Author: Grace Ryba (she/her), Executive Director

TL;DR: 

• BluePerch is a new animal welfare grantmaker.
• Grant applications aren't open yet - we're aiming to open applications in roughly mid-2027.
• We welcome early expressions of interest from potential grantseekers so we can notify you when applications open - express your interest here or see further details below.
• We're also seeking board members to help run BluePerch; details below.

BluePerch

BluePerch is a new animal welfare fund seeking to make grants to promising or impactful animal advocacy projects around the world.

We intend to create cost-effective impact for farmed animals by making the grants that other funders cannot - small grants delivered early and fast - and using grants to generate evidence that guides the movement's funding decisions.

Key details (this information is tentative and may change between now and when grant applications are opened):

• Broad focus on impactful animal advocacy, but a particular interest in early-stage animal advocacy projects, time-sensitive policy windows, and orgs that fall through the cracks of other animal funders
• Grant sizes ~$5k–$100k, flexible
• Granting ~$1.2M/year in the first year, scaling to ~$4M disbursed in the third year
• When grant applications open (see below), anyone can easily apply for funding, and funding applications can be submitted on a rolling basis

Team:

• Executive Director - Grace Ryba (formerly Ren)
• Head of Operations - Rocio Alba Navarro
• AI Advisor - Max Taylor

If you have any questions about anything in this post, you're welcome to contact us via email: contact [at] blueperch.org.

What projects BluePerch intends to fund

Note: The below information is tentative and may change between now and when grant applications are opened.

While we are still finalizing our scope and limitations, the below information gives an indication of what we are interested vs not interested in funding.

We are interested in funding projects that aim to improve the wellbeing of either:

1. farmed animals (e.g., farmed broiler chickens, hens, fish, pigs, insects, shrimp, etc), or
2. wild animals (e.g., rodents, birds, etc), or
3. comparable large-population, neglected groups of neglected animals

We are interested in funding projects that use these interventions (this is a non-exhaustive list):

• Policy advocacy
• Corporate advocacy
• Farmer outreach/training
• Research
• Media and investigations
• Developing the effective animal advocacy movement (e.g., strategic coordination/conferences)

We anticipate being interested in making grants to countries all over the world (with the probable exception of China), and to a range of organisation types (charities, non-profits, individual people, institutions, and more).

While we are still finalizing our scope, at this stage we anticipate that our scope will exclude:

• Promoting vegan diets or reducing meat consumption (e.g., individual outreach, institutional advocacy).
• Alternative proteins (e.g., cultured meat research, cultured meat policy, consumer acceptance of plant-based proteins).
• Pet welfare (dogs, cats, etc).
• Direct animal care (animal sanctuaries, animal shelters, racing animals etc).
• Environmental conservation or habitat preservation.
• Political activity. We will probably be unable to fund political activity in any country. Political activity is defined as "influencing [...] the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any Federal, State, or local public office [...] or the election of Presidential or Vice-Presidential electors". Note: we anticipate being able to fund lobbying, which is defined as attempting to influence legislation or government policy/regulations - lobbying is different from political activity.
• Projects based on China.

When grant applications will open

Grant applications aren't yet open.

We are aiming to open grant applications in around 9-12 months from now, in mid-2027, though this timeline might change. The timeline hinges on some legal details on our end (incorporation and registration), and we're working hard to push this along so that we can open grant applications as soon as possible.

We'll make another public announcement when this happens.

Are you looking for funding for a high-impact animal advocacy project?

If you are a person or organisation who may seek funding for your high-impact farmed animal advocacy projects over the next year or two, we encourage you to register your expression of interest using this form.

Note: Completing this form doesn't influence your chance of eventually receiving funding. However, it ensures that you are alerted as soon as public applications are open - when we open public applications, we will contact you at the email address that you submit so you can be the first to know that applications are open.

Are you interested in helping to run BluePerch by joining the board of directors?

We are seeking between 3 and 8 people to help run BluePerch by joining our board of directors.

To apply, fill out this board of directors interest form.

Joining BluePerch's board would mean you have the opportunity to help guide the direction and health of a major EA-aligned grantmaker. The board of directors provides governance and strategic oversight for the organization - safeguarding its mission and financial health, ensuring its work is aligned with helping as many animals as we can, and holding leadership accountable to both.

We anticipate roughly 30 hours of board service per year, broken down roughly:

• Quarterly board meetings (~8 hours)
• Meeting preparation (~12 hours)
• Review of year-end filings (~3 hours)
• Ad-hoc meetings and reviews (~6 hours)

These positions will begin duties sometime between now and ~mid-2027, depending on some legal/operational details on our side.

Board members (directors) usually serve without pay, and this is our preference. That said, if compensation is what would make this role feasible for you, BluePerch is open to discussing an hourly rate.

We intend to choose people who:

• Understand, and are aligned with, impactful animal advocacy.
• Have experience in a particular skillset that benefits the board, such as: finance/accounting, law, risk management, leadership, and/or governance.
• Have a high level of integrity and are trustworthy
• Have strong communication skills
• Are willing to commit approximately 30 hours per year to board duties
• (Bonus) Have previous experience serving on a board

US residency is not a requirement for serving on the board of directors. We do aim for a board that is majority US-resident, and certain board functions may call for US residency - so location won't rule anyone out, but it is a factor we may consider.