Press Release: Lawyers Clearinghouse awarded 10-year Sustaining Grant

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Lawyers Clearinghouse awarded 10-year Sustaining Grant
Boston nonprofit will receive $50,000 per year from Cummings Foundation

BOSTON, MA – Lawyers Clearinghouse is one of 33 local nonprofits awarded a total of $10 million from Cummings Foundation through its new Sustaining Grants program, which provides funding for up to 10 years. The Clearinghouse was selected to receive $50,000 per year for a full 10 years. Executive Director Maribeth Perry and Legal Clinic Director Mia Friedman represented the organization at a May 3 awards night at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn.

Lawyers Clearinghouse connects nonprofits and people who are homeless with volunteer attorneys. By providing pro bono legal services, the organization strives to strengthen the nonprofit sector and facilitate access to justice for people in need.

The Cummings Sustaining Grant will support further expansion of the Massachusetts Legal Clinic for the Homeless, a program launched by the Clearinghouse in 1994 to address the unmet legal needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in Greater Boston. Through the clinic, people using services at eight Boston-based homeless shelters are connected with volunteer attorneys from law firms and in-house legal departments.

“Being awarded this grant is both humbling and exciting,” said Lawyers Clearinghouse Executive Director Maribeth Perry. “In 2016 we received our first grant from Cummings Foundation, which enabled us to expand our Legal Clinic for the Homeless. This ten-year Sustaining Grant provides security and continuity to ensure that for years to come we can connect more people with the pro bono legal help they need to move forward.”

The Sustaining Grants program builds on Cummings Foundation’s $100K for 100 program. First offered in 2012, $100K for 100 annually awards $10 million through multi-year grants of $100,000 each to 100 nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk Counties. Grant recipients that received their final grant disbursements in 2017 were automatically considered for the Sustaining Grants initiative in 2018.

“Long-term financial support is rare for nonprofits, making fundraising a constant and time-consuming task for organizations like Lawyers Clearinghouse,” said Joyce Vyriotes, deputy director of Cummings Foundation. “The Sustaining Grants are intended to provide some relief, allowing them to focus more of their time and energy on delivering and enhancing their important services.”

Sustaining Grants winners were selected primarily by a 40-member volunteer committee, which included former state legislators, CEOs of companies and organizations in Greater Boston, and a retired justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, among many others. Committee members conducted two site visits with each nonprofit to learn how the $100k for 100 funds helped to advance its mission, and how it might put a 10-year grant to use.

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

Cummings Foundation has already awarded more than $200 million to date in Greater Boston alone, and it will award an additional $200 million over the next 10 years through the $100k for 100 and the Sustaining Grants programs.

About Lawyers Clearinghouse

The Lawyers Clearinghouse was founded in 1988 by the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association to provide legal support to nonprofit organizations working to promote affordable housing and alleviate homelessness. The Clearinghouse founders believed they could harness the skills of the private bar to address legal issues keeping nonprofits from reaching their full potential, allowing them to impact more lives and communities. Since then, the Clearinghouse has expanded the scope of its services to include educational workshops for nonprofits, legal clinics for the homeless at shelters in the Boston area, and a program to engage retired lawyers and judges in pro bono pursuits.

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 two New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn. Its largest single commitment to date has been to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.