Boston, MA Summer heralds major growth for 150 greater Boston nonprofits. These community organizations have been awarded substantial multiyear funding through the annual Cummings $30 Million Grant Program.
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, which Bill Cummings founded more than 50 years ago. 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-plus 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.
“We’re so inspired by the passion of the nonprofits we’ve heard from since notifying the grant winners,” said Cummings Foundation executive director Joyce Vyriotes. “Their enthusiasm is not so much about the money but rather what the money will allow them to do for others.”
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.
“We are completely over the moon about our Cummings Grant!! This is a game changer for us, and we’re so excited to roll up our sleeves and dig even further into this work,” wrote executive director Cara Solomon.
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. The full list of new and past grant recipients can be found at CummingsFoundation.org.
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.
More than 350 nonprofit professionals, community leaders, and friends of the Cummings organization gathered to honor the Foundation’s 2023 grant winners. Encouraged to “come as your authentic self,” attendees arrived at TradeCenter 128 campus to find a light-hearted, festive atmosphere.
One of the largest private foundations in N.E., Cummings Foundation has awarded $480 million to greater Boston nonprofits to date.
“What a stellar night it was! We were so thrilled to be in that mighty group of non-profits! Honestly, I am still pinching myself,” wrote Susan Gould Coviello, of North Shore Health Project, in an email to Cummings Foundation. The Gloucester-based organization will receive $225,000 over three years to support health and intervention programming for the LGBTQ+ and drug-using populations.
Special guests included former governor and first lady of Mass. 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.
While wrapping up the 2023 grant cycle, Cummings Foundation is already looking ahead to the next one. Local nonprofits are invited to visit CummingsFoundation.org in early July to view updated eligibility requirements and submit a letter of inquiry for the Cummings $30 Million Grant Program.
One change, according to Vyriotes, will be an expansion of the program’s geographic parameters, which previously were limited to Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk County. In the upcoming cycle, the Foundation will broaden eligibility to include several other communities close to Boston: Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Needham, Quincy, and Wellesley.
