Grant Support 2020

Breakthrough the confusing and often perplexing language of government grants. The federal govt makes grants in many forms, some of which allow the independent grant seeker an opportunity to be funded, and some which do not. Below are some of the most common types of govt grants.

Block Grants: These are made from the federal govt directly to states or local units of govt, such as counties and municipalities.

Capitation Grants: Stemming from a concept of providing funds per capita of service, capitation grants are awarded based on the actual number of people served, rather than on the task to be performed. Capitation grants are most often used for training grants where payment is based on enrollment, rather than training outcome.

Categorical Grants: Simply stated, funds under a certain “category” must be expended within a certain field of interest, such as mental health, services for the handicapped, or maternity and childcare. Although the number of categorical grants provided by the federal govt has decreased in the past few years because of an increase in block grants, there are still more than 850 federal grant programs active within the federal govt.

Construction Grants: Important construction grant programs, have been severely cut in the past few years, however, and it appears that the federal govt is less enamored with this type of grant than in the past.

Demonstration Grants: Among the most common types of grants made in the human services field, demonstration grants, as opposed to basic research grants, are made to agencies in order to illustrate the effectiveness of a certain procedure or methodology, whule at the same