National Office Furniture presented the Brandeis Sustainability Fund with a check for $25,000 last Tuesday. The "Gift of Inspiration" grant is part of a program designed by NOF to give back to the communities that support their company, said General Manager and Vice President of the NOF Kevin McCoy at the event Tuesday.

The NOF operates two gift programs each year, one specific to healthcare and the other specific to education. This check to the BSF marked a total of $110,000 that the NOF has distributed, he said.

Janna Cohen-Rosenthal '03, Brandeis sustainability coordinator, was at the event to accept the check and welcome the executives from the NOF.

Cohen-Rosenthal is the one who entered the contest on the website for the National Office Furniture, and she opened the event by introducing Brandeis Sustainability Fund Representative Lisa Purdy '14, who gave a brief overview of BSF to the executives.

McCoy discussed the "Gift of Inspiration" program during the event.

"We don't have anything tied to this gift, so it is up to the school to decide what they want to do with it. ... This is one of the most exciting gifts that we have given out. When we pulled that application out and saw that the efforts of the University dovetailed some of our efforts, we were all thrilled," said McCoy.

Senior Vice President for Administration at Brandeis Mark Collins spoke about the development of BSF and the drive for sustainability at Brandeis over the past 25 years. The check was presented to Cohen-Rosenthal, Collins, Purdy and Student Union President Herbie Rosen '12.

In an interview with the Justice, Vice President of Product and Marketing for NOF Kourtney Smith explained that NOF spent 120 days promoting the program through electronic marketing and received 1,300 applications from educational institutions.

"The process is a completely random draw from our computer system. Brandeis was the winner, and we were all thrilled. To read how Janna described the money would be used is actually a perfect match for what we as a company believe in," said Smith.

Smith added that NOF is "excited" to see how Brandeis will distribute the funds. "On the topic of sustainability you can never go wrong. It doesn't specifically matter to us what the money is used for as long as it is something that will benefit the University and make the students feel part of something bigger, we will be proud," she said.

The BSF was created by a student body vote two years ago when students decided to start collecting and raising money to support campus environmental sustainability projects. According to the BSF homepage, the fund "provides grants, advice and support to any undergraduate student for their projects promoting sustainability."

Every semester there is a $15 "green fee" added to each student's tuition. This money is taken out and put into the BSF. The fund is money for students to implement their ideas on how to make the Brandeis community less ecologically destructive and more sustainable.

Last year about $50,000 was given out to fund five sustainability projects on campus.