Boston – The Cummings Foundation announced that 150 greater Boston nonprofits have been awarded substantial multiyear funding through the annual Cummings $30 Million Grant Program.
More than 350 nonprofit professionals, community leaders, and friends of the Cummings organization gathered recently to honor the foundation’s 2023 grant winners at Woburn’s TradeCenter 128 campus. Special guests included former governor and first lady of Massachusetts, Charlie and Lauren Baker, as well as Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin and former Medford Mayor Mike McGlynn, who both served as Grant Selection Committee volunteers.
Grant winner celebration
A meaningful percentage of Cummings Foundation’s more than $3 billion in assets is in the form of commercial real estate. The now sizeable portfolio was donated over time by Bill and Joyce Cummings of Winchester. It serves as a stable, ongoing source of revenue for the foundation’s philanthropic programs. The foundation’s buildings are all debt free and operated, on a pro bono basis, by Cummings Properties. One hundred percent of their rental profits go directly to the foundation for philanthropic purposes.
“These annual grants would not be possible without the 2,000 or so businesses that are located in Cummings buildings and the 300+ talented, hard-working colleagues who design, build, maintain, and lease them,” said Dennis Clarke, chairman and CEO of Cummings Properties and a trustee of Cummings Foundation.
In keeping with Cummings Foundation’s focus on local giving, nearly all the grantee organizations are based in and serve Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties. They represent a wide variety of causes, including housing and food insecurity, workforce development, immigrant services, social justice, education, and mental health services.
Top Notch Scholars
Jamaica Plain-based Everyday Boston was awarded $60,000 over three years. It will apply the funds toward providing formerly incarcerated people with communications and soft skills training as well as paid experiential learning opportunities. A total of 125 organizations were awarded three-year grants of up to $225,000 each. The remaining 25 nonprofits received 10-year funding of $300,000 to $1 million each. Four organizations received the maximum of $1 million: Mill Cities Community Investments and Top Notch Scholars, both in Lawrence, and Pine Street Inn and Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center, in Boston.
Local nonprofits are invited to visit CummingsFoundation.org in early July to view updated eligibility requirements and submit a letter of inquiry for the next grant cycle. In the upcoming cycle, geographic parameters, which previously were limited to Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk County, will include several other communities close to Boston: Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Needham, Quincy, and Wellesley.
The full list of new and past grant recipients can be found at CummingsFoundation.org.
