The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation will close by the end of the year after its parent company, Magnum Corporation, evicted the foundation from its offices and cut off funding.
The foundation said it will suspend operations unless it wins an ongoing legal case against Magnum. The dispute centers on Ben & Jerry’s governance, its social mission, and its relationship with the parent company.
Legal battle over independence
In April, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen delivered more than 100,000 signatures to Magnum’s headquarters in Amsterdam. The petition demanded the brand be allowed to operate independently from its parent company.
Cohen has argued that Magnum’s corporate policies conflict with Ben & Jerry’s social values. The foundation, established in 1985 when the ice cream company went public, has distributed grants to grassroots organizations focused on social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.
Magnum’s decision to withdraw support follows years of tension. The foundation was designed to operate independently, ensuring its funding decisions prioritized community needs over corporate interests. That autonomy is now at risk.
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For many nonprofits that relied on the foundation’s grants, the closure could mean losing a key source of funding. Smaller organizations, especially those working on local justice initiatives, may struggle to replace the support. The foundation’s model—redirecting a significant portion of profits to activism—was rare in corporate philanthropy, and its absence leaves a gap that few other companies have filled.
Cohen calls move a “profound betrayal”
Cohen criticized Magnum’s actions in a statement, calling the shutdown a “profound betrayal” of the foundation’s original mission.
“The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was founded in order to use the highest percentage of profits of any publicly held corporation to fund grassroots organizations working for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice,” he said. “A critical founding principle was that the foundation needed to be totally independent of the company—that its grants could not be determined based on what would be best for Ben & Jerry’s, but rather what would be best for people who were suffering.”
“For Magnum Corporation to now be shutting down the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is a profound betrayal of everything it was created to stand for,” Cohen added. “And I will do everything I can to oppose this abuse of power and help Magnum to see the light.”
The foundation’s future depends on the outcome of its legal challenge. If the case fails, its closure will mark the end of a 40-year effort to align corporate profits with social justice causes.
