https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Donate/International_Bank_Transfers gives the information on how to donate directly by bank transfer but if you read the text you’ll notice that the bank accounts are actually TransferWise accounts and that can be interesting.

I’ll try not to make this sound like an advert for TransferWise but if you have a TransferWise account then there are advantages to yourself by using it to pay OSMF besides OSMF getting a bit more money.

First if you have a TransferWise account then there is a small fee when you make a payment to a UK 60p or other bank account except if it is to another TransferWise account. When you put in the amount the fee is deducted but when you enter the TransferWise account number the fee is removed.

So if I pay OSMF UK pounds by PayPal then I get charged in Canadian dollars and shall we say the exchange rate is not as favourable as it could be. So for me it’s actually cheaper to pay by TransferWise than PayPal.

TransferWise essentially is a way to transfer money from one country to another at much better exchange rates than the banks. It’s also much faster, typically taking hours rather than days. I have an account which receives a small monthly pension in the UK that would be uneconomic to transfer by wire to Canada. Not to mention my credit union doesn’t actually have a Swift or Iban number which makes transferring money by wire more complex than it need be.