We don’t know what any of Ben Cohen’s New Year’s resolutions are, but one is probably to continue the excellent work he does with his Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, which works to end bullying in schools and sports. We just hope another is to continue getting his kit off throughout 2014, as the former rugby superstar-turned-tireless straight ally did for a recent photo shoot for Attitude magazine.
NEW ATTITUDE
WATCH: Ben Cohen Strips Again, Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That
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Fitz
I had actually never heard him speak before… even his dang VOICE is lovely! I wonder how his wife deals with what an icon he’s become.
Lefty
His StandUp Foundation would do great work if they gave more than 10% of their takings to the causes they claim to be helping.
As it is, it looks like the vast majority of money they make goes straight into their own coffers.
Check his published accounts to see just how little his charitable foundation actually gives of the large sums they make to the people/causes they claim to be collecting the money for.
But of course he’s straight and hot, so the gay media just accepts it all without question and refuses to do their job: to report on the truth.
Dixie Rect
I’d much rather hear about him than that Tom Daley.
RomanHans
@Lefty: 10%? Back that up with a cite.
balehead
Another fake charity scammer with abs….
Fitz
In the 90’s I worked for the SF AIDS Foundation, and since seeing the CRAZY deluxe way we were treated (while not having anything substantive to give patients)… I have become skeptical. I actually got in trouble for taking something from our daily catering tray and giving it to a homeless patient.
So, I’m all for a hissy fit if you can help with some citation. But this is the first I am hearing of it, and a quick search online did not support your claim.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@Fitz:
I suspect @lefty is one of @Fagburn’s arse lickers; IIRC there’s some info on fagburn.com — where facts compete against attention seeking contrarianism and puerile political posturing…but broken clocks etc
truckproductions
@Lefty:
http://www.standupfoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ReportofProgress2011-2012.pdf
dougmc92
I JUST CAME!
AuntieChrist
Someone fetch me the smellin salts, I’m gettin the vapors..!!!
AuntieChrist
Oh girl..!!! Couldn’t you see Ben and Eliad Cohen doin it..??? Super hot I’m gonna faint.
KittyLitter
I want to buy a calendar but only 10%? Hmmm.
AuntieChrist
@KittyLitter: It’s just not true…I spent a good half hour poking around online and there is no evidence to back up Lefty’s claim.
avesraggiana
It’s a good thing he’s retired. With all this posing and modelling and gay-boy titillating, when would he ever find time to play? Now where did I drop those soaked panties that went sliding down to my ankles the moment he smiled?
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
http://www.fagburn.com/2013/11/ben-cohen-standup-foundation-accounts.html?m=1
Monday, 4 November 2013
Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation: Accounts
Everybody loves Ben Cohen.
He’s a gay icon!
He’s a straight ally!
He won Attitude’s Ally Award!
Even if he puts out a calendar it’s GAY NEWS!
He went SHIRTLESS on Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend!
He runs the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation!
The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation wants to encourage people to stand up against bullying.
Ben writes on their website…
I encourage others to stand up with me and make a difference. Simply shop or donate, and your efforts will help fund extremely important work.
Its mission?
To raise awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying and to raise funds to support those doing real-world work to stop it.
Great!
Obvious question – though strangely one never asked in the endless laudatory coverage in the gay media – so where does the money actually go?
According to this official 990 report, the only one filed since it was founded, in one year the US arm of Ben Cohen’s StandUp Foundation made $135,000 and only gave out $14,700.
Here are their 2012 accounts filed with the UK Charities Commission.
Income: £106,000.
Grants awarded : £6,800!
Please bear this in mind if you’re thinking of giving them any more money.
The foundation have been asked to comment.
Of course, there could be a quite innocent explanation…
•
http://www.fagburn.com/2013/12/ben-cohen-straight-ally.html?m=1
If he’s such a great “gay icon” and “straight ally” why does he keep 90% of the money his foundation makes for himself?
Nice kitchen Ben, must be nice when you’re conning people out of £200,000 a year.
PS Fagburn has repeatedly asked the Ben Cohen Stand-up Foundation to explain his rather mysterious accounts, but after initially engaging no reply to this question comes.
Happy if they want to clear this up.
Fagburn at 11:14
—–
Either it’s true or it’s not true that Ben Cohen is a “conman”. And if it’s not true then Fagburn should be sued under British libel laws.
The same Fagburn, you’ll remember, who’s threatened to sue posters here and even harrassed Queerty into removing “libellous” posts about him.
