Sponsored by the Tides Foundation, the Iraq Peace Fund (IPF) was a project aimed at raising money to promote the anti-war movement during the buildup to the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

According to the Funders Network on Trade and Globalization (FNTG), IPF was initially organized by “a group of concerned funders, individuals and institutions” that met on September 9-10, 2002, during the Environmental Grantmakers Association’s Annual Retreat in Asheville, North Carolina, “to discuss what could be done in the next few weeks to educate the public about the consequences of going to war against Iraq and the alternatives thereto.” These participants, added FNTG, largely agreed that the Bush Administration’s “aggression toward Iraq” was “of the ‘wag the dog’ nature.”

The officially recognized co-founders of IPF were Harriet Barlow (an advisor to the HKH Foundation) and Wayne Jaquith (a self-described “peace and security expert” and an official with the Council for a Livable World).

Between September and November of 2002, IPF awarded almost $500,000 in grants to some 35 separate leftwing organizations that opposed a U.S. invasion, including: Anti-War Room, Black Voices for Peace, the Center for International Policy, Democracy Now!, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Global Exchange, the Independent Media Institute, Ramsey Clark’s International Action Center, MoveOn.org, the National Council of Churches, the Pacifica Foundation, Physicians for Social Responsibility, TrueMajority, the War Resisters League, and Women’s Action for New Directions.

IPF continued its antiwar activities, albeit with reduced intensity, even in the aftermath of the U.S. incursion into Iraq. The project remained operational until at least early 2006, at which time it was exhorting “peace supporters” to “articulate a credible policy proposal for a responsible and prompt exit from Iraq.”

Also in the post-invasion period, yet another Tides Foundation project — the Peace Strategies Fund — supplanted IPF as a leading voice against the war.

In addition to its support from Tides, IPF also received funding from the HKH Foundation, the Compton Foundation, and the Shared Earth Foundation.