Many organizations are required by law to be unbiased and to award grants by merit. Since this can keep the "right" people from getting the money that they want, several ways are used to guarantee that an applicant gets the grant.
Features of the pre-ordained grant:
(1) A small number (1 or 2) of awards for a relatively large amount of money.
(2) A short interval (<= 6 weeks) between the official announcement and the due date.
(3) A list of requirements that is impossible to complete within the stated time interval.
(4) One or more requirements that exclude all but a small number of applicants.
(5) One or more features that make it unattractive to most applicants (for example, prohibiting indirect costs could be used to exclude university applicants).
