Where We Started
In 1999, the United States Senate's failure to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was a wake-up call. The vote demonstrated that the U.S. government had taken a key turn toward abandoning 30 years of nuclear weapons treaties and other agreements. It was clear to us that significant efforts would be needed to ensure a safe and peaceful world. We started with grantmaking in order support the nonprofit organizations already engaged in this critical issue.
Milestones
In 2002, the Kirsch Foundation and the Ploughshares Fund invested in lobbying in Washington, DC, to strengthen the peace and security field. Both entities deemed it critical due to the growing demand for advanced nuclear weapons and missile defense programs by the Administration and Congress. Furthermore the two foundations, as public charities, could fund and engage in lobbying, which private foundations are prohibited from doing.
We jointly enlisted commitments from 8 nonprofit organizations - later growing to 10 - and contracted with a seasoned Washington insider. The goal: To lobby for a mutually determined and common agenda. The resulting Arms Control Advocacy Collaborative (AC2) was a turning point in the Foundation's efforts to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In its first year alone, it forced an extended debate on the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty and focused attention on the North Korean threat.
Our Current Efforts
AC2 has been successful in ensuring that barriers are put in place around funding for the development of new nuclear weapons. The dedicated staff of AC2's member organizations remain vigilant in tracking proposed government spending for new weapons systems, such as missile defense, recommending and promoting alternative security approaches, and educating decision-makers on the risks associated with the proliferation of weapons and fissile materials.
The resources we allocate to lobbying, including the AC2 lobbyist and the Foundation's staff, roughly equals our grants to the field. Given our resources and other areas of interest, our grants supported primarily the Ploughshares Fund and the organizations working as part of AC2.
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The reduction of nuclear arsenals and the removal of the threat of worldwide nuclear destruction is a measure, in my judgment, of the power and strength of a great nation.”
• Jimmy Carter,
39th U.S. President |
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Drawing by nine-year-old Nicholas Hitchens-Spellman
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