With the aim of convening partners who have a range of backgrounds and experiences to think big about transforming nuclear policy, new Ploughshares Fund President Emma Belcher announces today the first slate of special grants under her tenure.
As part of the discretionary grants process and the “President’s Fund Grants,” which allow for faster response to issues and needs facing the nuclear problem, this slate includes awards totaling $175,000, all with roots in Washington state.
Grants awarded:
- Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility ($75,000): To support WPSR’s nuclear weapons abolition program through support of the staff coordinating the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons coalition, building opposition to US nuclear modernization plans, and influencing US nuclear weapons and nonproliferation policy in Washington state.
- COFA Alliance National Network of Washington ($75,000): To support advocacy efforts among Washington state frontline communities on legislation that increases compensation to affected communities and creates saner nuclear policies, build relationships with fellow frontline communities affected by nuclear legacies, and host its annual event commemorating the 1954 Castle Bravo test in Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands.
- Lillian Jane Adams ($25,000): To deepen and expand relationships with communities impacted by the production, use, and testing of nuclear weapons through providing additional capacity to the March 1st Nuclear Remembrance Day Commemoration event in Washington state and its coordinating organizations as well as further development of the Nuclear Voices project.
“We believe that Washington state represents a unique opportunity to advance safer, saner nuclear policy,” said Ploughshares Fund Senior Program Officer Cara Wagner. “These grants allow for deepened, coordinated state-based work on the nuclear issue given the presence of the Midnite Mine, Hanford site, Kitsap Base, and a large displaced and impacted Marshallese community as well as Indigenous populations.”
These grants also reflect new Ploughshares Fund president Emma Belcher's interest in building relationship between nuclear frontline communities, nuclear-focused experts and advocates, and the public while developing capacity in a nuclear-impacted state. This group of Washington state-centric grants bring together a new grantee, a current grantee, and a rising star in the nuclear field originally funded through Ploughshares Fund’s Women’s Initiative.
“Supporting a balanced range of backgrounds and lived experiences is what helped guide the choices for these grants,” Belcher said. “It’s what informs the debate to craft better policies, and helps create bridges between frontline communities and the nuclear policy community. It also builds support for addressing nuclear justice issues in Washington, DC, and within nuclear policy conversations. Ploughshares Fund is thrilled to make these investments.”
Ploughshares Fund awards grants to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, prevent the emergence of new nuclear states and build regional security where nuclear weapons exist. Each year, a limited number of President’s Grants are made at the discretion of the president of Ploughshares Fund and are intended to support opportunities with high potential to influence policy or assist in moving our policy goals forward. They are designed to allow Ploughshares Fund the flexibility and nimbleness that helps set us apart from other foundations.
The President’s Fund is supplemented in part by the Presidential Vision Fund, a special fund established last year to mark the vision and legacy of retiring Ploughshares Fund president Joe Cirincione and to support the vision of incoming president, Emma Belcher. To learn more about this special fund or for a complete list of grants, visit: www.ploughshares.org.
Ploughshares Fund is a global security foundation based in San Francisco, with an office in Washington, DC. Founded in 1981, Ploughshares Fund supports initiatives to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. It is the largest US philanthropic organization focused exclusively on nuclear weapons.
