Cummings Foundation in Woburn

The strong majority of all real estate managed by Cummings Properties, not including TradeCenter 128, is beneficially owned by Cummings Foundation, Inc. (CFI).

Cummings Foundation has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Woburn Boys and Girls Club, to Hospice Care Inc. of Woburn and to the YMCA, in addition to about the $6.3 million it invested creating Woburn's not-for-profit New Horizons at Choate Inc. Major scholarship funds, totaling more than $1.5 million, have been distributed through a scholarship program that honors the memory of James L. McKeown, the late president of Cummings Properties, who grew up directly next door to TradeCenter 128 on Pearl Street.

A total of $400,000 in scholarships has been awarded to Woburn High School graduates alone, more than in any other participating community. In 2003, the Foundation financed and built the brick comfort station located at the south end of Horn Pond, and every year it makes dozens of unpublicized, substantial gifts in Woburn. Beyond Woburn, the Foundation recently committed $50 million to what is now known as the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

CFI is currently classified by the federal government as a Private Operating Foundation. In addition to New Horizons at Choate, LLC, it has two other philanthropic divisions. New Horizons at Marlborough, LLC includes a 480-resident assisted living community and a large convent in Marlborough, MA. Veterinary School at Tufts, LLC actually owns Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

With net assets of more than $600 million, Cummings Foundation is already one of the largest private foundations in New England. Although as an "operating foundation" it is very restricted by federal regulations in terms of its giving to other charitable entities, it expects to become a grant-making foundation in five or six years. With anticipated headquarters remaining in Woburn, it will likely become a much larger philanthropic force at that time, since grant-making foundations are required to donate five percent of their assets each calendar year.