The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs

To Renew or Not to Renew?

Very few foundation grants are made for terms longer than four years, and fewer yet are made renewable on an indefinite basis. A small number are made with the explicit understanding that after the term of the commitment has expired, the grantees can never again request a cent's worth of support for the project. The great majority of all foundation grants, then, are made with the implicit or explicit understanding that the foundation reserves the right to renew the grant and also reserves the right to decline interest in funding the project again. The logic behind this open-ended approach is unassailable. When the grant is made, it is impossible to predict whether a project will be a success or a failure, and it is equally ...