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11. THE BEN & JERRY’S FOUNDATION
The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable foundation (and a separate entity from the Company) established in 1985 to offer competitive grants to nonprofit, grassroots organizations throughout the United States that facilitate progressive social change by addressing the underlying conditions of societal and environmental problems. In addition to the Foundation’s original endowment, Ben & Jerry’s makes yearly donations based on a formula related to total sales. In 2009, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. contributed $2,001,550 to the Foundation, a 3 percent increase over the previous year. The Foundation’s funding priorities include organizations that: 1) help ameliorate an unjust or destructive situation by empowering constituents; 2) facilitate leadership development and strengthen the self-empowerment efforts of those who have traditionally been disenfranchised in our society; 3) support community movement-building and collective action.
Notable in 2009 Technology! – In 2009 the Foundation took on two major projects: creating a new website (www.benandjerrysfoundation.org) and transitioning to an on-line application system. Both projects helped us examine and refine the way we communicate about our grant programs and processes. We will launch both in March of 2010.
Employee-Directed Grant-Making Ben & Jerry’s employees are extensively involved in the grant-making activities of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, in part because Foundation dollars derive from the hard work of the Company’s staff. The Foundation administers four programs under the direction of employees, which collectively awarded grants totaling $1,444,906 in 2009.
National Grant-Making Program A nine-member Employee Grant-Making Committee – representing each of the three Ben & Jerry’s sites in Vermont – makes grants to national and Vermont-based nonprofit organizations to support progressive social change and environmental work. Members volunteer to join the committee, are selected by Foundation staff, and are expected to serve three-year terms. Grants are made ten times a year, and range from $500 to $15,000. In 2009, the National Grant-Making Program distributed $1,152,651 in grants to 105 organizations. A complete list of national grants can be found here. NYC Site Visits! – In November, the staff, trustees and Employee Grant-making Committee took a whirlwind field trip to New York City. Our objective was to develop a deeper understanding of the national systems affecting immigrant workers in this country as well as the economic forces contributing to migration globally. We convened a panel discussion at the North Star Fund offices where we heard from Seth Wessler, researcher at the Applied Research Center , Chung Wa Hong, Executive Director of The New York Immigration Coalition, and Oscar Paredes Morales, founder and Executive Director of The Latin America Workers Project, Inc. We also visited with two grantees organizing on the ground for social justice and human rights for their constituents: the Center for Immigrant Families and Picture the Homeless. Multi-Year Capacity-Building Grant In 2007, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation piloted our first ever multi-year grant for Vermont-based and Vermont-focused nonprofit organizations that meet our overall mission of working for progressive social change through a grassroots organizing strategy. The grant provides a maximum of $25,000 per year (for up to three years) for capacity-building purposes. Highfields Institute was selected for the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation Capacity Building Grant for 2009. Highfields works to close the loop on community-based sustainable food and agricultural systems, thus addressing soil health, water quality, solid waste, farm viability, and climate change. Their program, Close the Loop Vermont, for which funding was granted, has a goal to capture 100 percent of food waste in Vermont by 2017 through effective educational, behavioral and infrastructural change strategies and engaging local community members as agents of change at the community and municipal level. Employee Matching Gift Program In order to encourage and support employees’ personal generosity, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation initiated an Employee Matching Gift Program in 1998. When employees make donations to nonprofits of their own choice, the Foundation matches dollar-for-dollar (up to $2,000 per employee annually). In 2009, 14 percent of staff participated in the program, and the Foundation matched $35,255 in employee donations. In addition – and as a reaction to the high cost of food and fuel – the Foundation offered to double match donations to local food shelves and programs that help low-income people afford heating fuel. The program ran during the month of December, and generated an additional $2,535 to nonprofit organizations for these specific purposes. Community Action Teams Each of the Company’s Vermont sites (Waterbury, St. Albans, and South Burlington) has an employee Community Action Team, or CAT. These teams review and administer small grant requests (generally $100 to $1,000) which support the work of Vermont-based nonprofit organizations. In 2009, the three Community Action Teams distributed a total of $182,000 in grants to organizations such as:
Community Action Teams In addition to its grantmaking functions, Community Action Teams also direct the energies of Ben & Jerry’s employees toward community improvement projects. 2009 projects included:
Plant Managers’ Discretionary Fund $5,000 is made available each year to the plant managers at the St. Albans and Waterbury sites to be used for corporate citizenship purposes and the support of activities of local civic organizations that may not be eligible for Community Action Team grants. The U Fund A special fund established when Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, the U Fund makes grants to organizations dedicated to education and activism in matters dealing with globalization and social justice. Managed by Ben & Jerry’s Foundation trustees, the U Fund made five donations in 2009 (totaling $125,000) to the following organizations:
Other Grant Programs The Foundation trustees and staff may make grants to nonprofit organizations in the areas of children and families, environmental restoration, sustainable agriculture, and peace through understanding and/or in support of the Company’s Social Mission initiatives (but not for sponsorships, promotions, or other marketing purposes). In 2009, $56,750 in other grants were distributed to various organizations, including:
Grant Recipient Spotlights Though we don’t have the space to write about all of the groups we fund, these three represent some of the important work that the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is proud to support.
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