Sustained, strategic effort toward enduring global peace

For 70 years, the Stanley Center has worked across countries and cultures to find common ground and nurture collaborative progress toward peace.

In cities and communities around the globe, we nurture policy progress and systems change from the ground up.

To address urgent global challenges, we identify the most important policy questions—and then gather the experts, advocates, and decision makers who can help us answer them.

About Us

Global Challenges

Our work focuses on three issue areas critical to shared and lasting global peace. Within each, we search for new answers to the most timely policy questions.

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Climate Change

We work to achieve a peaceful, equitable, and livable climate future with global temperatures safely limited to 1.5°C.

Climate Change
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Nuclear Weapons

We advance risk reduction solutions to help states prevent the use of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Weapons
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Mass Violence & Atrocities

We are committed to early, structural interventions that prevent identity-based mass violence and atrocities.

Mass Violence & Atrocities

How We Work

We believe that change will not happen by accident but rather through strategic, thoughtful, sustained dedication to policy progress and transforming systems. For 70 years, we have worked in communities around the globe to grow our relationships with national and subnational experts, advocates, and decision makers.

Stanley Center team members are knowledgeable, strategic, and catalytic. But above all, we are partners, and we are committed to listening, learning, and, in consultation with those most affected by our work, charting a path forward toward peace.

We study the policy landscape across three global challenges.


Our experts track policy action across the globe and help identify questions and issues that require urgent attention.

We meet with individuals and organizations on-the-ground to nurture collective action.


We bring the right people together, in the right places at the right times, to find opportunities for progress.

We support independent reporting on challenging topics.


Through our journalism and media programming, we support the media in telling independent, important stories about complex global challenges.

  • from an Advisor

    The Stanley Center is a leader in taking specific issues and developing expertise and advice helpful for policymakers at all levels. They put important substance and important partnerships first. They are good at what they do, and do it in a way that makes everyone truly a partner in the enterprise.

    Robert Orr

    University of Maryland

  • from a Partner

    By participating directly with stakeholders, the Stanley Center actively partners to convene diverse and engaged voices. This provides a hands-on experience in dialogue that creates an international network of views and greatly informs research.

    Cindy Vestergaard

    Stimson Center

  • from an Advisor

    The major value for me, in working with the Stanley Center, has been building contacts and developing relationships with people I would not have run across otherwise.

    Ambassador Thomas Pickering

  • from a Partner

    The center is nimble and dynamic, able to quickly change course to meet what the policy community is asking for in terms of solutions. They can address issues in real time.

    Alex Toma

    Peace and Security Funders Group

  • from an Advisor

    The center goes deep on policy issues and finds ways to move those issues forward. They are known for being open to a range of perspectives, yet true to values that underlie their choices of issues and approach to solutions. This combination is needed.

    Jane Wales

    Aspen Institute

  • from a Partner

    I’m so glad that I’ve been able to work with the Stanley Center. From salons to think labs to large symposiums, they always bring fascinating people and interesting viewpoints together on issues that directly pertain to my work.

    Cassandra Vinograd

    60 Minutes

  • from an Advisor

    The center's location allows them to concentrate more on their program areas than on fleeting elements of the debate of the day. They are focused on outcomes and policy impacts and make a difference in the way policy moves.

    Tod Lindberg

    Hudson Institute

  • from a Partner

    Their scope and open-minded approach make them a valuable partner, and a great ally for people and organizations across the globe.

    Fermin Koop

    Freelance Journalist

  • from a Partner

    The center does a very good job of figuring out what are the interesting policy questions and who are the right people who need to be in the room to answer those questions.

    Conor Seyle

    One Earth Future

  • from a Partner

    The unique identity and history of the center make them more personal and accessible than similar organizations. They engage and explore thematic project development in an iterative and open-ended way, significantly contributing to the successful outcomes of the projects we have embarked on together.

    Peter Rickwood

    Atomic Reporters

  • from a Partner

    The very subtle diplomacy the center uses to get the right people together, helping generate new narratives about what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and where we go from here is a really interesting methodology for mobilizing collective action.

    Yiting Wang

    World Wildlife Fund

  • from a Partner

    The center has done an excellent job of deepening and widening engagement of different sectors, bringing in new people through their convening and research. Working with them provides pathways to true policy change.

    Alex Bellamy

    Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

  • from a Partner

    The center stands out because of their ability to identify forward-looking issues and set the agenda to achieve outcomes. Their unique approach to collaboration and partnerships makes them a credible, independent voice facilitating high-trust conversations.

    Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros

    Growald Family Fund

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Journalism and Media Programming

Our programs for journalists, editors, and other media producers strengthen independent reporting on issues related to global peace and security.

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Our Values

Our values guide how we perform our work and conduct ourselves, individually and as an organization. While our values underlie and motivate all our work, they have specifically inspired our commitment to anti-racism, our pledge to Divest/Invest, and our transparency under the Just program.

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Our Local Commitment

Though our policy work takes us around the globe, we remain committed to our hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, by providing opportunities in the community that emphasize inclusive dialogue and diverse perspectives.