Cummings Foundation

Joyce and Bill Cummings established Cummings Foundation, Inc. in 1986. At that time, the commercial real estate firm Bill founded in 1970, Cummings Properties, was thriving, and the Winchester, Massachusetts couple decided they wanted to give back in the Greater Boston areas where the growing business operated and where its staff and clients lived. Host an Event with Bill Cummings Following a long and remarkably prosperous career, Bill Cummings is now dedicated to sharing the knowledge he has gained through his vast entrepreneurial experience as well as his extensive charitable giving. Bill has presented to thousands of audience members at universities, high schools, corporations, business associations, nonprofits, and other venues. More information on how to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to have Bill speak to your group can be found HERE. Over the years, Joyce and Bill donated the large majority of their commercial property to the Foundation. Today, nearly all of the buildings managed by Cummings Properties are actually owned by and operated for the sole benefit of Cummings Foundation. Clients who lease space at these properties feel good about this business decision, knowing that Cummings Buildings Power Charities. Now one of the largest foundations in New England, Woburn-based Cummings Foundation currently has almost $2 billion in net assets, and it has awarded more than $200 million in grants to Greater Boston nonprofits alone. Its giving is concentrated in Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties and benefits a broad range of causes, including human services, education, healthcare, and social justice. The Cummings also have a special interest in Rwanda, where the Foundation collaborates with Partners In Health and a limited number of other organizations to aid in that East African country’s post-genocide recovery and rebuilding. Joyce and Bill quietly contributed to the local community for many years. Then, in May 2011, they joined The Giving Pledge, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet through which some of the world’s wealthiest individuals and couples have publicly pledged to donate at least half of their assets for philanthropic purposes. Bill and Joyce had already donated 90 percent of their wealth. A private operating foundation, Cummings Foundation has four operating entities as well as various grant-making affiliates. Read and click on the links below for more information about the Foundation’s subsidiaries and affiliated programs. For news and photos, please visit and “like” its Facebook page. Programs and Affiliates The Foundation’s hallmark program is its annual $100K for 100 grant program, which typically funds small and medium-sized Massachusetts nonprofits in Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Each year, hundreds of organizations vie for invitations to apply for one of the 100 grants of $100,000 each to be awarded locally. Recognizing nonprofits' need for long-term financial support, Cummings Foundation's Sustaining Grants program builds upon the $100K for 100 program. Recipients of Sustaining Grants are chosen annually from a pool of former $100K for 100 winners whose grants are now in their final year. Sparked by Joyce and Bill’s 2009 visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel, Institute for World Justice has two missions: to use education to help prevent future genocides and other intercultural violence and injustices, and to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of Rwanda. The Foundation pledged the first $15 million toward the planning and creation of the first phase of University of Global Health Equity in Butaro, Rwanda. Joyce and Bill were then instrumental in securing an additional $15 million in matching funds from other sources, including a major international foundation. New Horizons at Choate, in Woburn, and New Horizons at Marlborough are Cummings Foundation’s not-for-profit independent and assisted living communities. Offering abundant activities, gourmet dining, and beautiful surroundings, they collectively house more than 500 senior residents. In 2005, the Foundation finalized a very long-term collaboration with the newly renamed Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University—New England’s only veterinary school—providing support and financial resources to sustain the graduate school’s global reputation for excellence. The partnership includes a $50 million commitment from the Foundation, the majority of which has been fulfilled. While not a program of Cummings Foundation, Employee Directed Giving is a celebrated tradition in the Cummings organization, with more than $2.25 million in donations to date. In appreciation of the dedicated service of its valued employees, Cummings Properties annually contributes $1,000 to a local charity of each staff member's choice. Designed to support the communities where staff members live and work, the program is open to all regular full-time employees of Cummings Properties and its affiliated New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn.