Ploughshares Fund

What Ploughshares Fund does

Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) public foundation founded in 1981 in San Francisco by Sally Lilienthal, Lew Butler, Nobel laureate Owen Chamberlain, and others, making it the largest foundation singularly focused on reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. The organization funds and develops initiatives intended to reduce nuclear stockpiles and advance arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament objectives, operating through four grantmaking portfolios (Core Support, Expanding Capacity, Urgent Challenges, and Bold Experiments), the Nuclear Futures Fellowship in partnership with Horizon 2045, the NukeTalk podcast, and field-building initiatives such as Equity Rises, Aligning Action, and Women Transforming Global Security.

The foundation's revenue model relies on individual donations, foundation grants, and charitable contributions, with contributions accepted via credit card, check, wire transfer, ACH, stock and securities transfers, cryptocurrency, IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, and estate gifts. Its grantee ecosystem spans organizations such as the Arms Control Association, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the Federation of American Scientists, the Stimson Center, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Ploughshares maintains offices in San Francisco (headquarters) and Washington, DC, and is led by President Dr. Emma Belcher and Executive Director Samara Dun, with a Board chaired by Gretchen Hund.

Operationally, Ploughshares evolved from Cold War-era scientist exchange programs to a modern field-builder that combines direct grantmaking with convening, capacity building, and narrative change. Notable historical outcomes attributed to the foundation include campaigns supporting the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention ratification, the 2010 New START treaty ratification, and the 2015 JCPOA Iran Nuclear Deal. In 2023, following MacArthur Foundation's exit from nuclear threat reduction funding, Ploughshares rebranded its role as a Field Builder, and in 2024 it underwent a strategic rebrand; in 2025 it launched the Women Transforming Global Security alliance in partnership with The Elders and Horizon 2045.

Name

Ploughshares Fund

Legal name

Ploughshares Fund

Website

https://ploughshares.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) public foundation, founded in 1981 and headquartered in San Francisco, that funds and coordinates field-building initiatives to reduce global nuclear weapons threats through grantmaking, fellowships, partnerships, and public education.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nuclear Threat Reduction Philanthropy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), Trust Funds & Multi-Donor Pooled Funds (BPADAOAE)

Keywords

• Nuclear threat reduction
• Peace and security philanthropy
• Grantmaking foundation
• Field building services
• Nuclear disarmament funding

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Ploughshares operates as a 501(c)(3) public foundation funded by individual donors, foundation grants, and charitable contributions. The organization accepts various donation methods including cash gifts via credit card, check, wire transfer, ACH payment, stock and securities donations, cryptocurrency donations, IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), and estate gifts.

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) philanthropic foundation that funds and develops initiatives to reduce nuclear stockpiles and threats. It provides grants through four portfolios (Core Support, Expanding Capacity, Urgent Challenges, and Bold Experiments), runs the Nuclear Futures Fellowship with Horizon 2045, and pursues field-building work including the Equity Rises initiative and the Women Transforming Global Security alliance to strengthen the global nuclear threat reduction ecosystem.

Product overview

Ploughshares Fund is a nonprofit foundation operating as a unified grantmaking organization focused on reducing and eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons. The organization does not offer a traditional technology product but rather provides grant programs and field building services. Its core offerings include four grantmaking portfolios (Core Support, Expanding Capacity, Urgent Challenges, and Bold Experiments), the Nuclear Futures Fellowship program, the NukeTalk podcast content platform, and strategic initiatives including Equity Rises and Women Transforming Global Security. The organization also operates field building programs with collaborative spaces and partnerships, and provides a grantee portal for application management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Equity Rises: A structural pillar of Ploughshares' mission, strategy and grantmaking that expands the scope and impact of voices too often excluded from nuclear policy debates: communities of color, people with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups.
• Women Transforming Global Security (WTGS)
• NukeTalk
• Nuclear Futures Fellowship

