Institutional Support

Students using equipment funded through a $500,000 grant from The Sherman Fairchild Foundation.
Photo by Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00

The Office of Institutional Support (OIS), one of three offices within the Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs, manages the College’s fundraising efforts from foundations, government agencies, corporations, and other entities to support College-wide needs and maintain the College’s ability to raise and receive funding.

What We Do

OIS includes a dedicated cadre of staff that work closely with project directors, program staff, and faculty on the successful submission of grant applications that meet College priorities. Also within OIS is the Office of Prospect Research (OPR), an important part of Bard’s fundraising efforts. OPR finds potential sources of funding and individual donors for the College and recommends outreach efforts. The OIS team has a diverse set of backgrounds that they use to assist you in thinking strategically about raising money for your Bard project. Please feel free to give us a call or stop by to meet with one of our staff members!

OPR by the Numbers

Research completed by OPR on potential sources of funding is key to developing successful grant proposals.

140

Institutions Researched Per Month
155

Individuals Researched Each Month
$175,082

Average Grant Award
$428,742

Average Grant Request

OIS News

Click the links below for new grant awards and other OIS news!

Bard College Awarded $1.49 Million Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times Initiative Funding Supports the College’s “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” Project

Bard College Awarded $1.49 Million Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times Initiative Funding Supports the College’s “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” Project

Bard College Awarded $1.49 Million Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times Initiative Funding Supports the College’s “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” Project

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Bard College a $1.49 million grant for its “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” project. Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck proposes a Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) approach to a revitalized American Studies curriculum and undertakes an expansive understanding of land acknowledgment that goes beyond addressing a single institution’s history in regards to Native peoples. Through annual conferences, reading groups, workshops, and in fostering collaboration between faculty and students within Bard and across regional peer liberal arts colleges and engaging with the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians whose homelands these schools are in, Rethinking Place emphasizes community-based knowledge, collaboration, and collectives of inquiry.

“The project team and I are deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for this opportunity and for consistently supporting innovation in the arts and humanities, especially at this crucial juncture. Liberal arts colleges by their nature are small, inter-knit communities and this makes them ideal sites to both explore challenging questions and test out long-lasting curricular development in the service of equity,” says Associate Professor of History and Dean of Graduate Studies Christian Ayne Crouch. “Bard College is fortunate to count Vine Deloria Sr. (Yankton Dakota/Standing Rock Sioux) among our distinguished alumni. Being able to honor the interdisciplinary intellectual legacy of Deloria Sr. and his family makes this grant especially meaningful. The Mellon Foundation’s support for developing partnerships in this grant with individuals both inside and outside of higher education enhances an already-exciting opportunity.”

Bard College’s grant is part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times Initiative created to support newly developed curricula that both instruct students in methods of humanities practice and demonstrate those methods’ relevance to broader social justice pursuits. Of the 50 liberal arts colleges invited to submit proposals, 12 institutions were selected to receive a grant of up to $1.5 million to be used over a three-year period to support the envisioned curricular projects and help students to see and experience the applicability of humanities in their real-world social justice objectives.

Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck asks: What would it look like to truly acknowledge the land beneath us, its history, and to collaborate with its continuing stewards? It affirms Bard’s tangible commitments to the principles and ideals of the College’s 2020 land acknowledgment by recognizing the need to address historical erasure and make space for marginalized epistemologies. Rethinking Place’s proposed curriculum and programming takes the acknowledgment of the land—and the brutal history which has unfolded on it—and offers a new way to approach this work that emphasizes inclusivity in order to build a future that is fundamentally distinct from this past.

Each year, Rethinking Place will feature articulated NAIS themes and frames in which faculty, students, and staff can begin thinking in interdisciplinary terms and will engage the following five components: curriculum development, annual conferences, conference workshops, collaborative signage and mapping projects, and post-doctoral program-building. In order to hold Native concerns at the forefront of this work, the project team is in conversation with the Cultural Affairs Office of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and will also be in dialogue around Native arts with the Native-led Forge Project based in Taghkanic, New York.

