The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation announced that it is one of 130 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 to $500,000 each through the Cummings Foundation’s $20 Million Grant Program. The Woburn-based organization was chosen from a total of 738 applicants during a competitive review process.
The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation (HRF) provides training and support for adults with hearing loss. Modern technology does not solve all the problems created by hearing loss, and the HRF services help clients make optimal use of their hearing aids or cochlear implants, according to the organization.
“The grant will be used to ensure that we can continue to provide low-cost, high-impact services during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said HRF President Geoff Plant. “The onset of Covid-19 meant we could no longer have clients come to our office for services. We have started to provide online services and will expand these greatly in the coming months.”
The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm “leases and manages 10 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.”
“We have been impressed, but not surprised, by the myriad ways in which these 130 grant winners are serving their communities, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “Their ability to adapt and work with their constituents in new and meaningful ways has an enormous impact in the communities where our colleagues and leasing clients live and work.”
Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $280 million to greater Boston nonprofits.
Social distancing requirements will prevent Foundation and grant winner representatives from convening for a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn, as planned, to celebrate the $20 million infusion into greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. Instead, Cummings Foundation expects hundreds of individuals to gather virtually for a modified celebration in mid-June.
The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program resulted from a merger of the Foundation’s two flagship grant programs, “$100K for 100” and “Sustaining Grants.”
The Foundation and its volunteers first identified 130 organizations to receive grants of at least $100,000 each. Among the winners are first-time recipients as well as nonprofits that have previously received Cummings Foundation grants. A limited number of this latter group of repeat recipients will be invited to make in-person presentations in the fall, when public-health related circumstances allow, proposing that their grants be elevated to long-term awards. Thirty such requests will be granted in the form of 10-year awards ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 each.
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention, affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. The nonprofits are spread across 40 different cities and towns, and most will receive their grants over two to five years.
The complete list of 130 grant winners is available at: www.CummingsFoundation.org.
A great deal more information about Cummings Foundation is detailed in Bill Cummings’ self-written business book, Starting Small and Making It Big: Hands-On Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy. The brand-new and updated, 6thedition is available on Amazon or cummings.com/book.
Source: HRF
