Faculty Grant Program Overview

The Thoreau Foundation seed-funds visionary programs at U.S. undergraduate institutions that foster environmental leadership and engaged scholarship. Our Faculty Grant Program has developed strong alliances with leading colleges and universities, strengthening our environmental network and amplifying our impact.

Grants of up to $40,000 are available. Faculty Grant proposals must focus on undergraduate students – and the more undergraduates involved the better. We seek proposals for projects that can grow institutional legs, not pitch one-hit wonders. We favor programs that provide hands-on research and leadership opportunities, and we are particularly interested in funding those that include the following:

• Projects that develop new branches of environmental programs at colleges and universities.
• Seminal initiatives that require start-up funding and can then be sustained at the home institution with future funding.
• Programs that strengthen partnerships with community organizations, institutions, governmental organizations, and/or businesses to develop sustainable collaborations with colleges or universities.

Grant proposals are by invitation only.

To learn more about projects we have supported in the past, read profiles of past grant recipients.

Cody van Heerden Chair in Economics & Quantitative Social Science

In 2019, the Henry David Thoreau Foundation (HDT) proudly supported the establishment of the Cody van Heerden Chair in Economics & Quantitative Social Science at College of the Atlantic (COA) in Bar Harbor, Maine. This newly endowed faculty chair honors long-time COA trustee, colleague and alumna Cody van Heerden, who passed away in 2018 after a battle with ALS. The Cody van Heerden Chair in Economics and Quantitative Social Sciences will be held by COA faculty member Dr. Davis Taylor, van Heerden’s professor, mentor and friend. HDT is especially inspired by Dr. Taylor's interest in environmental and cooperative economics. The establishment of the chair was part of the Broad Reach Campaign for College of the Atlantic’s Future, a $50 million effort to endow new student scholarships and faculty positions, create state-of-the-art, environmentally sustainable academic and residential spaces and transition to a fossil fuel-free campus. HDT is proud to support COA's mission and vision. COA received our faculty grants in 2016, 2017 and 2019 for their Henry David Thoreau Environmental Leaders Initiative under the leadership of Dr. David Feldman, Dr. Doreen Stabinsky, Dr. Kourtney Collum, and Dr. Anna Demeo.