when the governor, mayor etc donate money through their governmental agecies is it called grants or donations?

Question

I am trying to find info on how to approach senators, politicians, mayor, governor etc, about donations. Everyone keeps directing me to websites that offer grants, and I am unclear whether grants and donations are the same in this particular case.

Answer 1

OK, let's start at the end. The difference between a grant and a donation is that donations are given to non-profit organizations (usually with the understanding that the recipient is free to use the funds as they see fit), while grants are given to support specific projects or activities of non-profit organizations (in some cases, the federal government also goves grants to state and local governments). When you give a donation, you have no say in how the money is going to be spent and expect no reports from the recipient. When you give a grant, you have to state the purpose of the grant; the potential recipients will then submit their proposals, in wchich they will attempt to show that their organizatoin is the most likely to advance the purpose of the grant. Each proposal will include a budget. When the grant is awarded, the recipient has an obligation to report to the grant-making institution for the duration of the grant on how the money was spent and what results this spending has achieved.

Typically, government agencies do not make donations; this is considered to be misuse of taxpayers money. Government agencies do make grants though, but most of them are research grants. Most of those that are not are grants to state and local governments.