Peace and Security

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Donors can support organizations working to prevent, resolve, or mitigate conflicts, as well as recovery and rebuilding efforts. Although organizations working for global peace and security receive less attention than they did in the Cold War years, nuclear security remains a concern – now alongside newer threats relating to climate and cyber security. The 2022 Global Peace Index showed that the average level of peacefulness has fallen over the past 14 years, with ongoing conflicts and deterioration of safety and security in numerous countries around the world. Yet as of 2019, Candid found, less than 1% of private grantmaking was related to peace efforts. It is important that donors help address this lack of funding and attention, given that war and instability can dramatically undermine efforts to improve human well-being across a range of areas, including health, education, and economic opportunity. That’s true in many poorer regions of the world riven by conflict, while the Ukraine war underscores the immense costs of war between more advanced countries. 

“Without peace and security, none of the other charitable issues we care about can be accomplished,” says Alexandra I. Toma, the head of the Peace and Security Funders Group.  At the same time, peace and security are achieved through attending to intersecting concerns such as democracy, equality, the environment and resource access, and more. Creating a peaceful, secure, and just world is a complex, multifaceted endeavor, and there are many opportunities for philanthropists to support local and international efforts to achieve it. 

Strategies for Impact

Nonprofits and NGOs are engaged in a range of efforts relating to peace and security. Below, we discuss several areas where donors might focus their funding and spotlight several organizations in each that represent the kind of groups that donors might consider supporting. 

Donors tend to think of opportunities and imperatives in peace and security in the following broad buckets, although they are highly interrelated: 

  • Preventing or mitigating conflict, including countering violent extremism, preventing atrocities, cyber-security, combating gender-based violence, reducing weapons and militarism and other preventative strategies.

  • Supporting resilient and stable societies, including building democratic institutions, rule of law, foreign policy, climate security and gender equality.

  • Resolving conflict or building peace, including peace negotiations, transitional justice, support for victims, demobilization, disarmament and reintegration. 

Across these priorities, there are several strategies emerging among in-the-know donors who are seeking to maximize their resources: 

  • Give globally to established organizations working on multiple fronts. In this complex field, donors want to avoid reinventing the wheel, and it is helpful to support established, experienced organizations working on multiple fronts for global peace and security. Search for Common Ground is a large international NGO dedicated to peacebuilding. American Friends Service Committee works toward peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. Physicians for Social Responsibility has a mission “to protect human life from the gravest threats to health and survival,” which they identify as nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins.The Center for Civilians in Conflict works to prevent harm to civilians during conflicts. The Nuclear Threat Initiative is working to build a safer world by reducing nuclear and biological threats. 

  • Back both “bottom-up” and “top-down” efforts to promote peace. The Peace and Security Funders Group says, “Peacebuilding results are often the strongest when local peacebuilders define problems and solutions, and determine outcomes, goals, and timelines.” The group offers guiding principles and strategies for funders who want to support local leadership for peace. Funders can also support local leaders by giving through international organizations such as Peace Direct, which supports grassroots efforts to stop wars. Peace Action is a grassroots U.S.-based group working to abolish nuclear weapons and to stop the U.S. from engaging in pre-emptive wars. At the same time, consider supporting expert policy groups that advance alternatives to a militarized foreign policy, including the Ploughshare Fund, Arms Control Association, Institute for Policy Studies, and Quincy Institute. 

  • Center women in peace and security work. Women are disproportionately targeted with gender and sexual violence during conflicts. Women can also play important roles in peace processes, and gender expertise is an important part of peacebuilding. Funders looking to give at the intersections of gender, human rights and security might consider regrantors such as the Global Fund for Women, which makes grants to support women and girls working to protect and advance women’s rights by ending wars; Madre, which supports women as defenders of communities in times of war and as participants in peace processes; Girl Security, which is working to get more women and gender minorities into the security workforce; or Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation.

  • Address the climate crisis as a massive security issue. The UN Development Programme reports that more and more countries are understanding the climate crisis as a threat to peace and security, as the impacts of climate change, including displacement, competition for scarce resources, and food insecurity, can lead to or exacerbate conflicts, or worsen the humanitarian impacts of conflicts. Climate justice looks at the climate crisis through a human rights lens, and there are many opportunities for funders to support groups on the frontlines of the climate crisis by giving through intermediaries such as Global Greengrants, CLIMA Fund, and the Climate Justice Resilience Fund.

Insights and Advice 

In considering which impact strategies to support, donors should take into account their personal interests and outlook to find the best fit. Keep an eye out for emerging opportunities to give with maximum impact. Here, we offer a few insights and suggestions:

  • Don’t go it alone. U.S.-based affiliates and intermediaries can make it much easier for U.S. donors to give globally. The Ploughshares Fund, for example, is a public foundation focused on reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. The Peace and Security Funders Group exists to help grantmakers learn how to most effectively give in this area. 

  • Give with equity and inclusion in mind. Inclusive peace processes are more effective, the U.S. Institute of Peace has reported. When considering which organizations to support, ask who is involved in peace processes, who is in leadership, who participates in decision making. Inclusive, equitable processes are created by inclusive, equitable teams and organizations.  

  • Give unrestricted, multiyear general operating support. A lot of giving has happened very quickly to provide rapid response during the war in Ukraine. But to be most effective, philanthropy for peace and security needs to do more than rapid response during emergencies. Peace processes, preventing conflict in the first place, and recovery and rebuilding after wars are lengthy and complex endeavors. Providing unrestricted, multiyear support gives organizations the resources and flexibility they need to sustain programs over the long term, to prevent or end conflicts as well as to respond to crises and opportunities.

For Donors Getting Started

Donors who are new to this space should take the time to learn about the landscape. A good place to start is by reading recent articles that IP has written about what’s happening in this area of philanthropy. 

You might also look at related State of American Philanthropy reports, such as Giving for Global Humanitarian Assistance, Giving for Climate Change and Clean Energy, and Giving for Global Development. 

Some philanthropic organizations publish reports and articles to help donors understand the issues and the giving landscape, such as the Peace and Security Funders Group’s guiding principles for funding locally led peacebuilding efforts. The Peace and Security Funders Group and Candid created this helpful peace and security funding map. 

But the best way to get started giving for global peace and security is to make some initial gifts, learn from the groups you’re supporting, and connect early with a funding intermediary that can help you learn more about this giving area and increase your giving in a thoughtful way.

Have suggestions for improving this brief? Please email us at editor@insidephilanthropy.com.