Tackle
Not hating on Ben Cohen at all, but hating that he’s just so damn greedy and selfish. I don’t know if I would use the word conman, because I don’t know if he promised to donate a spicific sum from his so-called chairty, or if any British laws were broken. It seems like under British law, there is a minimum percintage that a charity is allowed to donate in order for it to be considered a charity, and I would guess that would be at least 10%. And you Queers on here should be ashamed of yourselves. Allowihg yourselves to be used and exploited by some straight guy, all because he’s hot. He likes your Queer dollar more than he likes you. That’s a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it. Anyone can be bullied, male or female. He dosen’t go peddling this calendar shit to women because their not gonna buy it. But Queers are an easy target for a hot guy. No matter what he’s selling. The hot factor overrides everthing for too many of you. Grow the fuck up! If this wasen’t true, with the money his Ben Cohen foundation makes, they would have suied by now…
AuntieChrist
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: @Tackle: @Lefty: If this is all true then why hasn’t anyone said anything…??? And don’t give me that lame oh he’s so cute gays give him a pass card bullshit…I found NO complaints, NO lawsuits, and you guys are the only ones crying foul.F**k Fagburn anyone can type anything they want into a blog.
Tackle
@AuntieChrist: As far as lawsuits go, if this wasen’t true, then why hasen’t and why don’t the Ben Cohen foundation file a lawsuite and sue under British libel law. They certainly have the funds???
AuntieChrist
@Tackle: Why hasn’t anyone sued them..??? Your use of language and inflammatory comments puts one on the defensive…You wrote;…It seems like under British law, there is a minimum percintage that a charity is allowed to donate in order for it to be considered a charity, and I would guess that would be at least 10%….Did you research that..?…Is this information available to the public…?…Do you live in the UK..,or is this hearsay and conjecture…?…I do research as part of my job and I WILL get to the bottom of this…Besides I really wanted to get a calendar…Oh and for the record I have never given anything to his foundation…I contribute to my local GLBT and AIDS organizations.
ZAGay
@AuntieChrist: The thing is that it really looks like this is true. You can read the actual UK Charity yearly submissions for the NGO here:
http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends31/0001147431_AC_20121231_E_C.pdf
They’re made public by virtue of it being a charity. If you look on page 11 of the submission, the grants awarded are just a smidge over £6800, which is almost exactly 10% of their earnings that year.
As much as I love Ben Cohen (who doesn’t, he oozes sex appeal), it looks like his charity is doing the absolute bare minimum to stay registered. It’s a common problem with charities in the UK. They have huge expense accounts and lavish fund raising parties and the money all disappears on the parties and administration costs. The figures kind of speak for themselves. I think you’re better off supporting your local charities.
ZAGay
@Tackle: Yeah, I think you’re right. The more I look at this, the more it looks like there is something dodgy going on. Never trust a gay-friendly straight man, they’re all bloody bastards. Pah! The UK has no legal limit as to the percentage of earnings that must be given to charity. The guidelines are mostly voluntary and they can be viewed here:
https://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc20.aspx
Tackle
@ZAGay: Thanks for thoes links. It’s proof of what others have been saying. And @AuntieChrist: I hope you do read the links. And I know it’s your money, but I hope you don’t buy the calendar…
AuntieChrist
@Tackle: Sadly I was coming to the same conclusions…After looking around there was not a lot of info available…Nothing but fund raisers and parties a slick looking website that offers grants and asks for donations but no real info on just who got helped when and where…Other charities that actually do something show you what they are doing and how…This was all smoke and mirrors no substance…Oh well guess I’ll be getting Warwick Men’s Rowing Club’s 2014 calendar instead. Thanks guys.
Fitz
His organization has a mission of providing PR and speakers, not donations to poor. There are excellent charities for that. The StandUp, it is totally appropriate for them to spend their cash doing what they do: changing the face of gay/straight alliance and making bullying as uncool as it should be.
Tackle
@AuntieChrist: I’m pleasantly surprised at your response. I thought no matter the evidence/proof/links: that you would defend,defend,defend, like so many do, simply because the guy in question is hot. You proved me wrong. Thanks…
AuntieChrist
@Tackle: Unfortunately I am not that shallow LOL..Fitz is spot on…I was talking to my husband and we were kind of wishing we had a Ben Cohen, Dan Savage type set up to pay our bills and stuff.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@AuntieChrist:
What do you and/or your husband look like in your skivvies????
