Is there any endowment for such projects? Something like money to the endowment from the big corp, then would be recipients petition the endowment for ongoing

Is there any endowment for such projects? Something like money to the endowment from the big corp, then would be recipients petition the endowment for ongoing funding, some board decides based on a set of open protocols... Because honestly I've seen this a bit recently - major infrastructure projects looking for effectively pocket change; a couple thousand. They shouldn't ever have to beg for money, this is stupid.