The LGBT Aging Project at Fenway Health is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “$100K for 100” program. The Boston-based organization was chosen from a total of 597 applicants, during a competitive review process. Cummings Foundation has announced a total of $20 million in grants to Greater Boston charities in the past two months alone.
The LGBT Aging Project is dedicated to ensuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults have equal access to the life-prolonging benefits, protections, services and institutions that their heterosexual neighbors take for granted.
Lisa Krinsky, LICSW, Director of the LGBT Aging Project, and Bob Linscott, the program’s Assistant Director, will join approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $220 million to Greater Boston nonprofits alone.
“We are thrilled to receive this funding from the Cummings Foundation” said Krinsky, “And incredibly grateful that they recognize the importance of cultural competency training addressing LGBT aging and caregiving.”
The grant will fund Bringing LGBT Aging Out of the Closet, an initiative that will enable the Aging Project to build on and expand its LGBT cultural competency training, with particular attention to educating mainstream older adults on LGBT issues, and a broad array of audiences on transgender aging.
The $100K for 100 program supports 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 of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“We are indebted to the nonprofit organizations like Fenway Health and the LGBT Aging Project that have a meaningful positive impact on the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “We are delighted to invest in their important programs and services.”
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
The complete list of 100 grant winners will be available beginning June 7 at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
Cummings Foundation announced an additional $10 million in early May through its new Sustaining Grants, which extend “$100K for 100” funding for previous winners for 10 more years. Beginning in 2019, the Foundation will increase its total annual giving through these two programs from $20 million to $25 million.
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