Comments
Why I’m launching a Movement Infrastructure Lab: a request for proposals
10
Tl;dr: The farmed animal advocacy movement is entering a period of funding growth, but our infrastructure has not kept pace. I’m coordinating a pilot to change that in a small, testable way. In partnership with Kickstarting for Good, the Movement Infrastructure Lab’s first round offers $200k in development grants for projects that strengthen the animal and food system movements. Apply by November 30.
Acknowledgements: This call builds on the sustainable movement growth working group at Animal Advocacy Strategic Forum in May 2026 and on feedback from Alyse Spiehler, Hannah Tookey, Megan Nelson, Kevin Xia, Brooke Haggerty, Jay Barrett, Nicoll Peracha, and the Kickstarting for Good team: David Pannell, Sebastian Joy and Prakrit Sachdeva. Thank you to everyone who reviewed earlier drafts and suggested more ideas.
The animal welfare movement is growing rapidly, but our infrastructure hasn't kept pace. Founders exit with no transition support. Whole regions have talent but no incubator. Capacity builders face demand that nobody has yet measured and that is set to grow. The gaps are increasingly well documented, including in a recent capability scan by PEPR and The Mission Motor. What’s missing is people and projects ready to close them, and this call looks for both.
When I first came up with the idea for Hive, most people didn’t get it. A few fellow capacity builders did, and encouraged me to continue. Today, many people see Hive as core movement infrastructure and can’t imagine the movement without it. I wonder how many ideas like that are sitting in someone’s drawer right now because nobody got it, and nobody wrote the first cheque.
Over four years at Hive, I watched talented people and good projects stall because no single organisation is set up to provide what they need. As the movement grows, we need to build these structures before we need them, and fund them on purpose rather than as an afterthought.
The Movement Infrastructure Lab is a pilot. Round one is a call for proposals offering USD 10k development grants for projects that help the farmed animal and food system movements grow well, seeded by Kickstarting for Good, which is backing the round with funding and grant support. These grants are deliberately small: they fund the first version of a project (a pilot, a trial with a few organisations, a proof of concept) so you can test demand and build the evidence a larger funder needs to back you properly. We’ll share the strongest projects with funders who can take them further, and we'll consider promising projects that already need larger funding.
K4G team will provide selected initiatives with founder coaching and support, including travel stipends for in-person co-working where it makes sense.
We are running one round, seeing what the movement surfaces, and sharing what we learn, including with other funders who might support the strongest ideas. If the pilot shows real demand, there may be a round two. If it doesn’t, we’ll have learned that cheaply (I will be sure to do a write-up regardless!).
Projects that build the movement’s capacity to grow well: work that serves multiple organisations or the ecosystem as a whole, rather than a single organisation’s programmes.
There are two routes in, and both are equally welcome. If you already do this work and have unmet demand, tell us what more capacity would let you do; where capable providers exist, funding their expansion can beat starting a competitor. If you see a gap with no owner, bring the idea, even if you haven’t been able to act on it yet or think someone else should fill it.
To give a flavour of the range (the full list is in the launch post):
Nothing on the list is pre-approved; picking one gives your application no advantage, and surfacing ideas we haven’t thought of is a big part of why this call exists. We’ll weigh the track record of the people proposing to do the work most heavily.
If you’re unsure whether your idea counts, apply anyway. We encourage early submissions and review them on a rolling basis.
Full details, criteria, and the application form are here. Apply by November 30 and/or send this to a friend who may be a good fit!
If you're a funder/donor who would like to contribute to the pool, feel free to DM me here or on Slack, or email me directly at [email protected].
Hi, I’m Sofia Balderson. I lead Hive, a global community for people working to end factory farming. This is a link post from my Substack, Notes from the Margin to share the messier, more personal reflections that don’t fit in formal updates. If you care about leading, belonging, or building something that matters (especially from the edges), feel free to subscribe here.
