The late Carl P. Miller, president of Rotary International in 1963-64, was a strong believer in humanitarian work that could be accomplished at the grassroots level.  Through the Matched Club and District Program, launched during his year in office, he encouraged Rotarians to find opportunities for service in another country through “people-to-people” contact.  The pairing of clubs and districts became an essential component of World Community Service.

A successful newspaper publisher, Carl, along with his wife, Ruth, made a generous endowment gift to The Rotary Foundation to establish the Carl P. Miller Discovery Grant program.  Discovery Grants are intended to stimulate international involvement by clubs and districts, providing up to $US3,000 for travel and related expenses incurred in developing an International Service project.  A Discovery Grant does not fund the project itself, but, rather supports the “people-to-people” contact necessary in the preliminary stages to bring the project to fruition.  Only clubs and districts or groups of clubs and districts are eligible to receive these special grants that are awarded by The Rotary Foundation twice yearly in August and February.

In 2004 Discovery Grants were eliminated and Individual Grants replaced them.