OUR INDEPENDENCE &
FUNDING IS AT RISK

For 40 Years, Community Power Has Been Our North Star

For four decades, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation has supported community organizing to advance justice, equity, and dignity for all. Our ability to fund grassroots movements, those fighting for racial justice, climate action, immigrants’ and workers’ rights, and LGBTQ+ dignity, has always depended on one essential principle:

Independence.

That independence is now at risk.

Corporate Interference Threatens a Proven Model of Community-Led, Progressive Philanthropy

Unilever/Magnum has been attempting to assert authority over the Foundation for months.
These attempts include:

• Imposing an undefined forensic audit and refusing to share the full audit report.
• Demanding unprecedented authority over Foundation Board appointments
• Withholding required funding.

Let’s be clear:

This isn’t about governance. This isn’t about an audit.

This is about whether a corporation can pressure an independent foundation for its human rights advocacy.

We cannot allow corporate interests to decide which communities, values, or viewpoints are “acceptable” in progressive philanthropy. Our mission exists precisely to support people challenging entrenched power and systemic injustice.

Our Commitment

We remain steadfast in our dedication to:

• Transparency
• Responsible stewardship
• Partnership with communities most impacted by injustice
• Protecting a legally established model of independent, community-rooted philanthropy

We will take whatever steps are necessary to defend our autonomy and ensure our work supporting people-powered justice continues without corporate interference.

A Message from Foundation Leadership

“We will not allow a billion-dollar corporation to cancel our forty-year history of helping grassroots organizations in their daily struggles for justice and dignity. That work is more important than ever. What Magnum wants is control of the foundation and they’re not entitled to it. This is corporate overreach pure and simple.”

— Liz Bankowski

Why This Matters

If corporations can dictate who can be a Trustee for a philanthropic Foundation and what human-rights work exists, they can also dictate which voices are heard and which movements are allowed to exist.

This moment is about more than one foundation.
It is about protecting the integrity of progressive philanthropy everywhere.

Our Message is Simple: #HandsOffTheFoundation

Human rights work and progressive philanthropy must remain free from corporate interference.