Led by a diverse, interdisciplinary project team of Black, Latinx, and transgender faculty, as well as Native partners, Rethinking Place is being developed through Bard’s American Studies Program. Core members of Bard’s project team include: Associate Professor of History and Dean of Graduate Studies Christian Ayne Crouch (Principal Investigator), Associate Professor of Literature and Director of American Studies Peter L’Official (Project Coordinator), Associate Professor and Director of Environmental and Urban Studies Elias Dueker, Artist in Residence and Codirector of the Center for Experimental Humanities Krista Caballero, and Visiting Assistant Professor of American Studies and master barber Joshua Livingston. Grant projects will also take place in collaboration with Bard’s Center for Experimental Humanities, Center for Human Rights and the Arts, and the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities and with faculty partners at Vassar College and Williams College.

This generous Mellon grant offers Bard the opportunity to contribute in innovative ways to the field of American Studies and in humanities fields more generally, and therefore increase broad and diverse enrollment in the humanities—particularly among members of communities marginalized by certain disciplines—and to restore humanities as a central component to the future of higher education and social justice.

“The Humanities for All Times initiative underscores that it’s not only critical to show students that the humanities improve the quality of their everyday lives, but also that they are a crucial tool in efforts to bring about meaningful progressive change in the world,” said Phillip Brian Harper, Mellon Foundation Higher Learning Program Director. “We are thrilled to support this work at liberal arts colleges across the country - given their unequivocal commitment to humanities-based knowledge, and their close ties to the local communities in which such knowledge can be put to immediate productive use, we know that these schools are perfectly positioned to take on this important work.”

More information about the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times Initiative can be found here.

Bard Press Release: https://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=18342
Bard College Receives $150,000 Grant from George I. Alden Trust to Support Teaching and Research in the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing

Bard College Receives $150,000 Grant from George I. Alden Trust to Support Teaching and Research in the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College has received a $150,000 grant from the George I. Alden Trust to acquire an upgraded gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer in order to support the continuity and growth of ongoing curricular and research projects within the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Bard. This new instrument, with its expanded analytical capabilities, is an essential component of the five-year infrastructure and instrumentation plan created by the Chemistry and Biochemistry Program.

“We are so grateful to have this support from the Alden Trust. Continuing the essential analytical capacity of our labs is important. And with this funding, we are able to expand the range of experiments that are possible, providing many more opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and research at Bard,” said Associate Dean of the College and Associate Professor of Chemistry Emily McLaughlin.

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS) provides the technology to separate mixtures, and to identify and quantify pure compounds and individual components of mixtures for applications ranging across scientific disciplines. At Bard, this type of instrument has been central to the science curriculum for over 25 years. The acquisition of an upgraded gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer impacts the undergraduate teaching and learning experience in substantial ways—including in research and curricular work in chemistry, biology, environmental studies, and Bard’s Citizen Science Program, in which all first-year students take part.

The enhanced capabilities of the new GCMS will facilitate ongoing and new collaborations among faculty and students, including the ability effectively sample aqueous environmental samples for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The GCMS has been a central part of analytical chemistry at the College, resulting in work presented at local, regional, and national conferences and manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals.

Read more here: https://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=18379
Fall/Winter 2021 Grant Awards

Fall/Winter 2021 Grant Awards

Bard College Science Program Equipment Upgrade
Bard College recently received a $150,000 grant award from the George I. Alden Trust to support the purchase of a new gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. This new equipment will support new and ongoing educational programs and research on campus.

Support for SummerScape
The Fisher Center was awarded a $35,000 grant by the O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation to support the production of a new evening-length program that will premier as the opening engagement of SummerScape 2022.

Support for [email protected]
[email protected] received a $50,000 grant from the NBA Foundation. As one of 38 recipients of the NBA’s new grants totaling $11 million, [email protected] will begin state-wide expansion efforts.

Bard College Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)
Bard College’s MAT program received a $65,000 New York State Education Department’s Teacher Opportunity Corps II (TOC II) grant to support efforts to increase the participation rate of historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged individuals in teaching careers.

Support for Conjunctions
Conjunctions received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the publication of the 2022 issues.

