Cummings 20 Million Dollar Grant Program Logo

The Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center is one of 30 local nonprofits to share in $10 million in funding from Cummings Foundation. Our organization will receive $33,333 over 10 years.

The mission of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center is to empower individuals and engage communities to end domestic violence. The organization provides comprehensive services to meet the complex needs of adult and child survivors healing from the trauma of domestic abuse through advocacy, counseling and legal services.

“We continue to extend our gratitude to the Cummings Foundation for their ongoing support and are honored to be among the other recipients of these sustaining grants, all doing incredible and needed work across Greater Boston,” said Suzanne Dubus, CEO of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center. “Globally, domestic violence has intensified and escalated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and sadly our communities are not immune to these impacts. This funding will make a significant impact to our work with survivors of domestic violence as their needs shift from crisis intervention, to long-term healing and independence.”

“Greater Boston is so fortunate to have nonprofits like the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center that are listening to the community and working to meet its needs,” said Cummings Foundation grants manager Christina Berthelsen. “By providing a full decade of support, we hope to alleviate some of the constant fundraising burden, enabling nonprofit staff to spend more time actually providing services.”

This long-term funding is part of the Cummings $20 Million Grant Program, which supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties.

In the first phase of this philanthropic initiative, 130 nonprofits were awarded $100,000 each in June. In the second phase, just completed, repeat grant winners were considered to have their $100,000 grants elevated to 10-years awards of $200,000 – $500,000 each.

Nonprofits contending for the extended funding made presentations via Zoom to a panel of Cummings Foundation volunteers. These community volunteers selected 19 of the 30 grant winners. The other 11 recipients had been determined in June by Foundation team members.

“As a way to share the economic power of the Foundation, we have created a system through which volunteers decide more than half of all our grant winners,” said Berthelsen. “We benefit from their diverse backgrounds and perspectives; they benefit from an enlightening learning opportunity; and the nonprofits often benefit from increased exposure and new advocates.”

Through the Cummings $20 Million Grant Program, Cummings Foundation gives 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.

Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $280 million to greater Boston nonprofits alone. It increased its annual grant program from $20 million to $25 million during the current 2021 cycle. The process is already underway.

The complete list of Cummings Foundation grant winners is publicly available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

About the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center

Since 1982, the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center has been helping individuals and families at risk because of domestic violence. What first began as the compassionate mission of several volunteer parishioners of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newburyport has grown into a nationally recognized nonprofit organization serving adult and child survivors of domestic violence from Newbury to Lawrence. The mission of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center is to empower individuals and engage communities to end domestic violence.  For more information, call 978-465-0999, visit www.jeannegeigercrisiscenter.org or call the 24-hour confidential crisis hotline at 978-388-1888.

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.

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