Note: This is the second post in our ‘What Is’ series about the grant lifecycle and grant types.
A “discretionary” grant is a grant in which a federal agency selects the awardee (i.e., grant recipient) based on merit and eligibility. After you apply for a discretionary grant on Grants.gov, the applications are sent to the federal agency for a competitive review process and final funding decision.
The review process can vary for each program and federal agency. Here’s an example:
- Applications for a specialized type of research are likely to undergo rigorous peer review by a panel of subject matter experts
- Personnel in the federal agency also review the applications, and then make funding recommendations using the peer review results and their own assessments
- After multiple layers of review, a final funding decision is made based on the quality of the application and how well the proposed project will fulfill the program’s mission
So, what’s unique about a “discretionary” grant?
For discretionary grants, the federal awarding agencies review, assess, and evaluate the quality of the grant application to inform their funding decisions—it’s a competitive process.
There are other types of grants, such as mandatory, formula, or block grants, where federal agencies have less discretion in the final funding decision. For these types, grants are awarded based on the minimum eligibility and qualification requirements prescribed by legislation.
We’ll discuss these other grants as we continue our What Is series. Look for our next article in the series—What Is a Mandatory Grant?
Do you have questions or ideas about grant types? Post a comment below. Read our Comment and Privacy Policy.
Why are you charging for getting the Grants they said anyone that charges don’t go to, and what if after you charge they don’t get the grant, do you refund their money, or are you a scam like many others out there.
please reply, Stan Morris
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Hey Stan, we (i.e., the government) do not charge people for grants. It’s free to apply for grants on Grants.gov. Please review the Grant Fraud section of our website for more info http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/learn-grants/grant-fraud.html
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Hello what is the word on how to apply for discretionary grants?
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Go to the Search Grants tab on Grants.gov, find an opportunity you are eligible for, then create a workspace to apply for the grant. Instructions on how to apply for any federal grant can be found in the Applicants tab.
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html
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Very interesting information
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can i get a grant for houseing
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Hi Cynthia, please visit Benefits.gov and use the Benefits Finder tool to identify potential housing benefit opportunities: http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-finder#benefits&qc=cat_1 You may also want to visit this link on HUD.gov: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/rental_assistance
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This is cool and interesting
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Are there standards which all agencies have to uphold as far as discretionary grant review for objective scoring?
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Agency reviewers score applications against the selection criteria stated in the Federal Register notice, which is included in the application package. The Department of Education has published a good overview of their agency’s evaluation process: https://www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/about/grantmaking/grantmaking.pdf
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Interesting Arcticle
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Can i get a grant to start a private bar and grill in north carolina (women owned)
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Hi Melanie, thanks for the question. This post on small business grants might be helpful to your search: https://blog.grants.gov/2016/07/07/exploring-eligibility-can-small-businesses-receive-federal-grants/
For background about what is a federal grant and their public-serving purpose, check out this blog post: https://blog.grants.gov/2017/02/07/new-series-what-is-a-grant/
Or, you can go directly to the Search Grants tab to look for open grant opportunities you are eligible to apply for: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html
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Great insights!
Good work on the ‘What Is’ series
Thanks
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Thank you for What is series.
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Hurricane Harvey flooded my land since I have a creek that runs through my property. The creek bed is changed now and so is my road that goes to the back of the property. Is there a grant to clean up the creek? I also lost a buck of fish out of my 3.5 acre lake.
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Hi Theresa, please visit https://www.disasterassistance.gov/ to learn more about disaster assistance for damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.
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