Our Purpose
Ploughshares Fund exists because we and our supporters fundamentally believe everyone has the right to a safe and secure future free from the threat of nuclear weapons. We are the largest foundation singularly focused on reducing the threat of nuclear weapons.
"Our impact today is greater than it's ever been – but enormous risks remain."
Why It Matters
- There are over 13,000 nuclear weapons in existence today. Over 90 percent are in the United States and Russia, with the remainder in China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea.
- Russia controls over 6,000 nuclear weapons. In recent months, Russian President Vladmir Putin has used this arsenal as blackmail to invade Ukraine and has made explicit threats regarding the use of so-called tactical nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine. The least horrific of these weapons is more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
- Talks to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons have stalled and there are clear signs that Iran continues to expand its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, decreasing its breakout time — the time needed to produce the fissile material to go into a bomb.
- North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program, including recent tests of ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching Europe and the United States.
- Under the banner of “deterrence” and against the backdrop of other pressing domestic needs, the United States continues to modernize and develop new nuclear weapons, increasing its nuclear weapons budget year over year — now topping $260 billion a each year.
- Nuclear weapons have proven to be a false hope. The world needs new approaches and new strategies to reduce the nuclear threat.
“Far from continuing the nuclear disarmament that has been underway for the last two decades, we are starting a new nuclear arms race.”
—William J. Perry, Former Secretary of Defense, November 2015
About Us
For over four decades, Ploughshares Fund has supported the most effective advocates and organizations in the world to reduce and eventually eliminate the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.
Ploughshares Fund has a unique, time-tested approach to grantmaking. It has been crafted and refined over the last four decades and Ploughshares Fund, we argue, has been the most effective organization dedicated to the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
We act as the hub of a diverse set of thought leaders, innovators, and campaigners. Through our grant-making and convening, we facilitate advocacy efforts that maximize the collective impact of our grantees’ work to avert and eventually eliminate nuclear threats. Our own team brings widespread attention to the nuclear threat while also providing seed funding and support to explore new strategies — allowing innovative ideas and initiatives to take root, grow, and thrive.
While our grantees and partners have made significant progress in reducing risk and nuclear stockpiles over the last four decades, the threat of nuclear war remains very real. The clearest examples being Russia’s unprompted war against Ukraine, Putin’s renewed threat of using nuclear weapons, and Russia’s use of its arsenal as nuclear blackmail to do what it wishes — against global norms.
“Thank you, Ploughshares Fund, for all your efforts to realize our dream of a world free of nuclear weapons.”
—Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations (Photo credit: The Official CTBTO Photostream)
Achievements
Ploughshares Fund has:
- Run a five-year, $12 million campaign to help forge the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Our coalition of 85 organizations and 200 individuals—think tanks, media specialists, policy advocates, grassroots campaigners and more—prevailed despite a fierce and well-financed opposition.
- Provided critical seed grants to four Nobel Peace Prize winning organizations:
- International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) 1985, for their considerable service to mankind by spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare.
- Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs 1995, jointly with Joseph Rotblat for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.
- Jody Williams 1997, jointly with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.
- International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) 2017, for their work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.
- Brought together 30 organizations in a campaign to help win ratification of the 2010 New START Treaty, reducing US–and Russian–deployed strategic weapons.
- Funded the American and Soviet scientists who first demonstrated the feasibility of verifying a treaty banning nuclear weapon tests.
- Stopped the development of controversial and unnecessary nuclear weapons technologies like the 'bunker buster' in the post-9/11 era.
- Supported crucial diplomatic efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, including the historic 1996 treaty to ban all nuclear tests.
Together, we make a difference
Only together can we rid the planet of nuclear threats. We can’t do it alone. Our supporters have been indispensable partners over the past 40 years. And as a public foundation, we’re accountable for every dollar spent in this effort. So please join us in making sure we are all safe from nuclear weapons today, tomorrow and for generations to come.
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"Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states. The youth of today and tomorrow deserve far more."
— Pope Francis, 2015