Grants to our Science Special Projects are allocated for unique opportunities outside the Foundation’s initiative structure and are given to researchers in a broad range of scientific disciplines, such as astronomy, astrophysics, information science, and molecular science. Some grants to our Science Special Projects have helped to increase open access to scientific research and data, as well as improve scientific information exchange capabilities. In some cases, projects indirectly support the Foundation's work in environmental conservation through the development of new tools and techniques. For example, the Foundation has supported the standards-setting body dedicated to developing standards for biodiversity data and metadata, the Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG), which is a vital partner with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) in the digitization and dissemination of the world's primary scientific data on biodiversity.

These grants to our special projects are evaluated based on the Foundation’s four filters: importance to the Foundation’s program areas, potential to make a difference and have an enduring impact, outcomes that are measurable, and overall portfolio effect.