---
id: "govlab:project/project-open-grantmaking"
type: "GovLab project"
title: "Open Grantmaking"
url: "https://thegovlab.org/project/project-open-grantmaking"
authors: ["Beth Simone Noveck","Andrew Young"]
summary: "Improving the Effectiveness and Legitimacy of Government Grant Funding"
source: "The GovLab (thegovlab.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Open Grantmaking

Improving the Effectiveness and Legitimacy of Government Grant Funding

Project website: [https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations)

## Background

Grantmaking plays a vital role in helping our government, our researchers, and our communities confront 21st-century challenges. Yet we still have a decidedly 20th-century system in place for deciding how we make these billions of dollars of crucial investments. In order to make the most of limited funding — and to help build confidence in the ability of public investments to make a positive difference — it is essential for our government agencies to try more strategic approaches to designing, awarding, and measuring their grantmaking.

## Description

In collaboration with GrantCraft, a service of Foundation Center, The GovLab is exploring how new innovations can increase the openness and effectiveness of grantmaking. In a number of publications available on Medium, we sketch out the range and potential impact of open and effective grantmaking innovations at all stages of the process. Through these posts, we asking readers to help us gather and curate information about open and effective grantmaking innovations, analyze their potential uses, and encourage their adoption where appropriate. This open input process is a first toward building a conversation and a broader case for putting grantmaking innovations into practice throughout government at all levels.

## Location

- United States

## Partners

- GrantCraft, a service of Foundation Center

## Team

- [Beth Simone Noveck](https://thegovlab.org/team.html#beth-simone-noveck)
- [Andrew Young](https://thegovlab.org/team.html#andrew-young)

## Additional resources

- [The Innovation the Grantmaking Process Needs](http://www.governing.com/columns/smart-mgmt/col-innovation-government-grantmaking-process-needs.html)
- [Introduction to Open and Effective Grantmaking](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/introduction-to-open-grantmaking-9301089a8780#.8wrprb7h2)
- [Innovations Pre-Granting: Ideation Challenges](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-pre-judging-ideation-challenges-c8c08f103225#.q8l7g52e7)
- [Innovations Pre-Granting: Improving the Quality of Applications through Matchmaking](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-pre-granting-improving-the-quality-of-applications-through-matchmaking-d52b76669fa#.oemmxiaug)
- [Innovations Pre-Granting: Prioritizing Bottom-Up Participation](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-pre-granting-prioritizing-bottom-up-participation-c9cd748672a#.lm584pnzb)
- [Innovations in Granting: Evidence-Based Grantmaking](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-in-granting-evidence-based-grantmaking-a-little-evidence-a-little-money-a-lot-of-c40bdd9b9dfc#.78zjq3dal)
- [Innovations in Granting: Open Alternatives to Grants](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-in-granting-open-alternatives-to-grants-crowdfunding-micropayments-and-prize-f99c090721f0#.8okikzwiz)
- [Innovations in Granting: Expert Networking](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-in-granting-expert-networking-matching-experts-to-opportunities-fd7f9b69febd#.1y0tjeom4)
- [Innovations in Granting: Open Peer Review and Participatory Judging](https://medium.com/open-grantmaking-innovations/innovations-in-granting-open-peer-review-and-participatory-judging-4bc48e904e41#.8482cui9v)