Grant (money) in the context of "Commonwealth Foundation"

The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group. The bank is headquartered in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It provided around $98.83 billion in loans and assistance to "developing" and transition countries in the 2021 fiscal year. The bank's stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. Total lending as of 2015 for the last 10 years through Development Policy Financing was approximately $117 billion. Its five organizations have been established over time:

• International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), 1944
• International Development Association (IDA), 1960
• International Finance Corporation (IFC), 1956
• International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), 1965
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), 1988

The first two are sometimes collectively referred to as the World Bank. They provide loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing economic development. These activities include fields such as human development (e.g. education, health), agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation and rural services), environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, and electricity), large industrial construction projects, and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal institutions development). The IBRD and IDA provide loans at preferential rates to member countries, as well as grants to the poorest countries. Loans or grants for specific projects are often linked to wider policy changes in the sector or the country's economy as a whole. For example, a loan to improve coastal environmental management may be linked to the development of new environmental institutions at national and local levels and the implementation of new regulations to limit pollution. Furthermore, the World Bank Group is recognized as a leading funder of climate investments in developing countries.

Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are used to maintain quality standards, improve performance, and provide credibility. In academia, scholarly peer review is often used to determine an academic paper's suitability for publication. Peer review can be categorized by the type and by the field or profession in which the activity occurs, e.g., medical peer review. It can also be used as a teaching tool to help students improve writing assignments.

Henry Oldenburg (1619–1677) was a German-born British philosopher who is seen as the 'father' of modern scientific peer review. It developed over the following centuries with, for example, the journal Nature making it standard practice in 1973. The term "peer review" was first used in the early 1970s. A monument to peer review has been at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow since 2017.

The International Development Association (IDA) (French: Association internationale de développement) is a development finance institution which offers concessional loans and grants to the world's poorest developing countries. The IDA is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It was established in 1960 to complement the existing International Bank for Reconstruction and Development by lending to developing countries which suffer from the lowest gross national income, from troubled creditworthiness, or from the lowest per capita income. Together, the International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development are collectively generally known as the World Bank, as they follow the same executive leadership and operate with the same staff.

The association shares the World Bank's mission of reducing poverty and aims to provide affordable development financing to countries whose credit risk is so prohibitive that they cannot afford to borrow commercially or from the Bank's other programs. The IDA's stated aim is to assist the poorest nations in growing more quickly, equitably, and sustainably to reduce poverty. The IDA is the single largest provider of funds to economic and human development projects in the world's poorest nations. From 2000 to 2010, it financed projects which recruited and trained 3 million teachers, immunized 310 million children, funded $792 million in loans to 120,000 small and medium enterprises, built or restored 118,000 kilometers of paved roads, built or restored 1,600 bridges, and expanded access to improved water to 113 million people and improved sanitation facilities to 5.8 million people. The IDA has issued a total US$238 billion in loans and grants since its launch in 1960. Thirty-six of the association's borrowing countries have graduated from their eligibility for its concessional lending. However, nine of these countries have relapsed and have not re-graduated.

Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses its internal reserves to satisfy its necessity for cash, while the term financing is used when the firm acquires capital from external sources.

Sources of funding include credit, venture capital, donations, grants, savings, subsidies, and taxes. Funding methods such as donations, subsidies, and grants that have no direct requirement for return of investment are described as "soft funding" or "crowdfunding". Funding that facilitates the exchange of equity ownership in a company for capital investment via an online funding portal per the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (alternately, the "JOBS Act of 2012") (U.S.) is known as equity crowdfunding.

Student financial aid (or student financial support, or student aid) is financial support given to individuals who are furthering their education. Student financial aid can come in a number of forms, including scholarships, grants, student loans, and work study programs. Each of these methods of providing financial support to students has its advantages and drawbacks.

Many countries have some kind of financial aid program for their students. In countries that provide education to all at nominal cost, financial aid may have only a tertiary link to educational status, instead tied to the economic conditions of the family, and financial support for students is primarily indirect. In Belgium, for example, "[t]here is no system of student loans and direct support is only given in the form of means-tested grants to students from low-income families", which constitutes a very limited proportion of students.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to companies conducting their core operations in a responsible and sustainable way to create a positive corporate social impact. It is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal and environmental goals by reducing harm, for instance by reducing a company's carbon footprint or increasing positive outcomes for all stakeholders. It is related to the company's commitment to be ethical in its production, employment, and investment practices.

While CSR often takes the form of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by supporting volunteering through pro bono programs, community development, and by administering monetary grants to non-profit organizations for the public benefit, corporations have been seen shifting to a holistic and strategic approach. Strategic CSR is a long-term approach to creating a net positive social impact based on brand alignment, stakeholder integration and ethical behaviour. Moreover, some scholars and firms are using the term "creating shared value", an extension of CSR which allows for social obligations to be met while the company reaps a profit.