While we expect that The Institute will provide many of the types of services previously provided by the former Peace Alliance Foundation, The Institute is an entirely new organization.

The Peace Alliance Foundation was a successor organization to the Global Renaissance Alliance and a sister-organization to The Peace Alliance. In 2007, its board voted to change its mission, focus, and name to become Peace Partnership International (PPI). Effective at the end of 2008, PPI will cease operations and merge its flagship effort, the National Peace Academy initiative, and staff into the Omega Point Institute, an endowed 25-year-old nonprofit that has been providing financial support to the National Peace Academy project.

We chose the name "The Peace Alliance Educational Institute" because we feel it most accurately describes both the tone and nature of the work we intend to do through the new organization. "Institute" demonstrates the serious, practical, pragmatic and scientifically based nature of effective peacebuilding. There is also an IRS distinction between a "foundation" and "public charity," and The Institute is a public charity within the IRS definitions. In addition, many people associate the word "foundation" with an organization that provides grants to outside organizations, which we do not anticipate The Institute doing. Finally, we wanted to ensure there was no confusion with the history of PPI, and felt that re-establishing the Foundation name might have created that, not only for donors, but potentially for the IRS.

The Peace Alliance and the Campaign for a Department of Peace have worked to essentially do three things: Educate ourselves, educate our communities and educate our members of Congress on the importance and efficacy of peacebuilding and violence reduction and prevention. We expect The Institute will take on the first two of these three tasks, leaving The Peace Alliance free to focus exclusively on building political will in Congress and the Executive branch to enact legislation that will forward a culture of peace, beginning with the Department of Peace. The Institute will also be the primary resource to implement our goal of expanding Community Peacebuilding by conducting research, education and training to support the public in understanding peacebuilding and becoming better peacebuilders themselves.

Ever since the re-purposing of the Peace Alliance Foundation, we have intended to establish our own affiliated C3 organization. Our plans were accelerated due to Peace Partnership International's recent reorganization, which it announced on December 11, 2008, and which eliminated its ability to serve in that capacity. If you'd like more information about their work, please feel free to contact PPI directly.

We are working in partnership with PPI to ensure that any donations made to PPI prior to Friday, December 12, 2008 and designated for use in the educational work of either The Peace Alliance or Student Peace Alliance will be used in accordance with the donor's wishes. Any donations made to PPI after Friday, December 12, 2008 that are designated for use by The Peace Alliance or Student Peace Alliance will be returned to the donor.