The Cummins Foundation

The Cummins Foundation was created in 1954, 35 years after Cummins was founded. It was one of the early corporate foundations and is part of the global giving arm of Cummins Inc. It makes grants primarily in Cummins’ plant communities around the world and for projects that engage Cummins employees.

Investing in a vibrant and economically viable community in our headquarters location of Columbus, Indiana, has long been an important objective for Cummins. This vision started with Cummins’ former Chairman and CEO J. Irwin Miller.

Mr. Miller, who had a lifelong interest in architecture, understood that Cummins’ success in retaining the best and brightest employees was closely tied to the company’s ability to attract this talent to Columbus. He wanted to help the community by providing an alternative to the standard, but uninspired, school buildings being built at a rapid pace across the U.S. in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in order to meet the demand created by the baby boom. Thus, in 1957, the Cummins Foundation made its first grant to support architecture fees, for the Lillian C. Schmitt Elementary School, designed by Harry Weese.

The Architecture Program became a formal part of the Cummins Foundation in 1960 with a grant for Northside Middle School. It began with schools, but later grew to encompass all facilities in the county owned and operated by public tax dollars. Mr. Miller once captured the spirit of the program with this statement:

“Every one of us lives and moves all his life within the limitations, sight, and influence of architecture – at home, at school, at church and at work. The influence of architecture with which we are surrounded in our youth affects our lives, our standards, our tastes when we are grown, just as the influence of the parents and teachers with which we are surrounded in our youth affects us as adults. American architecture has never had more creative, imaginative practitioners than it has today. Each of the best of today’s architects can contribute something of lasting value to Columbus.”

The program has become a major economic asset to the worldwide headquarters for Cummins Inc. More than 50 projects have been sponsored by the Cummins Foundation and numerous other significant works of architecture in the community have been privately commissioned. The resulting partnership between private and corporate resources devoted to design has created a critical mass of buildings that have captured national and international attention, attracting 40,000 to 50,000 visitors each year.

Mission

The mission of the program is to encourage architectural excellence in Bartholomew County. The Foundation’s grants will continue to contribute to the unique role excellence in architecture plays as a cornerstone of the quality of life in our headquarters community.

Purpose

The Cummins Foundation will recommend architects and provide funds for the design portion of the architect fees for selected public projects to encourage architectural excellence in Bartholomew County.

How The Program Works

A qualified community entity completes the Project Qualification Form, which details the scope of the project, building purpose, budget, and other key details. Qualified entities include those which are owned and operated by public tax dollars (e.g., school board, the city, county government, etc.). The form is then submitted to the Cummins Columbus Committee representative and reviewed by the Cummins Architecture Program Core Team.

If the project is appropriate and meets the qualifications under the Architecture Program, the core team will make a recommendation on funding to The Cummins Foundation Board of Directors at the next foundation board meeting. The Foundation board will then vote on the request.

The core team will generate a list of architects, which is given to the requesting community entity. A core team representative will meet with the community entity and offer to help facilitate the architect selection using Six Sigma tools. Upon completion of the selection process, Cummins will provide funds for the design portion of the architect fees. The design architect will select and partner with a regionally-based production architect to construct the building. The fees of the production architect are the responsibility of the community entity. The Architecture Program may, at its discretion, pay for a project consultant to ensure that the design vision is appropriately executed timely and on budget.

It is important to note that the ultimate selection of the architectural team is up to the client – the community entity. While Cummins is available to facilitate the process if requested, the final decision resides with the community. The chosen architectural team should understand that the community is the client, not The Cummins Foundation.
A new list of architects is generated for each project. No permanent list is maintained. The method for developing a list is kept confidential to maintain the integrity of the process.

We will continue to make changes as necessary to ensure that architectural excellence in Bartholomew County continues as an important part of the development, prosperity and vitality of the community.

Related Pages

View a PDF version of The Cummins Foundation Architecture Program
A list of all the artists and architects with work in Columbus
Learn about J. Irwin and Xenia Miller, community leaders and benefactors
View the guide to the Columbus art and architecture
Columbus in the national media spotlight
One small city – seven national historic landmarks!
Learn about Exhibit Columbus
When Charles Osgood and CBS came to town
The Landscape architects of Columbus – Dan Kiley, Michael Van Valkenburg, Jack Curtis
View the guide to “the avenue of the architects” or watch the video