The Ploughshares Fund has awarded the British American Security Information Council ,000 to support BASIC\’s agenda of nuclear non-proliferation and transatlantic security. Ploughshares is the largest grant-making foundation in the United States focusing exclusively on peace and security issues.
BASIC will use the funds to strengthen its impact in pursuing a more multilateral security agenda, and driving policies that bring us closer to the goal of a nuclear weapon free world. BASIC, with offices in Washington, DC and London, brings new thinking into the mainstream through its program of research, media outreach and policy advocacy, in both the United States and Europe.
In accepting the grant, BASIC Council Chair Trevor McCrisken noted Ploughshares\’ support has enabled BASIC to reinvigorate and expand its program in the United States and Europe, and to attract new patrons and participants. The high level discussions on disarmament and non-proliferation which BASIC arranged for US Ambassador Max Kampelman in London this past June, for example, were only possible with the support of Ploughshares. Ploughshares\’ support has been central to all BASIC\’s recent achievements, which have included policy breakthroughs in UK government support for arms exports, fostering creative thinking about Iran\’s nuclear program, and expanding the transatlantic dialogue on reducing and ultimately eliminating nuclear arms. BASIC will use the Ploughshares grant to further stimulate new thinking on the practical means to achieve the vision of a world free of nuclear arms through its recently launched \’Getting to Zero\’ project.
The Ploughshares Fund was founded in 1982 by San Francisco philanthropist and activist Sally Lilienthal. Her ability to draw people in and motivate them to act fueled the organization\’s early growth. Naila Bolus joined Ploughshares in 1997 as executive director and has overseen the expansion of the Fund\’s grant-making capacity and its role as a convenor of the peace and security community as a whole. Active as president of the Board of Directors until the end, Sally Lilienthal died in 2006, just as Ploughshares prepared to commemorate its 25th anniversary and the awarding of its 50 millionth dollar in grants. The website of the Ploughshares Fund may be found at: www.ploughshares.org.