A grant-in-aid is money coming from central government for a specific project. This kind of funding is usually used when the government and parliament have decided that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence from the state

State (polity)

A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...

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In the United Kingdom, most bodies in receipt of grants-in-aid are non-departmental public bodies

Non-departmental public body

In the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body —often referred to as a quango—is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...

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A grant-in-aid is funds allocated by one level of government to another level of government to be used for specific purposes. Such funds are usually accompanied by requirements and standards set by the governing body for how they are to be spent. An example of this would be how the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 required states to raise the drinking age for alcohol from 18 to 21 in order for the individual states to continue to qualify for federal funds for interstate highways located within each state.