Grantmaking

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The process of providing financial assistance or resources through formal approval by an organization or individual; the act of allocating funds to support projects or initiatives; the practice of distributing grants based on criteria or requests
2. The activity involving the distribution of monetary support or aid authorized by a governing body; the method of approving and delivering funds to beneficiaries; the function of assigning grants for specified purposes
3. The systematic procedure of awarding financial contributions authorized by an institution; the role of deciding and dispensing funds to various causes; the management of grant allocations according to set guidelines

Etymology: Grantmaking is about as transparent as English compounds get: it joins "grant" and "making," so the word simply describes the act of making grants. The more interesting part is the first element. "Grant" traces back to Old French "graanter," meaning to consent to or allow, from Latin "credentem" in the sense of trusting or giving credence. A grant, then, was originally an act of agreeing to something or allowing a request, and only later came to mean a sum of money handed over for a purpose. That shift explains the modern sense of the compound. A grantmaker is someone who says yes to a request, and grantmaking is the whole system of formal approval that follows, from weighing applications against criteria to releasing funds for a project. The word thus keeps the older idea of consent at its core, even though what is now consented to is usually money.

Synonyms: funding, financing, supporting, subsidizing, awarding

Antonyms: withholding, denying, refusing, rejecting, retaining