Support for the Institute of Writing and Thinking (IWT)
Bard College IWT was awarded a $48,617.20 grant from the Library of Congress through the Teaching with Primary Sources Program to support the project, “Mapping Unknowns: Writing to Read Primary Sources.” This collaborative project between IWT and MAT provides professional development workshops that model how to apply writing-to-read and writing-to-learn strategies to primary sources in order to integrate literacy instruction into ELA, Social Studies, and STEM classrooms.

Scholarship and Award Funding
Bard College received $105,000 from The Shelby and Gale Davis Charitable Fund to support scholarships for Bard students in the Davis United World College Scholars Program. The Erik S. Cassel Foundation also awarded the College $10,000 to support financial aid and scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Annandale Campus Project Support
Bard received several grants from various funders to support projects across its main campus including; $19,761 from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for an anthropology conference and workshop; $5,000 for the Passion to Persist Project and $45,000 to support the First Year Seminar Book Fund from the Erik S. Cassel Foundation; $10,000 from the Gale Foundation supporting restoration work at the Bard Cemetery; a $7,169 grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network supporting the conservation of two watercolor portraits in the Bard College Archives; and a $5,000 grant from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area supporting a Seasonal Arts Festival at Montgomery Place.
Bard Awarded 2021–22 Big Read Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

Bard Awarded 2021–22 Big Read Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in partnership with Arts Midwest, has awarded Bard College a $19,985 NEA Big Read grant to support the Big Read Hudson Valley: Spanning the Hudson River with Words, a dynamic community-wide reading program offering reading groups, performances, workshops, and events in Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Kingston.

Read the full story HERE

Current Grant Opportunities

We are currently updating our list of current grant opportunities. Check back soon for new RFP's!

Funding How-To's

The grant process has four components:
1. Seeking grants
2. Writing a proposal
3. Receiving a grant award
4. Managing the grant award activities

Use these topics as a quick reference to funding instructions or download the manual below. To search in the manual, download the PDF file and use "command /control + F" or use the "Find Text" button in Adobe Acrobat.

Fundraising Manual

1. Proposals, Logic Models, and Budgets

The grant process starts with the proposal or letter of interest, a compact version of a proposal. Agencies may also require a logic model, which shows the tasks, goals, and outcomes of the project. Developing a budget will help you understand how funding will be spent and will help determine the activities you can afford. These important topics are covered on page 18 of the Fundraising Manual and will help walk you through how to begin your proposal.
2. Grant Management:
Award and Post-Award

Many government grants have a list of requirements that you must agree to follow. There can be severe consequences for both the College and the program investigator or project director if the funding and project are not handled in accordance with the award’s terms and conditions. This section of the Fundraising Manual will show you how to properly manage your grant and can be found on page 21 of the Fundraising Manual.
3. Common Information Requested in Proposals

Grant proposals often require documentation or information that you may not have. Page 23 of the Fundraising Manual lists some of the commonly requested documents. One of our staff members will be happy to help, should you need any of these documents. Please contact OIS for more information.
OIS Grant Resources

Grant Proposal Submission Form
Grant Proposal Review Form
Grant Award Notification Form
Logic Model Template
How to Develop a Grant Proposal

OIS Grant Resources

Grant Proposal Submission Form
Grant Proposal Review Form
Grant Award Notification Form
Logic Model Template
How to Develop a Grant Proposal

Bard College follows the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principals, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards as described in the Code of Federal Regulations. Records of grants and sponsored projects are subject to the College's record management policy under which those records concerning Federal grants, contracts, and awards are subject to the minimum three-year retention requirements of the Code of Federal Regulations (Title 2, Part 200.333).

Bard's Lobbying Policy

Lobbying at Bard

Lobbying is defined by NYS as an attempt to influence (support, oppose, modify, delay, expedite, or affect) government decision-making, which includes: legislation, resolutions, executive orders, rules, regulations, rate-making proceedings, and governmental procurement actions.
NYS regulations cover lobbying activities at the New York state, county, city, and town levels.

Types of Lobbying
Direct Lobbying:

Face-to-face meeting
Telephone calls or texts
Distribution of written materials
Emails
Social media interactions

Grassroots Lobbying:
Grassroots lobbying involves a communication (flyers, social media posts, public outreach efforts, etc.) that takes a clear position on a specific “government action” and urges the public or a segment of the public to contact (“call to action”) a public official in support of that position. Grassroots Lobbying is an attempt to influence public officials through their constituency, by motivating or enabling the public to contact their elected officials.

