Cummings Properties' Employee Directed Giving passes $1 million mark

The holiday season is especially festive for Cummings Properties’ employees, who are each invited annually to select a local charity to receive $1,000 through the company’s Employee Directed Giving program. This year, 215 nonprofits in 83 different cities and towns received a total of $296,000.

With the completion of the 2015 cycle, the three-year-old program has resulted in $1,068,000 in donations to organizations that are making a difference in the communities where employees of the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm live and work.

Three staff members who live in Woburn, Kelly Dineen, Keith Lundin, and Erving Rodriguez, selected Tanner Ta Ta Foundation to receive their 2015 Employee Directed Giving donations. The group provides support to Woburn-area women and men who have received a breast cancer diagnosis.

“As a cancer survivor who has benefitted from the critical support of the Tanner Ta Ta Foundation, it feels wonderful to give back to this local organization that was there for me and my family when we needed it,” said Dineen.

Staff members donate to myriad nonprofits, including their children’s schools or sports teams, organizations that have helped care for loved ones, fire stations where family members work, and local food pantries.

Each eligible organization can receive as much as $5,000 per program cycle, if multiple staff members choose the same nonprofit. This year, Boston Children’s Hospital, Northeast Animal Shelter, and St. George Phioptochos Caring & Sharing each received the maximum donation.

“Our colleagues feel good about being able to support local charities that mean something to them and their families,” said Dennis Clarke, Cummings Properties’ president and CEO. “And we feel good about honoring staff members in this unique way for their hard work and dedication.”

Employee Directed Giving is open to all 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 a few eligibility requirements and must be based in and serve Middlesex, Essex, or Suffolk County, or the city or town in which the employee lives.

Staff members and their families often take photographs while making their check deliveries. This year, they have been invited to share them on social media, using #CummingsEDG.

Cummings Properties has a presence in 10 Greater Boston communities. Woburn is home to its headquarters and several of its properties, including the landmark TradeCenter 128 business campus. Beverly is home to one of its flagship properties, Cummings Center, and its latest project, Elliott Landing by Cummings, a new 73-unit luxury condominium complex scheduled for completion in 2016.

More information, including the 2015 Employee Directed Giving list, is available here.

###

PHOTO 1: Tanner Ta Ta Foundation co-founder and president Erin Ficociello accepts $3,000 in Employee Directed Giving donations from Cummings Properties accounting admin and breast cancer survivor, Kelly Dineen.

PHOTO 2: Front from left to right: Change is Simple co-founder Lauren Belmonte, Kendra Berry (Northeastern University co-op student), Haven Hatch, Kelly Driscoll, and Erika Mercieri (Endicott College intern)

Back from left to right: Cummings Properties communications specialist Julie DeSilva, Change is Simple co-founder Patrick Belmonte, Cummings Properties account manager Jessica Palm, Jillian Conner, Dominic Martinelli (Endicott College intern), and Nicole Peckham (Northeastern University co-op student)