A project of the Fund for Peace Initiatives, the Cypress Fund for Peace and Security (CFPS) was established in 2005 to “increase safety and stability in the post-9/11 world” by supporting NGOs devoted to arms control, nonproliferation, and conflict resolution. It also provided funding for university PhD programs in those fields. A member of the Peace and Security Funders Group, CSPF received a $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 2008. In 2010, the Fund closed its doors permanently.

The founder and president of CFPS was Melanie Greenberg, an attorney who served as director of the Conflict Resolution grant-making program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from 2000-2002. She was a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies from 2003-2004, and has taught advanced courses in conflict resolution and negotiation at Stanford Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. In addition, Greenberg has served as associate director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation; deputy director of the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation; board co-chair of Women in International Security; a Council of Advisors member with the United States Institute of Peace; board chair of the Alliance for International Conflict Prevention and Resolution; and board member of such entities as Dispute Resolution magazine, Partners for Democratic Change, and the Lawyers Alliance for World Security. In September 2011 Greenberg became president and CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding.

The board chairman of CFPS was Thomas Graham, Jr., who also has served as board chairman of the Mexco Energy Corporation; board director of CanAlaska Uranium Ltd.; chairman of the Lawyers Alliance for World Security; general counsel for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; and executive board chairman of Thorium Power (a nuclear energy consulting service now known as Lightbridge). In 2010 Graham was appointed to the United Arab Emirates’ International Advisory Board, to help guide that country’s nuclear energy program. Graham also has a long history as a senior U.S. diplomat who participated in the negotiation of numerous international arms-control and non-proliferation agreements, including the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) Treaties, the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) Treaties, the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
 In 1994 Graham was appointed by Bill Clinton to serve as Special Representative of the President for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament, a post he held until 1997.