Zuwendungsmaßnahme

15:56 May 5, 2015 

i think that "funding initiatives" is excellent, since it includes the implication of the Zuwendungen being somewhat idiosyncratic,which seems to be the slant of the presentation (state governments not following regulatory procedures for putting out to tender). Heidi has the expression "funding" in her answer and the afterthought of Lancashire man seems to me to get it.

09:31 May 3, 2015 

Heidi,despite the great support for Phil's grant/subsidy, I incline to your suggestion, which you have not put forward as an answer (yet). The problem for me with the two proposed answers so far is that with "grant" I think as a native speaker automatically of a sum of money with no control on how it is used but I think that a "Zuwendung" is very strictly controlled and the problem for me with "concession" is that it causes confusion with the word in the meaning of "public concesion" being the awarding of a service contract to a private company, which is not the meaning of Zuwendung here is it? Am I right in understanding "Zuwendung" to mean financial support in a well defined context for companies winning tenders?

08:57 May 3, 2015 

... if you look at the hits, you'll see what I mean. The general format is something like:
"Aktuelle Zuwendungsmaßnahmen sind zum Beispiel:
- die Arbeiten im Rahmen der Sozialen Stadt Annen,
- Stadterneuerungsmaßnahmen (v.a. „Aktive Stadtzentren“)
..."

"Subsidies" on its own doesn't really work.

18:16 May 2, 2015 

is what is meant in your context, perhaps?