Ploughshares Fund works to build a safe, secure nuclear-weapon-free world by developing and investing in initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate the world’s nuclear stockpiles and to promote stability in regions of conflict. Ploughshares Fund is supported by individuals, families, and foundations. A public grant-making foundation, Ploughshares Fund is the largest grant maker in the United States dedicated exclusively to peace and security funding. Since is founding in 1981 by San Francisco philanthropist Sally Lilienthal, Ploughshares Fund has invested almost $100 million in the smartest people with the best ideas for keeping our nation safe and all nations at peace. The foundation has given grants to reduce the threats from nuclear weapons and proliferation and to support on-the-ground projects to reduce the incidence of violent conflict and to help rebuild civil society in regions where nuclear weapons are a factor.
The foundation’s efforts are rooted in the conviction that civil society has an essential role to play in policy change, sometimes in partnership with government but often by taking leadership when government leaders cannot. We help build a dynamic community of smart, dedicated people with novel, practicable ideas and the resources to put those ideas into action. For thirty-two years, Ploughshares Fund has worked to create and strengthen that community, both by providing support for key individual initiatives on every continent and by enhancing that community’s collective impact.