Cummings organization named Top Charitable Contributor in Mass.

The Cummings organization was named the Commonwealth’s number one Top Charitable Contributor at Boston Business Journal’s 11th Annual Corporate Citizenship Summit on September 8 at Artists for Humanity’s EpiCenter in Boston.

With combined charitable giving exceeding $20 million, Woburn-based commercial real estate firm Cummings Properties and its affiliate Cummings Foundation topped the list of the region’s 85 largest corporate contributors to Massachusetts-based charities in 2015. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and State Street Corporation landed the second and third spots, respectively.

“The contributions these companies make to Massachusetts are incredibly impressive and go a long ways toward helping strengthen the communities we live in,” said Boston Business Journal publisher and market president Carolyn Jones.

Cummings Properties communications director Joyce Vyriotes, who also serves as pro bono associate executive director of the Foundation, was on hand to accept the honor and deliver an acceptance speech – which came with a cost.

Each awardee was allowed a three-word speech at no charge. For every additional word, awardees had to donate $25 to the sponsored charity for the evening, City Year. Vyriotes handed Jones a $5,000 donation check and then unveiled a “Cummings Buildings Power Charities” poster.

“I wanted to bring this sign, which hangs in many of our buildings, because the message is so important to us,” Vyriotes said. “It reminds Cummings staff what we’re working for every day. And it reminds our more than 2,000 leasing clients where their rent dollars go – not to corporate jets or private yachts.”

The large majority of all buildings managed by Cummings Properties are owned, debt free, by Cummings Foundation and operated for its sole benefit. Vyriotes explained that 100 percent of the rental profits from those buildings supports hundreds of local nonprofits, including event host Artists for Humanity, which was a 2014 “$100K for 100” grant winner.

$100K for 100 is Cummings Foundation’s hallmark grant program, which awards 100 grants of $100,000 each to Greater Boston area nonprofits each year. The Foundation is accepting Letters of Inquiry through October 1 for its 2017 grant cycle. The Foundation’s most recent major grants include $3 million to McKeown Boys & Girls Club and $2.5 million to Boston Museum of Science in support of a new lobby and concourse. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

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PHOTO: Cummings Properties communications director Joyce Vyriotes accepts the Top Charitable Contributor award as Boston Business Journal publisher and market president Carolyn Jones and Citizens Bank, Massachusetts president Jerry Sargent look on.