Since 1988 we have donated 7.5% of our pre-tax profits to philanthropy. In 2000 this amounted to $1,285,630, which will be granted in 2001 ($175,000 to international and $1,110,639 to domestic). Philanthropy is employee-led through the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation and Community Action Teams (CATS) at each site. CAT members and Foundation representatives are chosen by their peers. Since 1994 a nine-member Foundation grantmaking 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 went 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 gave grants ranging from $1,000 to $15,000. Examples of the grants made in 2000:

$10,000 - Center for Popular Economics, Amherst, MA � This organization’s mission is to teach economic literacy to activists and educators who are organizing for progressive social change. Funding was used to revise curriculum.

$15,000 - Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA), Allentown, PA - This faith-based community organizing group promotes positive change in neighborhoods that suffer from drugs, violence, poverty and racism. Local Organizing Committees (LOCs) are started by individual congregations who have signed on together to encourage their congregations to organize in their own neighborhoods. Funding will help them establish 5 LOCs over the next year and 15 over the next three years.

$10,000 - Love Makes a Family, Inc (gay & lesbian education), Portland, OR � This national organization is a resource for sexual minority families. They provide organizing tools, information and networking capacity to a grassroots membership base, encouraging members to design and carry out action projects and public education in there own communities. Their focus is on two primary areas: family rights and schools. Funding was provided for Project Link, which combines the parent organizing work in elementary schools they have done during the last seven years and the work they have done with young people in high school.

$15,000 - Farmworker Association of Florida (pesticide reduction, Latino farmworkers), Apopka, FL � Florida’s tomato industry, which produces over a third of the fresh market tomatoes in the U.S., is the largest user of methyl bromide nationwide. FWAF’s role in the project will be to target Hispanic and Haitian farmworkers to take actions to educate and protect themselves, their families and their communities and to work for statewide reforms by advocating for reporting, monitoring, buffer zone and safe alternatives.

A full list of Foundation grants is available at our web site.