Animal Welfare Fund: July 2021 grant recommendations

Introduction

The Animal Welfare Fund made the following grants as part of its 2021 Q3 grant cycle:

• Total grants: $1,917,000
• Number of grantees: 35
• Payout date: July, 2021
• Report authors: Kieran Greig (Chair), Alexandria Beck, Marcus Davis, Mikaela Saccoccio, Karolina Sarek

The three primary areas we granted to in this round were (same as last round):

1. Large-scale and neglected animal populations (for instance, farmed fish and farmed crustaceans).
2. Large-scale and neglected geographies (for instance, groups in large Asian countries, as well as some new grantees in Africa).
3. Exploratory work regarding the scaling of alternative proteins (for instance, attempting to secure government funding for their research and development).

Would you like to get funded in these areas? Apply for funding.

This round has two significant updates in our grant reporting:

1. More anonymous grant reporting. This round, we report five anonymous grants after receiving advice from internal and external advisors, and further weighing the pros and cons of public reporting. We consider these grants to have a high expected impact, and report that there were no conflicts of interest in evaluating them.
2. Compared to previous reports, we generally share somewhat less of our thinking about the case for and against grants here. This is partly driven by the sheer number of grants we have this round. By decreasing the amount of time required to publish this report, we believe we can allocate additional time to work that will be useful for upcoming rounds.

Highlights

Notable grants for this round included:

• A $100,000 grant to EA Singapore.
  • This grant will support EA Singapore in launching a new fellowship program to help address talent bottlenecks in Southeast Asia.
  • We think the leaders of this program are thoughtful individuals with impressive track records.
  • Southeast Asia is one of the areas that we’re particularly excited about further work in, because it is a highly neglected area for farmed animal advocacy.
  • We believe this fellowship program could become key infrastructure for scaling work in this region in the future.
• A $96,000 grant to Africa Network for Animal Welfare.
  • This funding will enable a Kenyan organization to conduct research on the status and prevalence of battery cages in Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
  • This group previously successfully completed such research in Kenya, and we see it as important work that will inform cage-free campaigns in the region.
  • We’re excited to identify a new grantee that could play a leading role in campaigns throughout this region.
• A $49,000 grant to Humánny Pokrok.
  • This grant to an established Slovakian organization will further their work to achieve national cage-free hen legislation, as well as partially cover the salary of a fundraising professional to improve the organization’s financial stability.
  • We think there’s a significant chance that their legislative efforts will be successful, impacting around 9 million hens annually.
  • Additionally, we think national bans in certain European countries, such as Slovakia, make it more likely that such a ban will be implemented at the EU level. That would impact hundreds of millions of hens annually.

Grant Recipients

See below for a list of grantees' names, grant amounts, and brief grant descriptions:

