Bard College

Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania are leading a rebound in contributions to colleges as donors who held back during the recession are writing checks again following two years of a rising stock market.

Gifts to universities will probably increase 5.7 percent in the fiscal year ending June 30, after slumping the past two years, said John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. At least six schools got donations of $100 million or more this year, including the University of Pennsylvania, which said on May 11 it received $225 million for its medical school.

Bard College, a small liberal arts institution in the Hudson Valley, has received a $60 million gift from the Open Society Foundations in recognition of its global involvement, which includes programs in New Orleans, Nicaragua and Russia, officials are to announce on Tuesday.

The gift from Open Society, which George Soros created in the 1980s to foster democracies around the world, will help the college bring its disparate programs under a new umbrella, the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement, and assure their continuing operation and growth.

Awards2007 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards by Margaret Battistelli, February H **2007 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence by Margaret Battistelli and Abny Santicola, September H **BrandingNet Gain: The Young and the Restless by Nick Allen, February GFundraiser Confidential: The Pursuit of Brand Happiness by Todd Baker, May GTag(line)! You’re It! by Richard Deveau, September…

Bard College is a four-year liberal arts and sciences institution nestled on two historic riverfront estates in New York’s Hudson Valley. Founded in 1860, the college today experiences the common challenges faced by most higher-education institutions striving to expand programs and raise the bar of support from parents, alumni and its surrounding community.

Here, Debra Pemstein, vice president of development and alumni affairs, discusses Bard’s constituent base and how it keeps in touch with supporters.