Organizational Integrity

The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World embraces bold, innovative approaches to ending the tobacco epidemic. This strategy is motivated by decades of stagnation in the field and by the urgent need to combat the global devastation caused by tobacco. In order to catalyze change, we support researchers who prioritize new, effective solutions, as well as initiatives that cater to demographics and regions historically underrepresented in tobacco control efforts.

This work has the potential to drastically reduce the death and disease caused by smoking. Yet, because our strategies challenge the status quo, traditionalists may doubt their feasibility. These doubts sometimes manifest as thoughtful conversations, and other times as baseless prejudice against the Foundation and our work.

We are transparent about our funding: the Foundation receives annual charitable gifts from PMI Global Services Inc. (PMI). Our independence from PMI and any commercial entity is established in our organizational documents, including our bylaws. This independence also is affirmed by both PMI and the Foundation in the Pledge Agreement that provides for the annual charitable gifts, which both entities signed. Additionally, our annual 990PF tax filings are publicly available on the financials page of this website, and they include the amount awarded for each grant, as well as project overviews. 

When the Foundation was established, we closely adhered to the criteria set forth by Cohen et al., which are considered the gold standard when determining whether to accept funding from tobacco entities for tobacco control efforts and research. Our organizational practices are based on this standard and are guided by UNESCO’s recommendations on open science as well as the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control underfunded articles.

As the largest funder of research and capacity building in tobacco harm reduction and smoking cessation globally, we seek to finally end the smoking epidemic using innovative approaches. Our goal as a foundation is to prioritize the needs of smokers and support strategies that will bring us closer to a smoke-free world.