Cummings
Foundation, Inc. (CFI) was developed in February 1986 as a 509(a) private foundation.
The vast majority of all funding has been internal, including the considerable
growth of CFI's investments. Its only substantial outside funding was an early
$100,000 contribution from Prudential Insurance Company of America. It is the
Foundation's expectation to continue its mission in perpetuity through investment
growth and anticipated future bequests. Its current net assets exceeded $500 million
for the first time in 2005.
The
Foundation's first major charitable venture was its 1990 construction of New
Horizons at Choate, LLC (NHC), a not-for-profit independent and assisted living
community in Woburn, Massachusetts. Built from the former Choate Memorial Hospital
following its bankruptcy, NHC now houses 125 seniors from diverse backgrounds.
It is considered by many to be one of the finest communities of its type in New
England, and served as a state model for assisted living residences.
New
Horizons at Marlborough, LLC (NHM) became a part of Cummings Foundation, Inc.
when the stock of NHM was donated to the Foundation on March 31, 2002. NHM currently
serves 400 seniors in one of New England's largest and finest comprehensive retirement
communities. Located just off U.S. Route 20 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, NHM
offers a wide array of living options, beginning with 154 very "independent"
residences in five buildings collectively known as "The
Meadows."
In
2004, Veterinary School at Tufts, LLC (VST) became the Foundation's third major
operating entity. Closely affiliated with Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
at Tufts University, VST supports the ongoing educational objectives of this preeminent
institution, which is New England's only school of veterinary medicine. The school
was changed to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in 2005.
Directly
or otherwise, William S. and Joyce M. Cummings of Winchester, Massachusetts provided
the Foundation's financial base. Joyce is a former hospital dietitian who graduated
from the University of Alabama and completed her dietetic internship at Massachusetts
General Hospital. Among other activities, she has been a director of Hospice Care,
Inc. and Winchester Community Music School, and president of EN KA Society of
Winchester, as well as co-chair of Winchester Friends of Hospice Care, Inc. She
is also a trustee of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and chairs the women's
golf program at Winchester Country Club.
Bill
founded Cummings Properties, LLC (CPL) and several dozen other Massachusetts commercial
real estate firms, and is involved in numerous community activities. He is a 1958
graduate and a trustee emeritus of Tufts University, and was also an overseer
of Tufts Medical School. He has also served as an elected member and chairman
of the Winchester Planning Board, and as a director of Winchester Country Club,
Winchester Hospital and a Woburn bank. He is president of not-for-profit New Horizons
at Choate and the much larger New Horizons at Marlborough retirement communities,
and was founding publisher of three community newspapers. Bill is also president
of Cummings Foundation, Inc.
From
its beginnings in 1969 in Woburn, Massachusetts, Cummings Properties, LLC (CPL)
has evolved into one of Boston's most prominent, full service commercial real
estate development firms. Cummings Properties currently operates nearly 8 million
square feet of Massachusetts office space in 10 metropolitan Boston communities.
It is one of the most financially solid real estate firms in the country.
Cummings
Foundation concentrates much of its funding within communities in which Cummings
Properties' staff and their families live, and from which many assets of the Foundation
were originally derived. The largest ongoing program of the Foundation, other
than its three subsidiaries, is the McKeown Scholars Program. This is a competitive
program, that has awarded merit scholarships of up to $5,000 each to more than
440 local area students, through May 2005.
The
Foundation often seeks to leverage its awards to encourage other giving, for a
more productive future for the receiving entity. On at least six occasions, it
has provided the lead gift to encourage new, progressive developments for its
recipient charitable entities.
Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine
Beyond
just the size of its $50 million commitment to Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University,
the Foundation's new, very entrepreneurial relationship
with Cummings School should meaningfully link the
two institutions. Cummings Foundation is expected
to evolve from a private operating foundation to a
grant-making foundation over the next eight or 10
years.
Very
shortly following Cummings Foundation's commitment in 2004, the University received
a far larger grant from the Omidyar Foundation. In a stunning move, two other
Tufts graduates, Pam and Pierre Omidyar, of eBay fame, contributed more than $100
million to the University in 2005. Through the Tufts University endowment fund,
the Omidyar gift will support entrepreneurship in the form of microfinancial entrepreneurial
investments in developing nations.
The
thrust of the Omidyar gift, in support of worldwide entrepreneurship, was of great
interest and was particularly pleasing to Cummings Foundation. In 1998, Cummings
Foundation helped to nudge the University in that same direction when it endowed
the Cummings Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and Business Economics. Professor
George Norman was selected as the first holder of that chair.
