Budget Buddies awarded $100,000

Budget Buddies is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “100K for 100” program. The Chelmsford-based organization was chosen from a total of 597 applicants, during a competitive review process.

Budget Buddies builds the financial literacy, skills, and confidence of low-income women through a unique six-month program that combines instructional workshops and personal, one-to-one coaching. By partnering with local social service agencies and community volunteers, Budget Buddies provides individualized training in basic money management to those who need it most.

Representing Budget Buddies, co-founders Anita Saville and Kathy Brough will join approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $220 million to Greater Boston nonprofits alone.

Budget Buddies Executive Director Anita Saville noted that Cumming’s grant will allow Budget Buddies to continue to expand the reach of its programming. Said Saville, “We’re so grateful to Cummings for investing in our mission and our growth. It is incredibly reassuring to be able to count on these funds as we help more low-income women in the Merrimack Valley, Boston, and beyond.”

In nine years, Budget Buddies has expanded beyond its home community of Lowell into Lawrence, Haverhill, Sudbury, Acton, Boston, and Nashua.. Besides partnerships with additional agencies and in new communities, a revamped curriculum for at-risk teens will pilot this fall.

The $100K for 100 program supports nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.

“We are indebted to the nonprofit organizations like Budget Buddies that have a meaningful positive impact on the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “We are delighted to invest in their important programs and services.”

This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represent a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.

The complete list of 100 grant winners will be available beginning June 7 at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

Cummings Foundation announced an additional $10 million in early May through its new Sustaining Grants, which extend “$100K for 100” funding for previous winners for 10 more years. Beginning in 2019, the Foundation will increase its total giving through these two programs from $20 million to $25 million.

About Budget Buddies

Since launching the first Budget Buddies program in 2010, the organization implemented 60 customized financial education programs in partnership with 28 community agencies and trained over 400 coaches to help over 525 low-income women mange their money more effectively. Learn more at www.budgetbuddies.org.

About Cummings Foundation

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn. Bill Cummings released his self-written memoir, “Starting Small and Making It Big: An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist,” in March 2018. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org and cummings.com/book.

PHOTO: Budget Buddies staff and volunteers celebrate the Cummings grant.