• Equalia ($190,000): Increasing the capacity of a promising EAA-focused Spanish organization
• Anonymous ($150,000): Supporting alternative proteins in Asia
• Sentience Politics ($125,000): Ballot initiative in Switzerland
• Anonymous ($100,000): Farmed animal welfare movement and capacity building activities in Asia
• Effective Altruism Singapore ($100,000): Seed funding for a fellowship programme in Southeast Asia
• Africa Network for Animal Welfare ($96,000): Cage-free advocacy in East Africa
• Crustacean Compassion ($92,000): Research and policy advocacy to advance UK welfare reforms for decapod crustaceans
• Anima International ($88,000): Broiler advocacy in Europe
• Legal Impact for Chickens ($76,000): Launching a new nonprofit aiming to make factory farm cruelty a liability in the U.S.
• Expertise for Animals ($70,000): Seed funding to an organization focused on scientific support for advocates in Europe
• Eurogroup for Animals ($68,000): Hindering the rise of insect farming in the EU
• Animal Kingdom Foundation: ($62,000): Fish welfare in the Philippines
• Global Food Partners ($60,000): Expansion of cage-free production training program in Asia
• Plant Based Foods Association ($50,000): Working with major food service companies to expand their plant-based foods portfolio
• Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation ($50,000): 1-year salary for a full-time research analyst
• Effective Giving Quest ($50,000): Creation of a new organization aiming to raise funds for effective charities from the professional gaming community
• Humánny Pokrok ($49,000): Improving the lives of farmed animals in Slovakia
• Farm Animals Protection Association ($45,000): Cage-free advocacy in Turkey
• Campaigns and Activism for Animals in the Industry ($44,000): Legislative campaigns to ban fur farming and the force-feeding of waterfowl in Bulgaria
• Animal Ask ($35,000): Salaries for a new group helping to optimize welfare improvement asks
• Anonymous ($30,000): Investigation and awareness-raising project focused on fish welfare in Asia
• Animal Protection Organization of Nigeria ($30,000): Cage-free advocacy in Nigeria
• Cellular Agriculture Australia ($30,000) Work towards government funding for cellular agriculture open-access R&D
• Fórum Nacional de Defesa e Proteção Animal ($30,000): Cage-free legislative advocacy in Brazil
• WANBAM ($27,000): Mentoring for women, non-binary, and trans people working to alleviate animal suffering
• Animal Advocacy Africa ($26,000): Capacity building for farmed animal advocacy organizations in Africa
• Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Selangor ($25,000): Cage-free advocacy in Malaysia
• Ukraine division of Alliance for Animals ($24,000): Cage-free advocacy in Ukraine
• Anonymous ($20,000): Policy research on improving wild animal welfare in Asia
• Protección Animal Ecuador ($18,000): Cage-free legislative advocacy in Ecuador
• Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan ($15,000): Student-led campus-based cage-free campaigns in Taiwan
• Anonymous ($12,000): Animal welfare media in Asia
• Andrew Fisher ($10,000): Urban wild animal welfare intervention research in sub-Saharan Africa
• Animal Friends Jogja ($10,000): Cage-free advocacy in Indonesia
• Fish Welfare Initiative ($10,000): Aiding strategic planning to improve fish welfare

The following summaries briefly describe these grants. As with previous rounds, this round’s summaries are not meant to be read as complete or exhaustive. The grants are based on a combination of internal conversations between the fund managers, calls with the grantees, written evaluations of grantees' submissions, and the incorporation of the experience, knowledge, and judgment of the fund's managers.

While many considerations, including risks and reservations regarding these opportunities, have been taken into account, we usually prefer not to extensively discuss them publicly, including within these payout reports. It takes a lot of work to publicly and extensively communicate our views on the case for, and/or our reservations about various grants. We know that this public communication is valuable for some readers, but we don’t think the trade-off currently makes sense given the work involved. (We actively solicit feedback from our donors, but few have asked us to provide more detailed reports.) Instead, we prefer to focus our time on other areas of work that are useful for the Fund.

Our past reports were somewhat more detailed, and might be helpful if you’d like to get a better sense of how we make decisions.

All that said, if you have any questions about any of the decisions we've made, please feel free to contact us.

Equalia: $190,000

Increasing the capacity of a promising Spanish EAA-focused organization

Equalia is a promising Spanish EAA-focused organization set to significantly expand in 2021-2022. To facilitate this growth, we’re funding a year’s support for a few different positions, including one position in broiler chicken welfare, a hiring and culture specialist, and a contract extension for their fish welfare specialist.

Anonymous: $150,000

Supporting alternative proteins in Asia

This recipient has laid promising foundations for the acceptance of alternative proteins in important parts of Asia. With this grant, they will navigate a merger with another organization, hire further staff, and implement pilot demonstrations that could serve as a proof of concept for the relevant agricultural and food industries.

Sentience Politics: $125,000

Ballot initiative in Switzerland

These funds will support a ballot initiative to abolish factory farming in Switzerland. If the initiative passes, Switzerland will become the first nation with such a ban, and the new law will improve the lives of some tens of millions of animals every year.

Anonymous: $100,000

Movement and capacity building activities in Asia

This grantee plans to host a series of events, online trainings, symposiums, and other forms of engagement in three large Asian cities. The events will teach young people about concepts around farmed animal welfare, work that can be done to advance it, and potential career paths within the field.

