Ploughshares Fund Announces $950,000 in New Grants to Reduce Nuclear Risk

April 13, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Inquiries: Lauren Billet | Communications & Marketing Manager | lbillet@ploughshares.org; 202-783-4401

Ploughshares Fund Announces $950,000 in New Grants to Reduce Nuclear Risk

· Foundation seeks to transform policy at a time of rapidly rising threat of nuclear weapons

· Strategy seeks to motivate public, stimulate new thinking, and galvanize efforts to eliminate nuclear risk 

Washington – April 13, 2022 — Ploughshares Fund announced that its Board of Directors awarded $950,000 in new grants to 12 organizations working to reduce the world’s rising risk from nuclear weapons. These new grants will advance Ploughshares Fund’s goal to transform nuclear policy and meet today’s rapidly changing geopolitical environment, including the nuclear threat posed by Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. 

These grants also reflect a new grant-making strategy that specifically addresses four key areas: building a resilient nuclear field that is adequately resourced to carry out its work; creating new partnerships with intersecting issues; supporting transformational thinking; and advancing specific policies to help eliminate nuclear threats and address regional conflicts.

“Ploughshares Fund is the largest foundation dedicated exclusively to the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons,” said Dr. Emma Belcher, president of Ploughshares Fund. “We operate as a financial hub for the global peace and security community: evaluating dozens of initiatives, think tanks, activist groups, and lobbyists to find the most timely and effective opportunities to meet our objectives and fund accordingly.” 

Belcher added, “These grants will help with institutional health, ongoing learning, and training, and will allow grantees to pivot from working on a topic such as North Korea to one like Ukraine when moments like these present themselves. This approach allows grantees to spend the granted funds in the best way for their own effectiveness. We believe a stronger, more adaptable nuclear policy field will be better positioned for greater impact with this new approach.” 

Ploughshares Fund awarded grants to Global Zero, Beyond the Bomb, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) and FCNL Education Fund under the building resiliency umbrellaThis area of funding seeks to contribute to a vibrant community of people and organizations who recognize the urgent threat we face and want to take action to address those challenges. 

In the interest of creating new partnerships with intersecting issues and to generate greater public pressure for policy change, Ploughshares Fund invested in Foreign Policy for America, MoveOn.org Civic Action, and Working Families Organization.

Ploughshares Fund also awarded grants to Foundation for a Civil Society (The Iran Project), The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Stimson Center (38 North), and the Pacific Forum International under the fourth and final new grantmaking area, advancing specific policies to help eliminate nuclear threats and address regional conflicts. 

Organizations that received grants include:

  1. Foreign Policy for America
  2. Foundation for a Civil Society
  3. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  4. FCNL Education Fund
  5. Global Zero
  6. Beyond the Bomb
  7. MoveOn.Org Civic Action
  8. Pacific Forum International
  9. Physicians for Social Responsibility
  10. Royal Institute of International Affairs
  11. The Stimson Center
  12. Working Families Organization

A complete list of Ploughshares Fund grants is available to the public at: www.ploughshares.org.