Member of a Coalition that Lobbies:
A group of otherwise unaffiliated entities or members who pool funds for the primary purpose of engaging in lobbying activities on behalf of the members of the coalition.

If Bard expects to incur more than $5,000 in lobbying expenses in a calendar year, Bard must file a report with the State.

If Bard lobbies for itself, it must file a report every two months.
If Bard engages outside lobbying firms, it must file a report every 6 months.

If you lobby in New York
To ensure proper and accurate reporting to NYS, the following information must be sent to:
Brandt Burgess at [email protected] (845-752-2357)
If engaging an outside lobbyist or lobbying firm, the following information is required every six months (January-June and July-December):

Name of lobbying entity or entities
Cost of lobbying efforts for the past 6 months for each entity
For who’s benefit is the lobbying effort undertaken

If engaged in in-house lobbying efforts, the following information is required every two months (January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September-October, and November-December):
For each lobbying effort (i.e., lobbying a single issue):

The type of lobbying engaged in during the effort; i.e., Direct Lobbying, Grassroots Lobbying, or both.
A detailed description of the bill/resolution/order (including the bill/resolution/order ID #) or procurement
Names of all public officials contacted
Names of all Bard employees who made contact with a public official or engaged publicly with a grassroots effort (i.e. a publicly identifiable person)
The expenses incurred; e.g., pro-rated salary, business costs associated with the effort, transportation, etc.
For who’s benefit is the lobbying effort undertaken

If engaged with a coalition that lobbies in NYS:

Name of the coalition(s)
Is the coalition reporting its lobbying effort itself, or is it requiring its members to report?
If the coalition requires the member to report, then the following information is required every two months:
- A detailed description of the bill/resolution/order (including the bill/resolution/order ID #) or procurement action
- Names of all Public Officials contacted
- Expenses incurred; e.g., dues to the coalition; volunteer’s salary
- For who’s benefit is the lobbying effort undertaken

The list of required information may change as the first few reports are filed. A prompt response is required-both to the initial report of activities and any subsequent requests for clarification and/or requests for additional information. Delays in filing these reports will cost Bard hundreds of dollars in fines.

Our Staff

Josh Bardfield ‘01

Special Projects Lead, OIS
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7260

Josh Bardfield ‘01

Special Projects Lead, OIS
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7260

Josh is the Director, OIS, and oversees government (state and federal) grants and large institutional funders, such as major foundations and corporations. Prior to joining Bard in June 2019, Josh spent 20 years working with wide-ranging domestic and global public health initiatives, many which received significant grant funding, in program development, research, and technical writing spanning the non-profit, civil-service, academic and private sectors. Josh earned his MPH from Columbia University and is a Bard alum, Class of ‘01.
Sarah Donnatien

Administrative Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7316

Sarah Donnatien

Administrative Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7316

Sarah is the Administrative Coordinator within the Office of Institutional Support. She manages a tier of foundation and corporate grants, manages the office's daily activities, and maintains the OIS grants archive. Sarah attended SUNY New Paltz, where, in 2018 she obtained her Bachelor's in Sociology. Before coming to Bard, Sarah served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region.
Jordan Jeffries

Prospect Research Analyst
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7435

Jordan Jeffries

Prospect Research Analyst
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7435

Jordan Jeffries is the Prospect Research Analyst in the Office of Prospect Research. He searches for foundation prospects for institutional projects at Bard and its affiliates, as well as researching individual prospects for the College. He provides data and documentation to grant seekers on campus and also assists with prospect research on institutional and individual funders. The Office of Prospect Research recommends grant ask amounts, strategies of approach, and provides briefing memos for meetings with potential funders. Jordan has a BFA in illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Check out Jordan's art HERE!
Megan Miller

Grant Officer
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7262

Megan Miller

Grant Officer
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7262

Megan is the Grant Officer and manages mid-range corporate and foundation institutional grants. Megan earned her BS in Animal and Veterinary Sciences from Clemson University in 2018. During her time at Clemson, Megan was the Marketing and Communications Director for FIRST, an academic and social support program for first-generation students.
Karen Unger

Associate Vice President, OIS
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7434

