Somerville non-profit receives Cummings Foundation grant

The Beautiful Stuff Project, a creative reuse center located on Medford Street, is one of 130 non-profits to receive grants of $100,000 or more through Cummings Foundation’s $20 Million Grant Program.  The Somerville-based organization was chosen from a total of 738 applicants during a competitive review process.

Emily Bhargava, Community Art Director at the Beautiful Stuff Project remarks, “The grant is not only a welcome infusion of dollars but a confirmation of the importance and uniqueness of our organization and its mission. We will continue to evolve to meet the needs of Somerville residents during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are excited about supporting a bright future of play and learning for everyone in the city.”  Grant funds will allow The Beautiful Stuff Project to expand the ways that it provides materials to teachers and families, and will support the collection of even more wonderful materials from local businesses.

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 COVlD-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 non-profits 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.”

About The Beautiful Stuff Project
The Beautiful Stuff Project collects materials from local businesses and manufacturers and diverts them from landfills by giving them a second life through creative play.  Working with schools throughout Somerville and neighboring cities, The Beautiful Stuff Project brings an amazing Treasure Box curriculum into classrooms to encourage exploration and STEAM learning, and also leads collaborative community art projects, drop-in art sessions for immigrant parents, camps, and other creative activities for community members.

During this time of social distancing and the COVID-19 outbreak, the Beautiful Stuff Project is finding ways to manage the realities of running an organization in a very new context.  Most of the upcycled materials that filled the storefront have been turned into colorful creativity care packages and delivered to hundreds of families in need throughout the city, and in partnership with SFLC, Beautiful Stuff Project has turned it’s Medford Street storefront into the city’s diaper donation hub, preparing diapers for weekly distribution at the school meal sites.  We have started a Beautiful Stuff Project At Home YouTube channel, and activity kits and upcycled grab-bags are now available for delivery and curbside pick-up.  In all of these new ways materials are still being diverted from landfills and encouraging playful learning.

The generous grant from the Cummings Foundation recognizes the special role that The Beautiful Stuff Project plays in Somerville and its neighboring communities and the important needs that it meets every day.

About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn, and Veterinary School at Tufts, LLC in North Grafton. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.