Effective Altruism Singapore: $100,000

Seed funding for a fellowship programme in Southeast Asia

Some experienced members of the EA community will oversee the creation of a new fellowship program initially in English, and potentially Indonesian, and Vietnamese, with interest in expanding to further languages. This fellowship program should help to address critical talent bottlenecks in important and neglected regions, by increasing the number of aligned and knowledgeable local advocates.

Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW): $96,000

Cage-free advocacy in East Africa

We are providing funding for a Kenya-based organization, ANAW, to conduct research on the prevalence of battery cages in Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. Their goal is to better understand the status and animal welfare implications of caged farming and utilize the data to shape the future of cage-free campaigns in the region. ANAW recently produced a similar in-depth report on caged farming in Kenya, solidifying our confidence in their ability to carry out this much-needed research.

Crustacean Compassion: $92,000

Research and policy advocacy to advance UK welfare reforms for decapod crustaceans

Crustacean Compassion campaigns for the humane treatment of crabs, lobsters, and other decapod crustaceans in the UK. With this grant, they will be able to further research the sea to plate journey these animals undergo. They will also hire a public affairs expert to assist them in helping to achieve positive policy change for decapod crustaceans within the UK.

Anima International: $88,000

Broiler advocacy in Europe

Anima International intends to use funds to bolster corporate adoption and implementation of European Chicken Commitment (ECC) polices, particularly in Norway and the UK. The project’s goals include running public communication campaigns via media to raise awareness, increase momentum, and apply pressure to companies that have yet to commit.

Legal Impact for Chickens: $76,000

Launching a new litigation nonprofit to make factory farm cruelty a liability

Supporting an experienced lawyer in Alene Anello, and her new organization, Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC), which will deploy creative tactics for civilly enforcing existing cruelty laws in factory farms in the United States. There are billions of factory-farmed chickens in the U.S., but to date, relatively little litigation has been invoked to protect them. This grant will support administrative costs and the preliminary development of four lawsuits, which LIC will prioritize according to expected value.

Expertise for Animals: $70,000

Seed funding to organization focused on scientific support for advocates in Europe

This new organization intends to provide animal advocates and organizations in Europe, primarily in Germany, with scientific expertise by reviewing literature, providing consulting, and generally assisting advocacy organizations. This group is composed of three researchers who have scientific backgrounds and experience working in advocacy in Europe. The funds will be used to cover salaries.

Eurogroup for Animals: $68,000

Hindering insect farming in the EU

Eurogroup for Animals is a well-established animal advocacy organization in Europe looking to expand their work in order to hinder the industrial farming of insects, which is currently undergoing a series of regulatory processes at the EU level. We think this grant provides an opportunity for an experienced group to get involved in a very neglected area. Funds will be used for research and staff costs.

Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF): $62,000

Fish Welfare in the Philippines

Fish welfare is a neglected subject in the Philippines. This grant will fund research into the level of awareness on fish welfare among key stakeholders (farmers, regulators, etc.), identify ways to improve that understanding, and launch a campaign to raise consciousness of fish welfare in stakeholders and consumers. It will also help AKF to identify existing fish welfare regulations that have not yet received widespread adoption.

Global Food Partners: $60,000

Expansion of cage-free production training program in Asia

This funding to Global Food Partners will enable the translation of their existing cage-free production training materials into Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, and Korean. The implementation of cage-free policies in Asia is challenging, and more training and support are needed to shift production from caged to cage-free facilities. We hope that the availability of training materials in key languages will further contribute to successful implementation of new and existing corporate commitments.

Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA): $50,000

Working with major food service companies to expand their plant-based foods portfolio

We think that there are considerable opportunities to increase plant-based offerings in food service outlets. This grant will allow PBFA to support companies in adding more plant-based offerings. This will be done by addressing distribution challenges for plant-based foods and increasing the promotion of plant-based foods.

Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation: $50,000

1-year salary for a full-time research analyst.

