NonProfits Awarded Cummings Grants
Also known as The Elms, this fixture of Amesbury’s Friend Street was built in 1811.
KEITH SULLIVAN/ Staff file photo
newburyportnews.com | June 12, 2025 | By Dave Rogers
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NEWBURYPORT — Newburyport’s Nourishing the North Shore and the TEK Collaborative of Amesbury were among area nonprofits to receive 2025 Cummings Foundation grants ranging from $30,000 over three years to $500,000 over 10 years.
The grants help clothe, educate, uplift, house, feed and otherwise help people in need.
Nourishing the North Shore was awarded $300,000 while $75,000 was awarded to Housing Support Inc., both in Newburyport. TEK Collaborative in Amesbury was awarded $75,000.
TEK Collaborative provides internet capable devices to anyone in need at no cost with the goal of promoting digital equality, according to its website.
Nourishing the North Shore, according to its website, broadens access to healthy food for local people while strengthening connections to area farms. It was founded in 2015 in one garden but since then its influence has spread to 10 municipalities.
“We’re extremely grateful for their support,” Nourishing the North Shore Executive Director Tany Blasko said. Blasko said the grant, which has no restrictions in how it is used, will go toward maintaining the nonprofit’s ability to purchase fresh food and deliver it to those in need.
“That’s really a game changer for us,” Blasko said.
Since 1990, Housing Support Inc. has helped put a roof over the heads of homeless, low-income and disabled families and individuals. Its properties include the Quinn House (also known as The Elms) and the Bartlett House for women, both in Amesbury.
Housing Support Inc. Executive Director Paula Newcomb said the money, which would be divided over three years at $25,000 per year, will go toward assisting staff at the Quinn House and the Bartlett House.
“This was not our first time (applying) so we’re very pleased to receive the funds,” Newcomb said.
The Cummings Foundation announced its 2025 recipients last Wednesday, awarding $30 million to 150 organizations in 51 Massachusetts towns and cities.
The Foundation has awarded more than $600 million to Greater Boston nonprofits to date. It is an affiliate of the commercial real estate company Cummings Properties, based in Woburn.
Cummings helps organizations in or near the communities where it owns and leases commercial real estate.
Net profit from rent on its 11 million square feet of property, owned outright, funds the Foundation’s philanthropy.
The Cummings major grant program mainly supports Massachusetts nonprofits based in and serving Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties, plus, in Norfolk County, Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Needham, Quincy, and Wellesley.
Each year the Foundation receives up to 700 or more grant applications that are reviewed and decided, primarily, by community volunteers including business and nonprofit leaders, mayors, college presidents, and experts in areas such as finance and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Grant recipients say Cummings awards serve as a seal of approval and fortify fundraising efforts throughout the year.
For a list of this year’s 150 grant winners, plus about 1,200 previous recipients, visit CummingsFoundation. org.
Local nonprofits are encouraged to visit CummingsFoundation. org in mid-July to review the eligibility requirements and submit a letter of inquiry for the 2026 Cummings $30 Million Grant Program.
Eagle Tribune reporter Terry Date contributed to this story.
Dave Rogers is the editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews. com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.