Products and services

• Core Support Portfolio Sustaining the field portfolio that funds critical organizations working daily to prevent nuclear war and reduce a variety of nuclear threats. Funding is flexible so grantees can adapt to an unpredictable world.
• Expanding Capacity Portfolio Building the field portfolio that funds efforts to expand the nuclear threat reduction field and position it for success. Grants grow key skill sets, diversify field perspectives, encourage collaboration, and broaden the constituency for nuclear issues.
• Urgent Challenges Portfolio Applying the field portfolio that advances discrete near-term policy goals. Supplements ongoing work and allows for timely response to pressing developments in nuclear threat reduction.
• Bold Experiments Portfolio Renewing the field portfolio that invests in exciting projects with potential to revitalize the nuclear threat reduction field. Includes start-up and proof-of-concept funding for novel ideas and activities.
• Field Building Program Comprehensive field building effort to strengthen the nuclear field through supportive services, capacity building, convening partners, and flexible funding. Includes advisory committee, partnerships, collaborative spaces, and strategic initiatives.
• Nuclear Futures Fellowship Fellowship program in partnership with Horizon 2045 designed for emerging and established leaders in the nuclear field to develop new and practical skills using strategic foresight tools and frameworks to explore alternative futures of a world free of nuclear threats.
• NukeTalk Podcast Podcast series exploring nuclear weapons issues as human rights concerns. Recent season focuses on the Nuclear Movie Club, reviewing films related to nuclear themes and their cultural implications.
• Equity Rises Structural pillar of Ploughshares' mission focusing on elevating diverse voices in nuclear policy, including communities of color, people with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups. Expanded from the original Women's Initiative.
• Women Transforming Global Security Groundbreaking alliance of distinguished women leaders pioneering a comprehensive framework for addressing interconnected global threats. Partnership between The Elders, Horizon 2045, and Ploughshares, advancing women’s leadership and breakthrough thinking at the intersection of global challenges and nuclear security policy.
• Aligning Action Fieldwide initiative launched in 2022 to coordinate emergency alignment activities, originally created in response to heightened nuclear tensions surrounding the Russo-Ukrainian War. Includes digital platform for partners to align work, identify gaps, and direct collaborative action.
• Grantee Portal Online portal for grantees to check status of proposals and current grants. Provides access to application management and grant tracking capabilities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly $10 million awarded across nearly 200 grants through Women's Initiative, helping reach gender parity in funding
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The ElderscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 September 2025Women Transforming Global Security (WTGS) is a groundbreaking alliance launched on September 21, 2025, representing collaboration between The Elders, Horizon 2045, and Ploughshares. The initiative aims to advance women’s leadership and breakthrough thinking at the intersection of global challenges and nuclear security policy.
• Horizon 2045coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Ploughshares and Horizon 2045 (H2045) announced a new partnership in Spring 2024, building on a strong history of collaboration. Ploughshares was a founding funder of N Square, the initiative that grew into Horizon 2045. The partnership supports the Nuclear Futures Fellowship program.
• Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPloughshares launched a joint project with NTI to reshape public perception of nuclear weapons and popularize the narrative that nuclear weapons do not keep us safe. Through research and public polling, they found that Americans support arms control and diplomacy in abstract. The project aims to increase perceived urgency for arms control so politicians feel greater pressure to work towards desired outcomes.
• ReThink MediaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerReThink Media, a grantee partner, provides essential media and communications support for the nuclear threat reduction field. They have nearly a decade of experience influencing public narrative around nuclear threats and collaborate with Ploughshares and NTI on narrative-shifting initiatives.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Ford Foundation: Ford is one of the largest U.S. philanthropic foundations with international peace and social justice programs. It is a broad incumbent peer in scale, structure, and the impact-philanthropy model Ploughshares helped pioneer.
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation: MacArthur previously funded nuclear threat reduction through a major program that closed in 2023. It is a broad incumbent peer in philanthropic impact funding; its exit from nuclear funding is what prompted Ploughshares' Field Builder pivot.
• Carnegie Corporation of New York: Carnegie Corporation is a major foundation with a long-standing international peace and security program, including nuclear policy. It is a broad incumbent peer that operates across many program areas but is one of the few legacy foundations comparable to Ploughshares on the nuclear/security axis.
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: A major foreign policy think tank that conducts research and convenes experts on nuclear policy and international security. It is a broad incumbent peer overlapping with Ploughshares' grantee universe and policy-influence model.
• Open Society Foundations: OSF is a global philanthropic foundation with overlapping human-rights and security programs. It is a broad incumbent peer in multi-issue grantmaking that occasionally intersects with nuclear policy and arms control advocacy.

Direct peers

• Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI): NTI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to reduce global nuclear and biological threats. It is Ploughshares' closest direct peer: both focus on nuclear threat reduction, run joint narrative-shifting campaigns, and serve overlapping policy-maker and think-tank audiences.

Emerging players

• Federation of American Scientists (FAS): FAS is a Ploughshares grantee and operates in the same nuclear policy research and analysis space. It is an emerging/aligned peer that complements Ploughshares' grantmaking with technical expertise on global nuclear arsenals.
• Arms Control Association (ACA): ACA is a Ploughshares grantee that conducts research, public education, and policy advocacy on arms control and nonproliferation. It is an aligned peer with strong overlap in mission and target policy-maker audience.
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund: RBF has a long-running Peacebuilding program that overlaps with Ploughshares' nuclear focus. It is an aligned peer in peace/security grantmaking with similar donor-advised philanthropic channels.
• Horizon 2045 (formerly N Square): Horizon 2045 is a Ploughshares partner that runs collaborative field-building programs, including the Nuclear Futures Fellowship. It is a direct ecosystem peer in the nuclear field-building space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/plough_shares
• YouTubesoundcloud.com/user-954653529
• Instagraminstagram.com/plough_shares

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ploughshares Fund