The
Cummings $30M Grant Program is a place-based initiative that primarily supports nonprofits in the Massachusetts counties where Cummings Foundation
operates commercial properties and where most staff and clients of Cummings Foundation and Cummings Properties live, including:
- Essex County
- Middlesex County
- Suffolk County
- Norfolk County, specifically Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Needham, Quincy and Wellesley
Cummings Foundation and a group of about 100 community volunteers with varying backgrounds will identify 150 local-area non-profits as winners of multi-year grants, to be paid over either three or 10 years. Specifically, 125 will be awarded three-year grants and 25 will be awarded 10-year grants.
Priority Funding Causes:
- Human services: housing and food security, anti-poverty, support for people with physical or intellectual limitations, employment training, assistance for foreign-born residents, legal assistance, senior citizens, strong families/communities, youth activities/services
- Fairness and justice: anti-hate, opportunity gap remediation, representation
- Education: K-12/college, mentoring/tutoring, out-of-school time, complementary programs
- Healthcare: hospitals/clinics, mental health
- The environment: environmental education, equitable access to outdoor spaces, recycling/waste reduction, sustainable agriculture and food systems (except: research, land preservation and large capital projects)
FUNDING INFORMATION: Annual installments range from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $100,000. They should be round numbers (i.e., $50,000 instead of $52,990) and will remain constant each grant year.
Grants may be requested for either three years or 10 years. See Eligibility section for further clarification about 10-year grants.
ELIGIBILITY: Cummings supports truly local organizations, and so applicants must:
- Be headquartered in one of the geographic areas listed above
- Provide the majority of its services in the geographic area selected
- Not maintain offices or provide services outside Massachusetts (except Merrimack Valley nonprofits that also serve Southern New Hampshire)
- Not be regional, national or international regardless if based locally
- Not be a local office/affiliate of a regional or national organization, unless it has its own EIN
Additionally, Cummings generally does not consider requests for the following, but may still consider applications for:
- Endowments
- Medical research
- Private foundations
- Religious endeavors
- Relatively new entities
- Political, legislative or lobbying organizations
- Primary and secondary schools that charge significant tuition
- Very large organizations already supported by robust endowments
Organizations that treat people unfairly based on protected characteristics There is no separate process for 10-year grants, and all applications should be written with a three-year grant in mind. However, after the initial LOI selection, 10-year grant applicants must:
- Have received a previous Cummings grant
- Apply for more than $25,000 annually
INTERNAL SELECTION: BU faculty who submit grants through BU can send the materials listed below via InfoReady Review by Aug. 8, 2025. For BU faculty who submit grants through BMC, please contact Carolina Giudice at carolina.giudice@bmc.org, strategic research growth program manager by July 23, 2025. Consult the BUMC Home Institution Finder if you are uncertain whether you submit grants through BU or BMC.
- Project name
- Project summary (20-25 words)
- Need description statement (800 words) explaining the general need for which funds are being requested, the problem to be solved, the gap to be filled, and any other relevant information. If you are applying for general operating support, please describe the need that the organization as a whole seeks to address.
- Plan for Grant Funds statement (1,000 words) describing how this grant would help address the need stated in the Need Description and how your organization is qualified to conduct this work. Provide a sense of who, what, when, where and how. If applying for general operating support, please summarize the organization’s services/programs that address the need described above.
- Up-to-date CV.
As necessary, a faculty committee will review and help select a candidate. Foundation Relations will support the candidate to submit their Letter of Inquiry (LOI) by Sept. 17, 2025.
Applicants may also attend the virtual Q&A session with Executive Director Joyce Vyriotes and Deputy Director Andrew Bishop on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 9 a.m. (Zoom registration) and Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025 at 1 p.m. (Zoom registration). A list of past grant recipients can be found here.
DEADLINES:
- Internal Materials Due: Friday, Aug. 8, 2025
- Anticipated Notification Date: Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025
- Letter of Inquiry Due: Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, by 5 p.m. ET
- Application Invitations: Week of Nov. 3, 2025
In requesting to be considered for this limited submission funding opportunity, you are making a commitment, if selected, to submit your proposal to the sponsor in a timely manner and to Sponsored Programs in accordance with the Proposal Submission Policy.
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