10 Beverly nonprofits receive a total of $18,000

It’s the most wonderful time of the year at Cummings Properties. Employees are invited each November to select local charities to receive $1,000 each through the company’s Employee Directed Giving program. Ten Beverly nonprofits received a total of $18,000 this year.

In 2016, Employee Directed Giving resulted in $326,000 in contributions to 233 nonprofits in 92 local cities and towns. The four-year-old annual program is designed to give back in the areas where the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm’s employees live and work.

Each eligible organization can receive as much as $5,000 per program cycle, if multiple staff members choose the same nonprofit. Five staff members (four of whom live in Beverly) chose Beverly Bootstraps. Express Yourself received $3,000, Beverly Little League and Change is Simple each received $2,000, and Beverly Female Charitable Society, Beverly School for the Deaf, Centerville Elementary School, Greater Beverly YMCA, North Shore Flag Football League, and YMCA of the North Shore each received $1,000.

Ten nonprofits in the abutting cities of Salem and Danvers, including Northeast Animal Shelter and People to People Food Pantry, received donations as well.

Beverly resident and Cummings Center account manager Jessica Palm selected The NAN Project to receive a $1,000 donation this year, in honor of her sister, Nan, who took her own life at the age of 24.

Founded in 2015 by Palm’s mother, Ellen Dalton, the nonprofit is dedicated to raising awareness at schools across the North Shore and bringing hope to young people struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide. In September, Dalton shared her story at Beverly High School’s Community Night.

“Being able to make such a sizable to donation to The NAN Project means so much to me and my family,” said Palm.

“Each year our staff members donate to schools, sports teams, and nonprofits in Beverly and the surrounding towns, enabling them to make an impact locally,” said Steve Drohosky, Cummings Properties’ vice president and general manager of Cummings Center. “This benefit is truly appreciated by our colleagues and allows the Company to thank them in a unique way for their hard work and dedication.”

Employee Directed Giving is open to all regular full-time employees of Cummings Properties, as well as its affiliated retirement communities, New Horizons at Choate in Woburn and New Horizons at Marlborough. Selected nonprofits must meet eligibility requirements and be based in and serve Middlesex, Essex, or Suffolk County, or the city or town where the employee lives.

Cummings Properties has a presence in 10 Greater Boston communities, including Beverly, which is home to the landmark Cummings Center, the burgeoning Dunham Ridge business campus, and its newest project, the luxury condominium homes at Elliott Landing by Cummings, which welcomed its first residents last month.

More information, including the complete 2016 Employee Directed Giving recipient list, is available here.

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PHOTO: Cummings Properties account manager and Beverly resident Jessica Palm (left) proudly gives a check to her mother, Ellen Dalton, founder of The NAN Project, and her brother, Jake Cavanaugh, director of The NAN Project.