Six Winchester organizations have received grants of $100,000 each from Cummings Foundation through its new $100K for 100 program. Along with 94 other greater Boston nonprofits, they were selected from more than 370 applicants during a competitive review process.
The Winchester-based grant recipients are: A Better Chance, Winchester Community Music School, Winchester Peace and Justice Initiative (organized by Sal Caraviello), Winchester Historical Society, Winchester Seniors Association, and Wright-Locke Farm Conservancy.
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Laurie Russell, executive director of Winchester Community Music School, commented, “WCMS is extremely honored to be among the 100 recipients of Cummings Foundation’s 2013 grants. Over the past decade, WCMS has established an important balance between its breadth of programming and a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and is now poised to take its next big step.”
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More than 250 people, including staff and board members from nearly all 100 recipient organizations, gathered at the Foundation’s first annual Grantee Reception on June 19 at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn. The elated attendees accepted their official award letters, posed for photos with Foundation representatives, networked with their peers, and celebrated the $10 million infusion of funding into greater Boston’s nonprofit sector.
A Better Chance (ABC), which had requested a matching grant, has spent the past several months raising funds in honor of late ABC supporter Mike Regentz.
Michael Sharon, president of ABC, said, “The generosity of Bill and Joyce Cummings in establishing this incredible fundraising opportunity matches the strong commitment that Mike Regentz had to the ABC program.”
All of the selected charities serve local communities, with 50 percent of the grants being awarded in Middlesex County, 30 percent in Suffolk County (including Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and Roxbury), and 20 percent in Essex County. Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director and a Winchester resident, noted that the narrow geographic priority area reflects a desire to give back in the areas where the grant funds were derived.
Swets explained, “As the primary beneficiary of commercial real estate firm Cummings Properties, the Foundation is very committed to the 10 communities in which the firm manages buildings, as well as the hometowns of its 350 staff members. We are delighted to support these six very worthy nonprofits in their admirable work in Winchester and surrounding communities.”
The diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including underserved populations, education, healthcare, homelessness, and social justice. Many of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, Mass. With assets exceeding $1 billion, it is one of the very largest grant-making foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including two New Horizons senior communities in Marlborough and Woburn. Over the past 17 years, it has awarded $230,000 in scholarships to Winchester students through the McKeown Scholars Program. The Foundation’s largest single grant to date was $50 million to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, Mass. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
