Ben & Jerry’s Foundation staff were required to vacate their corporate offices in South Burlington this week and issued a release announcing the suspension of their operations. The organization that has funded social justice causes for over 40 years is embroiled in a dispute over an audit conducted by Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream parent company Magnum Ice Cream. During a conversation with WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley, the foundation's founder Ben Cohen lashes out at Ben & Jerry’s parent company for what he believes is an effort to rid Ben & Jerry’s of the values the company was built on:
The foundation was set up to be totally independent of the company and it cannot be controlled by the company. And I think that's probably why Magnum is trying to abolish it. What they're doing is illegal and you know they're looking for excuses, so they insisted on this special audit. You know the foundation conducts an independent audit on its own every year. But they wanted their own special one and the foundation agreed to it on the condition that they share the results of the audit. They share the audit with the foundation. So Magnum has said the audit shows irregularities, and if that's the case, let's see it. They refuse to share it. The foundation has done nothing illegal. Has done nothing unethical.
Ben, the foundation had to vacate its offices this week. The release from the foundation said it was planning to suspend operations at the end of the year if the lawsuit doesn't work out properly. But Magnum then ordered that it vacate its corporate offices this week. So, how are operations going to work? Are they going to be in limbo between now and the end of the year? What's going to be happening?
I'm not really clear on how the foundation is going to continue to do its work, but I am really clear that this is just a systematic effort to rid Ben & Jerry's of the values that built the company for the last half century. As soon as they became the owner, first they fired the CEO, who was a 30-year employee who worked himself all the way up from tour guide. Then they dismantled the entire independent board of directors, totally illegal, and now they're getting rid of the foundation, also totally illegal. What made Ben & Jerry's into what it is today is a social mission and an independent board that is the guardians of the flame, the guardians of the spirit and the soul of the company. And I'm working to get the company owned by socially aligned investors.
Ben, when we take a look at the social justice mission that you and Jerry and other folks at the foundation have been supporting for so long, has this whole controversy already affected that work and how much does it worry you in the future that some of these social justice efforts could go by the wayside?
I'm very worried about the social justice efforts going by the wayside. You know, Ben & Jerry's has been in the forefront of the movement for socially conscious businesses. You know, stripping Ben & Jerry's of its heart and its values is a real setback for that whole movement. Ben & Jerry's can go on to continue to fight for justice if we're able to free it from the claws and jaws of the Magnum monster.
Ben Cohen, when we look at the foundation, how much funding that it distributes is at risk?
Well, I believe that it has distributed about $40 million over its lifetime. You know the amount of money that it gets each year is related to how much ice cream gets sold. So I think that it gets about $7 million dollars a year that it then has been granting to small grassroots advocacy groups that are working for racial justice or economic justice, against job discrimination, trying to help immigrants. That's what it's been doing, and and the beautiful thing about the foundation is that it funds small organizations kind of before they're able to get funding from other foundations. And then once they get the funding from Ben & Jerry's, they have more credibility and then they're able to get other donations and grow.
Ben Cohen, if you thought it would be necessary, would you found a new foundation to continue the work?
I think that Ben & Jerry's is a phenomena. It took 50 years to build it. There's nothing that could replace the Ben & Jerry's Foundation or the social mission of Ben & Jerry's the company.
In an email to WAMC, Magnum Ice Cream says it is “deeply disappointed to read the press release from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation Trustees regarding the Foundation - an organisation which has to date received $60m from Unilever / TMICC (The Magnum Ice Cream Company) ... The decision to suspend operations is entirely down to the Trustees and their decision to ignore the findings of an independent audit and failure to put in place basic good governance; much to our dismay.”
Magnum adds that the foundation “mischaracterises events past and present” and disputes many of the claims offered by Cohen and foundation trustees. A Magnum spokesman notes that the independent audit had been agreed to and a summary of results were provided to the foundation’s president. “The findings found clear conflicts of interest and a lack of governance and financial controls, with the Foundation making grants to organisations where Board trustees held senior positions and even received compensation.” Magnum also rebuffs claims that foundation staff are totally independent and “..not Ben & Jerry’s employees, despite utilising Ben & Jerry’s offices and systems ...”
As for Cohen’s hopes to buy back the ice cream company, Magnum states “Ben & Jerry’s is not for sale and is thriving as part of The Magnum Ice Cream Company.”
