Since 1988 we have donated 7.5% of our pre-tax profits to philanthropy. In 1999 this amounted to $1,135,000, which will be granted in 2000. In mid-1999 we transitioned from prospective funding to a system of retrospective funding. The employees involved in philanthropy felt that the grant-making process would work better if each site had a predetermined pool of funds for each of their funding cycles. Philanthropy is employee-led through the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation and Community Action Teams at each site. CAT members and Foundation representatives are chosen by their peers. Since 1994 a nine-member Foundation grant-making committee, composed of employees representing each site, has reviewed the applications and made funding decisions subject to approval or ratification by the Foundation’s trustees. CAT teams are comprised of five to nine employees, depending on the size of their site.

About half of our philanthropic dollars go to the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation. Its mission is to support progressive social change in the United States by contributing to grassroots groups that focus on the underlying conditions that create social problems such as racism, sexism, poverty and environmental destruction. The Foundation gives grants ranging from $1,000 to $15,000. Examples of the grants made in 1999 are:

• $10,000 — Mothers On the Move, Bronx, NY. This neighborhood organization was started by a group of mothers concerned about failing public schools. The organization has extended its concerns to the areas of public safety, transportation and tenant organizing. They are making a difference in their community.
• $7,500 — National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, New York City, NY. This organization emerged out of organizing work by the Chinese Staff Workers Association against sweatshop conditions in the Chinese community in New York. We also made a grant of $7,500 to Sweatshop Watch (www.sweatshopwatch.org), an Oakland, California, based organization that focuses on the garment industry in California.
• $7,500 — Gulf Restoration Network, New Orleans, LA. This is a network of environmental and social justice groups working to protect public health and to raise environmental concerns in the Gulf Coast region.
• $10,000 — Institute for Social Ecology, Plainfield, VT. This organization is working to create a network of activists around biotechnology issues.
• $7,500 — Police Barrio Relations Project, Philadelphia, PA. This organization is working to improve relations between the Latino community and the police.
  A full list of Foundation grants is available at our web site.

Each of our five sites has a Community Action Team (CAT). These teams make small grants to local community organizations. The CATs also organize an annual community project for their site. Each employee has eight hours allocated to a community project. This year these projects included renovating the homes of low-income, elderly people, building a playground, and restoring a riverbank. CAT grants are in the $200 to $1,000 range. These support school and after-school programs, community recreational programs, arts groups, local conservation projects, etc.

At the end of December we held our annual meeting for employees involved with the Foundation and the CATs to review the year. Our guest speaker was the Secretary of Human Services for the State of Vermont.

Corporate Giving supports various statewide nonprofit organizations such as Vermont Public Radio (www.vpr.net), socially responsible organizations such as Business for Social Responsibility (www.bsr.org), The Council on Economic Priorities (www.cepnyc.org) and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (www.vbsr.org), and organizations working on issues of importance to the company such as the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (www.vpirg.org).

The Matching Gift Program was designed to encourage and support our employee’s personal generosity. Employees make donations to nonprofits of their choice and the company matches dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000 per employee annually. Roughly 10% of employees participated in this program. screened investments Finance & Shareholders.