One hundred percent of all rental profits from all buildings owned by the Cummings family and Cummings Foundation goes to local nonprofits.
Most of this funding is distributed through Cummings Foundation, which has awarded more than half a billion dollars to date in eastern Massachusetts. Every year, its signature initiative, the Cummings $30 Million Grant Program, commits new multi-year funding to 150 greater Boston nonprofits.
Learn about funding opportunities, and see a list of past grant recipients.
We are enormously grateful to our leasing clients, whose tenancy makes this kind of philanthropy possible. When you choose Cummings, you’re not just leasing space in the community—you're becoming an integral part of it.
The Cummings family has donated the large majority of its commercial real estate to Cummings Foundation. The several buildings still owned by the family will eventually transfer to the Foundation through Bill Cummings’ estate plan.
One hundred percent of the profits from both the Foundation-owned and family-owned properties, however, are either dedicated for charitable purposes immediately or reinvested in the business operations to create more revenue for the ultimate benefit of local nonprofits.
“Why not? We have more than we need, and so many in the world around us need so much.”
This was Joyce Cummings’ straightforward reply when a Bloomberg Radio reporter asked why she and her husband, Cummings Properties founder Bill Cummings, dedicated so much of their wealth to philanthropy.
Raised on the heels of The Great Depression, Bill and Joyce had modest upbringings, and they continue to live a relatively modest lifestyle today. Prime examples of good old-fashioned New England thrift—and genuine kindness—they put the well-being of the community ahead of corporate or personal excess.
At Cummings, we also feel a responsibility to be a good neighbor, recognizing that a company’s struggles and successes are intertwined with those of the local community.
Greater Boston has supported our firm’s growth for more than 50 years, and it is not only our obligation but also our great pleasure to support greater Boston in return.
“We reject the phrase give until it hurts. The better advice is to give until it feels good, and then keep on giving.”
