So Ben and Jerry decided to do something about it.

With a little over $12,000 dollars (much of it borrowed) the two men opened a little homemade ice cream store in an abandoned gas station in Burlington, Vermont. The first year saw little profit, but four years later the little ice cream store was wholesaling its product and doing over 2 million dollars in business. Suddenly the two "long hairs" were businessmen -- and big business abused the environment, exploited the working classes and cared about nothing but the bottom line. The two former flower children began to fear that they were going to turn into the very corporate types they had always despised. They couldn't be a part of that world!

So Ben and Jerry decided to do something about it.

Always eccentric in their business practices, Ben and Jerry began to instigate corporate policies that would reflect their belief that just because big business dealt with big money, it didn't mean it couldn't have a big heart. The two ice cream giants began to put forth and live their philosophy of "linked prosperity." They would use a portion of their profits to make a positive change in the world around them. To that end Ben and Jerry founded the Ben and Jerry's Foundation and designated that 7.5 percent of their company's annual pre-tax earnings would be donated to worthy social causes.

The Foundation is managed by a nine-member board of employees and considers proposals relating to children and families, disadvantaged groups and the environment. The Foundation does limit its grant donations to non-profit "grassroots" organizations and defines grassroots as an organization that has built its activism from the "ground up as opposed to top down decision making....Specifically we look for groups who are working to help themselves, help their own communities and help others like themselves through self-empowering, community organizing efforts." They also add that such grassroots organizations should be actively seeking to make a positive social change. "Social Change" addresses the root causes of problems inside communities, systems and institutions.

Since those humble beginnings, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream has spread across the nation and around the world. People can now enjoy such unconventional flavors as Cherry Garcia, Phish Food and New York Super Fudge Chunk as close to home as the local corner and as far away as Japan and The Netherlands, and the company's profits have grown from the initial few thousand dollars to a few hundred million dollars, which consequently means millions of dollars have been given to hundreds of non-profit groups.

Ultimately though, it became time to sell the company. But when a company is usually sold, it means an end to how that company usually does business, and this truism worried the two entrepreneurs.

So Ben and Jerry decided to do something about it.

This year Ben and Jerry sold their company to the Dutch-based ice cream company Unilever for $326 million dollars, but that sale hasn't diluted their mission of philanthropy. Written into the sales agreement was the clause that the Ben and Jerry's Foundation (complete with the continued contribution of 7.5 percent of all pre-tax profits) would continue to function in its support of charity organizations, just as it has for the past sixteen years. Ben Cohen looks at the future with great hope. In a recent statement he said, "Our values will continue and we hope our efforts to make positive change will even expand. Ben & Jerry's' will be doing more good than it does today." Given that this statement is delivered by one of the men responsible for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, one has to believe that he and his partner will continue to make the world a better place.

If you would like to learn more about Ben & Jerry's ice cream you can check out their website, or you can write them at:

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc.
30 Community Drive
South Burlington, VT 05403-6828.