building lasting peace

We invest in peacebuilding programs around the globe to help youth and children from conflict-inflicted environments build relationships across difference, and overcome prejudice, stereotyping, hatred and fear.

We help ordinary citizens create their own impact by making financial contributions to places affected by conflict. 

Our difference is...

GPBF has evolved over the past twelve years to establish its unique place in the peace and security grant-making field through the following:

Grassroots Approach – GPBF supports peacebuilding activities that operate at the local, or community level. The key premise is that lasting peace can and must be built from the bottom up by ordinary citizens. We believe that power resides not just with high level decision makers, but at the grassroots level as well. Each individual can make a difference. 

Contact Theory - GPBF operates under the Contact Theory, a central tenet of peace building, based on the belief that separation and unfamiliarity between conflicting groups can, and often does, breed negative attitudes such as stereotyping and prejudice which can potentially escalate into hostility and violence. The Contact Theory believes that these negative attitudes can be reduced by promoting contact and familiarity between conflicting groups

Long-term focus and approach – As both a fundraiser and a grant maker, GPBF is uniquely committed to long-term investment in the peacebuilding process. Rather than following a short-term and quantitative results-driven approach, GPBF focuses on long-term goals, supported by qualitative results.  GPBF realizes that it will take many generations to undo the hatred, fears and violence that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Our aim is to break this cycle and contribute to the building of sustainable peace all children deserve. 

Innovative business model – GPBF continues to develop an innovative model that combines advocacy, due diligence, and Precision Micro-Granting℠ ($500 to $1,000 grants earmarked for specific programs or projects) to increase awareness of the culture-transforming work currently underway among ordinary citizens. Our model also provides donors with an opportunity to create their own impact through financial contributions. 

Efficient, low cost operation – With low administrative costs and by-laws that prohibit the board of directors from receiving any compensation, GPBF allocates 99% of the annual budget towards core programs. We intentionally emphasize and encourage volunteerism in ordinary citizens, empowering them to think and act on both local and global scales. Thomas B. Etzel, Founder & Executive Director, has taken zero compensation since inception. 

Commitment to attitudinal change - Governments sign treaties and aid organizations spend billions of dollars a year, but only people can make peace. The change in attitude and beliefs, which happens in the formative stage of a young person’s life, creates the conditions necessary for youth to form lasting relationships built on mutual trust and respect. Amid complex and shifting landscapes, this trust is the bedrock for sustainable peace.

Operating without geographic limitations – This allows GPBF to adopt a pure approach when selecting grantees and carrying out our core programming.  We support organizations that operate locally, regionally, nationally, and globally so long as they can demonstrate a continuing commitment to our criteria, regardless of where their operational base is.