The Ben Jerry’s Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the iconic Vermont ice cream brand, says it will shut down at the end of the year unless it wins a court battle with its parent company over funding. The news, announced on Wednesday, comes as Ben Jerry’s cofounder, Ben Cohen, continues his effort to buy the company back from its corporate owner, the Magnum Ice Cream Company, which is a spinoff of multinational corporation Unilever. For 40 years, the foundation has supported progressive grassroots causes. In addition to its global work, the foundation provided $600,000 worth of annual funding to Vermont-based causes, including farmworker advocacy group Migrant Justice, which had publicly pressured the company to ensure higher working standards for its Vermont supply chain. But in April 2025, Magnum said it would cut off funding for the organization and force it out of its corporate offices, effective Wednesday. “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. And I will do everything I can to oppose this abuse of power and help Magnum to see the light,” Cohen said in a statement on Wednesday. A spokesperson for Magnum said the foundation had mischaracterized the events leading up to the funding cuts. Magnum first conducted a governance review and independent audit, the company said. “The findings found clear conflicts of interest and a lack of governance and financial controls, with the Foundation making grants to organisations where Board trustees held senior positions and even received compensation,” the company said in a statement. According to Magnum, the trustees deliberately ignored the audit’s findings and failed to act on recommendations made by Magnum’s governance review. But the foundation denied those allegations. It described Magnum’s governance review as “pretextual” and said that the findings of the promised audit were never disclosed to them. Cofounders Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold Ben Jerry’s in 2000 to Unilever, which later spun off the brand under Magnum. The original deal was considered highly unusual as it contained legally binding provisions that enshrined the Vermont ice cream company’s independence to maintain its marketing and political activism. Cohen and Greenfield both stepped back from leadership duties decades ago but have been vocal in their criticism of Magnum and Unilever. Greenfield quit Ben Jerry’s in 2025, saying Magnum had silenced the company’s social justice mission. Cohen alleges Magnum has breached the sale terms, and he has been campaigning to buy the brand back from Magnum, which refuses to budge. Seven Days covered his campaign in a March cover story. Ties between Ben Jerry’s and its parent company have grown tense in recent years, especially over Israel. In 2021, Ben Jerry’s decided to pull its products from Israeli-occupied territories in support of the Palestinian cause, a move denounced by the Israeli government and several U.S. states, some of which dropped hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Unilever stock. Ben Jerry’s entered a settlement with Unilever after the company sold its trademark to an Israeli distributor, effectively bypassing its boycott. But Magnum has subsequently tightened its grip over the Vermont company’s political activism. In addition to cutting off the foundation’s funding, Magnum in 2025 ousted Ben Jerry’s CEO David Stever, a foundation trustee and members of the company’s independent board. The Ben Jerry’s Foundation has taken Unilever to court over the loss of its funding. The legal challenge, which is expected to stretch into next year, alleges that Unilever has violated the terms of its merger contract with Ben Jerry’s by undermining its political independence. The post Ben Jerry’s Foundation Plans to Shut Down by End of Year appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less