Established in Delaware in 1996 and now based in Massachusetts, the Colombe Foundation (CF) is managed by the Proteus Fund and is a member of the Peace and Security Funders Group. CF’s mission is to “create a peaceful world through changes in American policy,” which it views as excessively aggressive, unnecessarily provocative, and largely culpable for the widespread anti-Americanism that exists overseas. Toward that end, CF gives financial support to organizations that promote: (a) “a shift from wasteful military spending to investments in programs that create real national security grounded in meeting human and environmental needs”; (b) a foreign policy that is “balanced with diplomacy and prevention” rather than “dominated by Cold War threats, war and aggression”; (c) the “elimination of weapons of mass destruction”; (d) innovative strategies for “conflict prevention and conflict resolution”; and (e) programs addressing “poverty, environmental degradation and other root causes of violence.”

These CF grantees are mostly grassroots organizations working to “educate the public and influence decision makers”; “peace advocacy organizations” promoting “alternative policies”; and “organizations initiating media coverage” on issues of war and peace.

The founder and president of CF is the artist/activist Edith Allen, who also serves as a board member of both Women’s Action for New Directions and the Ploughshares Fund.

CF’s Peace and Security Program director is Dini Merz, who is also the program director of the CarEth Foundation and a steering committee member of the Peace and Security Funders Group.

Noteworthy recipients of CF grants include: the Arms Control Association, the Center for International Policy, Democracy Now!, the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies, the Institute for Policy Studies, the Institute for Public Accuracy, Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Military Families Speak Out Education Fund, Mother Jones, The Nation Institute, the National Council of Churches, the National Priorities Project, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New America Foundation, the Peace Action Education Fund, the Peace and Security Funders Group, Physicians for Social Responsibility, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, the Tides Center, the Union of Concerned Scientists, United for Peace and Justice, Win Without War, and the Women’s Action for New Directions Education Fund.

To view a list of additional Colombe Foundation grantees, click here.

(Information on grantees and monetary amounts courtesy of The Foundation Center, GuideStar, ActivistCash, the Capital Research Center, Undue Influence, and Colombe Foundation Grantees)