Off the back of previous successful campaigns, CAWF are launching a new campaign focused on fish welfare. A talented researcher could help to make this and future campaigns more effective by conducting prioritization research and producing the types of policy briefs that were crucial to previous campaign successes.

Effective Giving Quest: $50,000

Creation of a new organization aiming to raise funds for effective charities from the professional gaming community

Effective Giving Quest is a new organization started by Jon Bockman and Eric Herboso. They plan to conduct targeted outreach promoting effective giving in the professional gaming community. The team behind the project intends to utilize their unique backgrounds in effective animal advocacy, and their experience in the gaming space, to encourage developers, publishers, and streamers to direct donations to highly effective organizations, including within animal advocacy. This grant covers the roughly half of the organization's work that goes toward animal advocacy.

Humánny Pokrok (Humane Progress): $49,000

Improving the lives of farmed animals in Slovakia

Humánny Pokrok is a well-established organization in Slovakia that is currently focused on securing a national ban on the caged farming of hens. This effort is meant to finalize the cage-free campaign; the organization has already worked to secure cage-free commitments from the majority of major corporations in the country, including a commitment from the poultry union. Funds will be used to support the legislative campaign, and to partially cover the salary of a fundraising professional to improve the organization’s financial independence and stability.

Farm Animals Protection Association: $45,000

Cage-free advocacy in Turkey

We are providing funds to the Farm Animals Protection Association in Turkey to scale up its corporate cage-free campaigns. Turkey is home to 120 million hens, ~80% of which are now housed in cage facilities. The group has built up a network of volunteers and supporters who can be mobilized to take action. Funds will be used to cover the salaries for two grassroots volunteer managers to support the campaigns.

Campaigns and Activism for Animals in the Industry (CAAI): $44,000

Legislative campaigns to ban fur farming and the force-feeding of waterfowl in Bulgaria

CAAI is a Bulgarian organization that aims to use grant funds to secure two national bans: one on fur farming and one on the force-feeding of ducks and geese. With several national fur farming bans being passed throughout the region, members of Fur Europe see Bulgaria as a favorable place to relocate their farms, increasing the urgency of this campaign. CAAI plans to hire a full-time employee to focus on securing support for the ban. The group also plans to hire a staff member to draft a bill that fully covers the prohibition of force-feeding of waterfowl. Both bans have support from a majority of the public (based on surveys) and, if implemented, would impact millions of animals.

Animal Ask: $35,000

Operational costs for a new group helping to optimize welfare improvements

Animal Ask is a new meta research organization that advises organizations conducting animal advocacy work on how to optimize their farmed animal welfare proposals (“asks”). The effective animal advocacy movement spends thousands of hours and millions of dollars planning and implementing campaigns formed around these asks; it’s important that they are well-researched and strategic. This grant will support operational costs at Animal Ask for three months.

Anonymous: $30,000

Investigation and awareness-raising project focused on fish welfare in Asia

With this funding, the recipient will conduct investigations on local wet markets, supermarkets, seafood restaurants, and (if possible) fish farms. They will then use the materials gathered during the investigation to raise awareness about the treatment of farmed fish and generate interest in the topic of fish welfare.

Animal Protection Organization of Nigeria (APON): $30,000

Cage-free advocacy in Nigeria

Nigeria is the largest egg-producing country in West Africa (producing 66% of the region’s total) and is home to the largest number of farmed animals in Africa. APON is a new member of the Open Wing Alliance and is the first organization in the country to focus on cage-free initiatives. The group will use funds to conduct corporate outreach and campaigns.

Cellular Agriculture Australia: $30,000

An application for government funding for cellular agriculture open-access R&D

Cellular Agriculture Australia is an Australian cellular agriculture advocacy group. This grant will support half of a full-time research manager’s salary and six scholarships for postgraduate researchers, with the goal of securing a government grant to establish and lead an Australian Research Centre (ARC) for cellular agriculture open-access research and development.

Fórum Nacional de Defesa e Proteção Animal: $30,000

Cage-free legislative advocacy in Brazil

Fórum Nacional de Defesa e Proteção Animal has a track record of success in securing cage-free commitments from companies. This grant will support a pilot project for Fórum Animal to lobby Brazilian municipalities to pass citywide cage-free ordinances, starting in São Paulo. Brazil ranks within the world's top five countries in terms of the total number of layer hens, with around 160 million.

