Ploughshares Fund
 |
| |
| Established | 1981 |
| Exec. Dir. | Naila Bolus |
| Founder | Sally Lilienthal (1919 - 2006) |
| President | Joseph Cirincione |
| Chairman | Roger Hale |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Homepage | http://www.ploughshares.org |
The Ploughshares Fund is a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and other weapons of war, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction. Ploughshares is a 501(c)(3) foundation that pools contributions from individuals, families and foundations. With over sixty million dollars awarded in grants since its founding in 1981, Ploughshares Fund is the largest U.S. philanthropic foundation focused exclusively on peace and security grantmaking.
History
Concerned about the world’s burgeoning nuclear arsenals, San Francisco philanthropist and activist Sally Lilienthal founded the organization in 1981. Ploughshares enables individual contributors to pool resources and provide support for the most effective initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons. In the twenty-seven years since it was founded, Ploughshares has made grants totaling nearly $60 million to hundreds of people and organizations around the world, becoming the largest grantmaking foundation in the U.S. whose exclusive mission is peace and security funding.
Ploughshares Fund gave grants for the vulnerability to theft of nuclear weapons and fissile material following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; the changing nature of armed conflict after the Cold War; emerging challenges to the nonproliferation regime; and the geopolitical upheavals in the wake of the September 11th, 2001 attacks.
Ploughshares Fund works to directly influence public policy on weapons and security. The Fund’s strategies include providing start-up funding for peace and security entrepreneurs; granting emergency funding to meet urgent needs; supporting advocacy programs; influencing public opinion through the media; making grants internationally; and building grassroots leadership.
Sally Lilienthal died in October 2006, at the age of 87, while still serving as Ploughshares Fund's president. Naila Bolus joined Ploughshares Fund in 1997 as executive director and has overseen the expansion of the Fund's grantmaking capacity and its role as a conveyor of the peace and security community. In 2008 the Board of Directors appointed Joseph Cirincione as Ploughshares Fund's president.
Issue areas
Ploughshares Fund’s grantmaking is focused on the following issues:
- Nuclear Weapons
- Nuclear Materials
- Missiles and Space
- Conflict Prevention
Notable grants
In addition to many other grants over 27 years, Ploughshares has funded the following work:
- Support for a coalition of groups lobbying against including nuclear weapons in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2009 saved a billion dollars from the package.
- Ploughshares Fund was one of the earliest and most consistent supporters of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which has led to the destruction of 38 million mines, yielded an international treaty in record time, and earned the Nobel Peace Prize for its proponents.
- An early grant enabled scientists at the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Soviet Academy of Scientists to prove a nuclear test ban could be verified, thereby removing one of the last hurdles standing in the way of a test ban treaty.
- A coalition of grassroots organizations supported by Ploughshares Fund led environmental challenges that halted the production of nuclear weapons in the U.S.
- The Arms Control Advocacy Collaborative, co-founded by Ploughshares Fund and the Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation, led a legislative advocacy campaign to stop the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons.
- Grants to Search for Common Ground and the United Nations Association of the United States for initiatives to maintain communication and engagement with Iran aimed at a peaceful, mutually acceptable resolution to the dispute of Iran’s nuclear program.
- The Peace and Security Initiative, involving members of advocacy organizations, think tanks, funders and activists, increased members' capacity to influence U.S. policy to promote a more secure, peaceful and just world.