Grant (money)

A grant is a fund given by a person or organization, often a public body, charitable foundation, a specialised grant-making institution, or in some cases a business with a corporate social responsibility mission, to an individual or another entity, usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a local government body, for a specific purpose linked to public benefit. Unlike loans, grants are not intended to be paid back. Examples include student grants, research grants, the Sovereign Grant paid by the UK Treasury to the monarch, and some European Regional Development Fund payments in the European Union.

The European Commission provides financing through numerous specific calls for project proposals. These may be within Framework Programmes.Many seven-year programmes are periodically renewed to fund various initiatives. These include structural funds, youth programmes, and education initiatives. Occasionally, one-off grants address unforeseen issues or special projects. Most of these are administered through what are called National Agencies, but some are administered directly through the Commission in Brussels. Due to the complexity of the funding mechanisms involved and especially the high competitiveness of the grant application processes (14%) professional Grant Consulting firms are gaining importance in the grant writing process. EU grants should not be confused with EU tenders, although there can be some similarities.

Another funding body in Europe is the European Research Council established by the European Commission in 2007: see European Research Council#Grants offered. Similarly there are calls and various projects that are funded by this council.

The European Commission and the Council of Europe also operate a joint grant-funding programme.

Denmark has an educational universal grant system, SU (Statens Uddannelsesstøtte, the State Education Fund). It is available to all students from 18 years of age, with no upper limit, who are currently taking courses. There are two systems of SU.

In addition to the government grant scheme, more than 35,000 grants in Denmark exists, which is the second largest number of foundations in Europe by country. The foundations are estimated to possess 400 billion Danish kroner (US$60 billion) in accessible funds.

Grant-giving organizations in Ireland include the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology and Science Foundation Ireland for research grants.

Major grant organisations funded and operated by the government include: