The foundation's program staff conducts extensive research to identify gaps or needs that the foundation can address in the fields it supports. Typically, this research leads to the development of a grant "initiative," which supports a set of related grants that advance a specific goal or objective.
Once an initiative is developed, grants are awarded in a variety of ways, including foundation-initiated invitations to apply, re-granting competitions that are administered by service organizations, and competitions that are run using request-for-proposal processes. Occasionally, the foundation also supports opportunistic grants that are more broadly related to the programs' missions.
The foundation generally awards multi-year grants that range from $100,000 to $1 million (as illustrated in the Grants Awarded section of this site). The grantmaking methods used in each of the initiatives are explained on the program pages, which are updated throughout the year.