Sonia Cummings

Sonia Cummings has been an activist/ philanthropist for the past 20 years, focusing on the environment, Jewish Life and the arts. She currently serves on the boards of Artis, I am Your Protector, (IAYP) and The Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Sonia is a former board member of The Jewish Funders Network, The Friends of the Arava Institute, (presently on its Advisory board), the Jewish Community Foundation of The Los Angeles Jewish Federation, (presently on its advisory board), the Medici Archives, the American Friends of the Tel Aviv Foundation, the Institute of Contemporary Midrash and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. She chaired the first giving circle for Arts in Schools! of LA’s 81 schools districts, the funding circle of the Inter-Agency Task force on Arab Israeli Issues, the Visual Arts committee of the Jewish Federation Tel Aviv /Los Angeles Partnerships and was a member of the Environment Initiative and the Steering Committee of the Jewish Federation Tel Aviv /Los Angeles Partnerships. She was an active member of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning Leadership Committee of New York’s Temple Emanu-El.

Prior to to becoming a lay leader and environmental activist, Sonia worked in the design industry developing products and private labels, marketing, licensing and forecasting trends, in Asia, France and the US. Sonia is also a fine arts painter and is currently working on a video project on legacy and contributes a regular column on design and art.

She is a member of the Council of American Jewish Museum, the Environmental Grantmakers Association, JFN, Threshold and an alumna of the Wexner heritage Foundation leadership program. She and her husband James both vote in CA.