AuntieChrist
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: My husband looks like David Hyde Pierce and I look like an older Ian Somerhalder with a hairy chest…But we could just hire a model. LOL
RomanHans
Nope, the haters are still wrong.
Let’s start with the 10% claim. It’s technically true for the year the charity started out, but it’s misleading. It’s one thing when a charity collects $10 million and spends $9 million on miscellaneous expenses. The Standup Foundation received only $135,000 in donations. I don’t believe $66,000 in salaries is out of line for a startup charity. The presidents of most charities, in fact, make $250,000+. So is $66,000 out of line? Absolutely not. The crime here is that they didn’t have more donations.
As for the 2012 form, here’s what Fagburn/Lefty says:
——
Here are their 2012 accounts filed with the UK Charities Commission.
Income: £106,000.
Grants awarded : £6,800!
Please bear this in mind if you’re thinking of giving them any more money.
——
There can’t possibly be a good explanation, can there? Oh, wait: THEY HAVE £49,000 IN THE BANK.
In conclusion, it’s possible Fagburn/Lefty is trying to keep the charity on its toes. Unfortunately, he’s wrong, and he’s (intentionally?) misleading us. There’s absolutely nothing to say the Standup Foundation is doing ANYTHING unethical, and in fact their expenses amount to 10% or less than the expenses other charities are paying (including GLAAD). How do they do it? Here’s a line Fagburn conveniently left out: “The Foundation has no direct staff….”
Another way of summing this up? In 2010, the total expenses of Ben Cohen’s Standup Foundation were about one-fourth of the president of GLAAD’s salary. That sound better to you?
AuntieChrist
@RomanHans: I think I love you..Smart men are soooo sexy…Sigh…Swoon..!
Lefty
Holding up GLAAD as a paragon of a perfect charity is hilarious, but if Cohen’s foundation has nothing to hide why is it every time someone asks them what their funds actually go on and what causes they actually donate to (and help), they’re always met with silence or obfuscation?
It is was all above board, there would be nothing to hide and all would be open for all to see…
Spike
What?!!? No videos of Tom Daley stripping?
RomanHans
@Lefty/Fagburn: So you can’t come up with an argument, so you have to put words in my mouth? You’re truly low. In my comment, feel free to replace GLAAD with UNICEF, Red Cross, United Way, Boy Scouts, City of Hope, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, NRA, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Girl Scouts, Easter Seals, or the Simon Wiesenthal Center, to name a very few. Each has a CEO who makes at least ten times the Standup Foundation’s TOTAL expenses in 2010.
Why doesn’t the foundation reply to your emails? BECAUSE YOU’RE AN IDIOT. If you can’t help people, at least don’t attack those who do.
fagburn
To repeat “there could be a quite innocent explanation”.
I should not have said anything other than this – there is no evidence.
But I would like to hear an explanation.
ZaneStuart
@Spike: Yeah, I was disappointed too.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@fagburn: Nice try! But you wrote this : “[M]ust be nice when you’re CONNING people out of £200,000 a year.” So be a big boy now and deal with the consequences of your actions. Hey, you could be the next Woodward and Bernstein. Or just VERY out of pocket. I might buy even buy Ben’s calendar cause legal fees are not cheap, LOL. Is this not a prime example of why you’re so shit at what you do?
fagburn
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: Yes. That why I said I should not have said that.
It is utterly without foundation, offensive and I apologise.
David
Something that people seem to be missing. The Standup Foundation is only the charity arm of the Standup business. So, whatever figures you’re seeing are ONLY taking the foundation’s finances into account. And according to the link above on their own site, the foundation took in $838,700, and gave out $198,900 in grants, or less than 25%. The foundation’s expenses were $296,500, or about 50% more than they gave out in grants!
But, again, these are ONLY the figures for the foundation. They have not released the figures for the BUSINESS, which sells the calendars and videos and all of the other Ben Cohen merchandise. According to the statement, the business “gave more than 15% of our business income to the support Foundation work.” In other words, the business is keeping 85% of the money they make off those calendars, videos, etc. And Ben’s likely very large salary comes from the business, which he pretty much owns.
Joseph_Blue
@Lefty: Where did you get this 10% figure?
Gigi Gee
Oh my god. He’s DELICIOUS!
Morris Spinetti
Big deal
Nicola Meniconi
Best way to start my morning at work :3
Joselito Yambao III
He is soooo gorgeous.
Mark Reimer
Has there ever been a pic of Ben Cohen taken that Ben Cohen doesn’t fawn over?