Karen Unger

Associate Vice President, OIS
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7434

Karen is the Associate Vice President of the Office of Institutional Support. She directs a staff of six who research and raise significant funding from foundations, corporations and government agencies to strengthen Bard’s commitment as a private institution working for the public interest. Karen began her mission-driven career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, West Africa, teaches English as a Second Language at the college level and has worked in administrative and creative roles for national non-profit organizations and public school systems. With a graduate degree from Queens College, CUNY, in creative writing, Karen is also an award-winning author of books for middle and high school students, short stories and print and online magazine articles.
Daina Vitin

Prospect Research Analyst
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7408

Daina Vitin

Prospect Research Analyst
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7408

As part of the OPR/OIS team, Daina researches, analyzes, and ranks individual, corporate, and foundation prospects and donors. Using internal and external research sources she works to determine those prospects’ capacity and inclination to give. Daina provides strategic and collaborative advice for building relationships through connections and matching donors with like areas of interest. Daina earned her MLIS from Rutgers University.
Debra Pemstein

Vice President of Development & Alumni/ae Affairs
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7405

Debra Pemstein

Vice President of Development & Alumni/ae Affairs
Email: [email protected]
Ext: 7405

Debra Pemstein has been vice president for development and alumni/ae affairs at Bard College since 1998. She works with the President, administrators, faculty, staff, and volunteers to raise annual, capital and restricted funds, serves on campus-wide strategic planning committees, and works closely with the President and Trustees as a member of the President's Council. During her tenure, Bard has been able to expand its programs through major capital campaigns that have resulted in new buildings for the performing arts, sciences, dormitories, and administrative use and endowments of several faculty chairs. Debra supervises development activities for all of Bard’s institutes and programs, including the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard Music Festival, Bard Prison Initiative, Bard High School Early Colleges, and the Center for Curatorial Studies- Hessel Museum, to name just a few. She also serves as chief administrative officer for the Fisher Center. Debra formerly served as director of major gifts and planned giving for New York City Ballet, director of development for Paul Taylor Dance Company, and associate director of development for the New York Philharmonic. In addition, she is a college lecturer and has presented papers on fundraising topics at national professional conferences. She has served on many boards and advisory committees, including those at Poughkeepsie Day School and Temple Emanuel (Kingston, NY). Currently, Debra is on the Board of Directors of Dutchess Tourism and is the Chair of the Dutchess Tourism Workforce Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. She is also a member of the Dutchess County Economic Development Advisory Council. Debra attended the London School of Economics, received her BBA from George Washington University and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive.

Bard Staff That Work Closely With OIS

OIS works closely with Casper Owuor ([email protected]) and Steve Appenzeller ([email protected]) on post-award grant management. Once you have been notified of your grant award, OIS will help set up a meeting with them to discuss the next steps.

For Bard Annandale faculty seeking support for individual projects, please contact Faculty Grants Officers Sue Elvin-Cooper ([email protected]) or Brandt Burgess ([email protected]).

For information regarding the Bard High School Early Colleges, please contact BHSEC Grants Officer Sarah Imboden ([email protected]).

Location and Contact

Our Location

You can find the Office of Institutional Support at:
Bard College Alumni/ae Center
4604 NY-9G, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504
Contact Us

Bard College Office of Institutional Support
P.O. Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000

Sarah Donnatien, Administrative Coordinator
[email protected]
845-758-7316

Institutional Support

What We Do

OPR by the Numbers

OIS News

Bard College Awarded $1.49 Million Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times Initiative Funding Supports the College’s “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” Project

Bard College Receives $150,000 Grant from George I. Alden Trust to Support Teaching and Research in the Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing

Fall/Winter 2021 Grant Awards

Bard Awarded 2021–22 Big Read Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

Current Grant Opportunities

Funding How-To's

OIS Grant Resources

Government Funding Resources

Other Funding Websites

Recommended Reading

Bard's Lobbying Policy

Bard's Office of Risk Management

Our Staff

Josh Bardfield ‘01

Sarah Donnatien

Jordan Jeffries

Megan Miller

Karen Unger

Daina Vitin

Debra Pemstein

Bard Staff That Work Closely With OIS

Location and Contact