1994 Annual Report
The Ben and Jerry's Foundation mission is to support and contribute to progressive social change in the United States. By progressive social change we mean efforts to change the underlying conditions that create social problems such as racism, sexism, poverty and environmental destruction. We primarily fund small grassroots organizations, and are willing to take risks funding new projects and small organizations struggling to survive.
The Foundation receives a portion of the Ben & Jerry's company philanthropy, which is 7.5% of pre-tax profits, for these purposes. In 1994 the Foundation gave away $364,506 in 83 grants. The average grant was approximately $5,000. The smallest grant was $200 and the largest was $15,000.
1994 was an exciting year of change for the Foundation. The company began dividing it's monetary giving between the Foundation, employee Community Action Teams at each site, and corporate philanthropy. This change allowed for more decentralized decision making, involved more employees in making decisions, and increased the portion of giving in Vermont. As often happens when changes are made, things didn't always go exactly as planned, and 1994 was a year of learning for us all. In the end, however, we are very satisfied with the overall structure of philanthropy that we have developed at Ben & Jerry's. It is unique in the world of corporate philanthropy in the extent of employee involvement, and we are very proud of the changes we have made.
The giving structure for 1995 will remain the same as it was in 1994. Each company manufacturing and administrative site in Vermont will continue to have an employee Community Action Team, which gives small community service grants (under $1,000) within a specified area of the state. The Foundation Board is an all employee Board with representatives elected from each CAT team. Due to the present financial situation of the company, we anticipate that giving may be less this year than last, but it is too early to predict what that giving will be.
The current Foundation grant application process will also remain the same. We have a two step process. The first step is to submit a letter of interest. These are reviewed by the Foundation Director and at least one board member. The Foundation receives about 300 letters of interest per quarter. Approximately 30 organizations per quarter are invited to submit a full proposal, based on their initial letters.
The full proposals are reviewed by the full Board. Decisions are made at quarterly board meetings, about 7 weeks after the deadline. Applicants usually hear the decisions around 8 to 9 weeks after they have submitted a full proposal.
Because our funding capabilities may be more limited this year, the selection process will likely be even more competitive. Therefore, we encourage all potential applicants to review our application materials carefully in order to assess the appropriateness of their project for a Ben & Jerry's Foundation grant. We look forward to another year reviewing exciting and innovative proposals for social change work.