A couple giving away its fortune to charity and a distinguished financial services company adding jobs from Springfield to Boston will be honored with 2018 Vision Awards from Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM).

AIM will honor Bill and Joyce Cummings and Cummings Foundation of Woburn and MassMutual of Springfield at the association’s Annual Meeting on May 18 in Boston.

Bill Cummings, the founder of Woburn-based Cummings Properties, and his wife Joyce are among the most prolific philanthropists in Massachusetts, donating more than $21 million each year to organizations working in human services, education, healthcare, and social justice. The Cummings are also signatories to the Giving Pledge, the organization founded in 2010 by billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates to encourage people to donate their wealth to philanthropic causes or charities.

MassMutual, a cornerstone of the western Massachusetts economy since its founding in 1851, recently announced plans to move 1,000 workers into a new $240 million office in the Seaport District of Boston and another 1,500 new workers to its headquarters in Springfield. The company said the move is part of a broader strategy to consolidate operations in its home state and give the company increased access to a growing pool of tech and financial industry workers.

The AIM Vision Award recognizes companies, organizations and individuals who have made unique contributions to the cause of economic opportunity in Massachusetts. The award reflects AIM’s mission to stand for jobs, economic prosperity, innovation and a government that acknowledges that the private sector has the unique responsibility to create the common wealth for the people of Massachusetts.

“The 4,000 member-employers of Associated Industries of Massachusetts are delighted to honor two people and one company who illustrate and define the value that free enterprise brings to the larger society,” said Richard C. Lord, President and Chief Executive Officer of AIM.

“Bill and Joyce Cummings set the standard for philanthropy in Massachusetts and have built the idea of giving back into the DNA of their business. MassMutual is a 167-year-old company that continues to grow and create significant economic opportunity for the citizens of Massachusetts.”

Bill and Joyce Cummings

The Cummings donate millions to charity each year through several programs of Cummings Foundation:

• $100k for 100 ” A grant program that funds small and medium-sized Massachusetts nonprofits in Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Each year, hundreds of organizations vie for invitations to apply for one of the 100 grants of $100,000 each to be awarded locally.
• Sustaining Grants – Recognizing nonprofits’ need for long-term financial support, $10 million in Sustaining Grants go annually to former $100K for 100 winners whose grants are now in their final year.
• Institute for World Justice ” Uses education to help prevent future genocides and other intercultural violence and injustices; and aids in the recovery and rebuilding of Rwanda. The Foundation pledged the first $15 million toward the planning and creation of the first phase of  University of Global Health Equity in Butaro, Rwanda
• Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine ” The Foundation maintains a long-standing partnership with New England’s only veterinary school”providing support and financial resources to sustain the graduate school’s global reputation for excellence. The partnership includes a $70 million commitment from the Foundation, the majority of which has been fulfilled.

Bill Cummings says he learned both the value of hard work and the importance of generosity from his parents. His father painted houses, raising a family in a one-bedroom apartment atop a liquor store and a taxi stand on the outskirts of Boston. His mother was a neighborhood fixture, building friendships as she knocked on doors to collect coins for large charities that once operated that way.

He spent part of his young years washing windows for his neighborhood’s storekeepers, and for three summers as a young teen he sold ice cream from the back of his bike at a nearby Ford Motors assembly plant. Later he purchased and sold dozens of small boats using Boston Globe classified ads. Eventually, he grew Cummings Properties into a 500-person company with a debt-free portfolio of 11 million square feet of commercial real estate.

“My friend Bill writes that he rejects the phrase “give until it hurts’ because he and his wife, Joyce, think the better advice is to “give until it feels good.’ It’s a fitting observation from a man whose extraordinary business success is outmatched only by his commitment to lifting up those around him,” said Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

MassMutual

MassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company that offers a wide range of financial products and services, including life insurance, disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, annuities, retirement plans and other employee benefits.

The company is one of the largest businesses based in Massachusetts, with $771 billion in assets under management and $670 billion of life insurance protection in force (as of year-end 2017).

MassMutual employs some 3,000 people in Springfield and approximately 7,300 people globally.

The company reached number 77 on the FORTUNE� 500 list in 2017 and was named a FORTUNE Most Admired company for 2018 (a distinction held for the last 18 out of 20 years), topping the list for innovation and the top-ranked mutual company in the life and health insurance industry category.

MassMutual was also recognized as one of the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies for the fifth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. The company was featured on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for the eighth time in the last decade in 2018, earning a perfect score of 100.

Perhaps no company has done more for Springfield and western Massachusetts over a longer period of time while forging more far-reaching business success than MassMutual. From its recent $1 million commitment to expand a support program that addresses students’ out-of-school challenges to promoting inclusive entrepreneurship through a partnership with Valley Venture Mentors, MassMutual has provided a compelling model for companies seeking to balance the demands of a global marketplace with the needs of its hometown.

In addition to strengthening education in Springfield, through the MassMutual Foundation, the company invests in projects, programs and organizations focused on strengthening the city of Springfield through revitalization, development, and social capital.  Signature investments in the region include $15 million of support over 10 years to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to drive education and economic opportunity in western Massachusetts, $1 million to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Capital Campaign to revitalize the Museum, and seasonally supporting the Springfield Museums.

The sustained commitment of MassMutual is even more extraordinary because it has come in an age when most of the other large companies that once also shouldered the responsibility for philanthropy and economic development in the city have long since disappeared or been absorbed into other entities.

In announcing its expansion in Springfield and Boston, MassMutual Chairman, President and CEO Roger Crandall said, “Following a thorough strategic assessment of our operations and footprint, we concluded that our home state of Massachusetts is the best place for us to grow and thrive over the long term. We have deep roots and a supportive community in our hometown of Springfield, and we will continue to invest and grow our workforce in the city.”

MassMutual has been honored regularly among the best places to work for both working mothers and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

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