Bill Cummings
EducationTufts University
Occupations
  • real estate developer
  • philanthropist
SpouseJoyce Cummings
Children4[1]
WebsiteOfficial website

Bill Cummings is an American philanthropist; his charitable foundation has nearly $2 billion in assets.[2][3][4] The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine[5] and the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center, both at Tufts University, are both named after him, because of major gifts he made to those institutions. In 2018, Forbes Magazine ranked him on its annual Top Givers List (which was based on gifts made in 2017).[6] On April 6, 2022, Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, announced a $20 million philanthropic partnership with the Cummings Foundation and the renaming of its School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation to the Cummings School of Architecture and Real Estate in Cummings' honor.[7]

Early life

Cummings grew up in Medford, Massachusetts[2] and graduated from Tufts University in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.[8]

Career

Real estate

A vintage postcard with the United Shoe Machinery factory in Beverly, Massachusetts, now Cummings Center

Cummings founded his real estate company, Cummings Properties, in 1970.[3][9] The company, Cummings Properties, started with one small building in Woburn, Massachusetts, and has expanded to include 11 million square feet across 11 Boston communities.[10] In 1996, Cummings bought the former factory of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation in Beverly, Massachusetts; it is now known as Cummings Center.[11]

Philanthropy

Cummings and his wife Joyce established the Cummings Foundation in 1986, pledging to give 10 percent of their income to it annually but eventually committed to most of the family's commercial real estate holdings to the foundation.[3]

In 2004, Cummings made his largest gift to date, a $50 million donation to Tufts' veterinary school; it was the largest endowment in the institution's history.[12]

In 2011, they signed The Giving Pledge,[1] reflecting their desire to donate substantially all of their wealth to charity.[13]

In 2012, the foundation started its "$100K for 100" program, which gives out 100 grants of $100,000 every year to nonprofits supporting human services, education, healthcare, and social justice in Boston.[14][15]

His foundation gave $15 million, which Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation then matched, to establish University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. The school graduated its first class of master's students in 2017.[16]

In 2017, his foundation gave $35 million to charity.[2][15]

As of 2018, Cummings Foundation is one of the largest foundations in New England, and has donated over $225 million.[10] The foundation also has several subsidiaries, including the nonprofit New Horizons retirement communities.[3][17]

In November 2019, Cummings was recognized by the New England Real Estate Journal with the Lifetime Achievement Award.[18]

In February 2022, the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology announced it received a $12.5 million gift from the Cummings Foundation to advance its work in creating technical career pathways for students typically underrepresented in post-secondary education. In recognition of the transformational nature of the commitment—nearly equivalent to the school's annual operating budget—the college was renamed Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology.

In April 2022, the Cummings Foundation and Roger Williams University announced a $20 million partnership and the renaming of the RWU School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation to the Cummings School of Architecture and Real Estate.[7]

Writer

Cummings published his autobiography, Starting Small and Making it Big, in 2018.[19][20]

References

  1. 1 2 "Joyce and Bill Cummings". Giving Pledge.
  2. 1 2 3 Debter, Lauren. "From Fruit Punch To Real Estate: The Quiet Rise of One Of America's Biggest Philanthropists". Forbes.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "A Foundation for Giving: How This Real Estate Mogul Has Built His Philanthropy".
  4. ↑ "IRS Form 990" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Cummings School Story - Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University".
  6. ↑ Wang, Jennifer. "America's Top 50 Givers". Forbes.
  7. 1 2 "RWU Announces $20 Million Partnership with Cummings Foundation | Roger Williams University". www.rwu.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  8. ↑ "BBJ presents Visionary Award to real estate veteran and philanthropist Bill Cummings - Boston Business Journal". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  9. ↑ "Helping prevent future genocides and intercultural violence through genocide and Holocaust education". www.cummingsfoundation.org.
  10. 1 2 "Woburn Man Makes Forbes List Of Top 50 Philanthropists". 26 October 2018.
  11. ↑ Leighton, Paul. "Book tells story of Cummings' remarkable rise". Salem News.
  12. ↑ "DVM360 Magazine".
  13. ↑ "wcvb.com".
  14. ↑ "Asian American women's shelter celebrates 25 years". 1 November 2018.
  15. 1 2 Wang, Jennifer. "The Greatest Givers: Meet America's Top Philanthropists". Forbes.
  16. ↑ "Training the next generation of global health leaders in Africa". Devex. 31 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Cummings Foundation Donates $10M To Boston Area Nonprofits". 20 April 2018.
  18. ↑ "Bill Cummings, one of the most prolific philanthropists in Mass. history to receive NEREJ's Lifetime Achievement Award". nerej.com. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  19. ↑ "Book Review: Starting Small and Making It Big - An Entrepreneur's Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist". 7 May 2018.
  20. ↑ "Philanthropist Bill Cummings adds a new title to his portfolio: author - The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe.
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