screenshot of Google Maps showing the roundtrip mileage.
PRO TIP: TAKE PHOTOS OF RECEIPTS WITH YOUR PHONE DURING THE FESTIVAL!
The following expenses are NOT reimbursable:
- Meals or food
- Lodging
- Incidental items (ie. toiletries)
- Ground transportation
- Gas receipts (see mileage note above)
- Any expense without a receipt. A credit card statement can be used in lieu of an itemized receipt in cases when the original receipt is missing.
(Meals, lodging, and transportation to and from the theater within Seattle will be organized or provided by Moisture Festival, and are therefore not considered separately reimbursable. If circumstances are such that you feel there are exceptions to this policy, please email admin@moisturefestival.org for additional approvals.)
Receipts must be submitted by April 30th, 2025 or will not be eligible for reimbursement.
To submit receipts:
- Capture photos of all receipts, or save as screenshots, image files, or PDFs. Do not send receipts piecemeal, but as ONE final expense report.
- Attach ALL receipts to one email addressed to expenses@moisturefestival.org
- In the body of the email, list each type of expense and the total amount you are expecting to be reimbursed.
Confirmation
- You will receive an email confirmation of receipt, along with an approval of the reimbursement amount.
- Reimbursements will then be processed via Direct Deposit through Gusto, and a confirmation email will be sent when payment has been processed.
Moisture Festival will process your expense reimbursement within 7-10 business days of receipt.
If you have any questions about reimbursement, or need assistance with the process, please contact admin@moisturefestival.org.
Financial Philosophy
The financial structure of the Moisture Festival reflects the philosophy of its founders, and differs in many ways from other festivals around the world. The purpose of the festival is to present live Comedy/Variety performance in the Pacific Northwest, to give performers a chance to interact with each other, and to educate audiences and performers about the history of Comedy/Variety from its roots in Europe through American Vaudeville to its present-day resurgence.
One of the things which makes the festival’s financial structure unique is the “share” system, wherein all the performers receive the same amount of money per show. For more detailed information about our share system, please see below.
The festival is incorporated in Seattle, Washington, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. As a community-based organization, it depends on the generosity of volunteers and seeks individual donations and sponsorship from local businesses, as well as grants, to help defray the production costs.
Ticket sales cover roughly half the expenses of the festival. This reflects our desire to keep ticket prices affordable. As a result, Moisture Festival relies heavily on fundraising and community support.
How Does the Share System Work?
For each show in which someone performs, they accumulate one share. After the festival, each performer receives a payment based on the number of shares that they have accumulated, multiplied by the value of a share.
All income goes into the same pot. At the end of the Festival, after all hard expenses are paid (such as transportation, insurance, theater rental, and food) and enough money is put aside to cover the year-round operating costs, the remainder is divided among all of the performers. Therefore the value of a share is set AFTER the Festival, based on how well the Festival does financially. It takes around three to four weeks to do all of the accounting and determine the value of a share.
Because everyone’s shares are of equal value, everyone’s payment is based on how many shows they have done, and not on the ticket sales for any specific show.
(EIN:20-33669334)