WANBAM: $27,000

Mentoring for women, non-binary, and trans people working to alleviate animal suffering

WANBAM aims to increase the hiring and retention of women, non-binary, and trans people in the effective altruism community through 1:1 career mentoring. This grant covers the roughly quarter of WANBAM’s budget that goes towards animal welfare, including part of the CEO’s salary, consultations from subject matter experts, and an assistant.

Credence Institute NPC (registered non-profit company in South Africa) on behalf of Animal Advocacy Africa (currently a program of Credence Institute): $26,000

Capacity building for farm animal advocacy in Africa

Animal Advocacy Africa, a program of Credence Institute, recently released a report on the farmed animal advocacy landscape in Africa. Their findings indicate that a lack of funding is one of the largest bottlenecks for African animal advocacy organizations. The group will use these funds for a pilot program that aims to support African organizations in their fundraising and capacity-building efforts on farmed animal welfare.

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor, Malaysia: $25,000

Cage-free advocacy in Malaysia

SPCA Selangor works on corporate cage-free outreach and campaigns in Malaysia, which is home to ~105M caged layer hens and pullets. The group will use funds to hire a staff member who will focus on securing cage-free commitments from food manufacturers, food service providers, and hospitality companies. The new hire will allow the current cage-free campaign staff to focus on government lobbying, drafting proposed cage-free legislation, and producer outreach.

Alliance for Animals (Ukraine division): $24,000

Cage-free advocacy in Ukraine

Alliance for Animals has been advocating for farmed animals in Ukraine for over five years and is eager to begin corporate cage-free work. The group will use funds to hire two employees who will support the translation and implementation of global cage-free policies in Ukraine, create a database of cage-free farms, engage with Ukrainian companies to secure new policies, and conduct an investigation on some specific farms that currently use cages for egg-laying hens.

Anonymous: $20,000

Policy research regarding how to benefit wild animal welfare in Asia

Non-state actors in some Asian nations are increasingly influential in steering environmental policies, which directly impact the welfare of wild animals. It is therefore important to understand these non-state actors, including their comparative strengths in influencing policy. This individual’s scoping research could potentially help organizations in the region to promote certain environmental policies for the benefit of wild animals.

Protección Animal Ecuador: $18,000

Cage-free legislative advocacy in Ecuador

This Ecuadorian animal advocacy organization is a member of the Open Wing Alliance with a track record of securing legal protections for wildlife and companion animals. PAE aims to simultaneously pass ordinances in each canton of Ecuador banning the sale of caged eggs, and to reform the Organic Law of Agricultural Health to ban caged eggs from all of Ecuador. This grant will fund an attorney to lay the legal groundwork for legislative action.

Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) $15,000

Student-lead, campus-based cage-free campaigns in Taiwan

EAST plans to provide mini-grants to students to enable them to launch cage-free campaigns on campuses. The grants will be accompanied by a mentorship program, written resources, and other forms of support. The aim of the program will be to build capacity amongst future advocates for animals, and to directly help animals by securing cage-free pledges from local companies and institutions.

Anonymous: $12,000

Animal welfare media in Asia

Asia is by far the world’s largest producer and consumer of farmed animals, and dominates farmed fish production with well over half of all farmed fish. We believe there’s value in getting local activists to spread awareness of the conditions of these animals. This specific activist has some history of successful work in this area, and will attempt to create compelling stories for the welfare of fish, crustaceans and chickens.

Andrew Fisher: $10,000

Urban wild animal welfare intervention research in southern Africa

This grant is to support Andrew’s exploration of possible interventions to improve the lives of urban wild animal populations (with a regional focus on southern Africa). This area is highly neglected, and we think it might be a promising avenue for finding tractable means to improve wild animals’ lives.

Animal Friends Jogja (AFJ): $10,000

Cage-free advocacy in Indonesia

We are providing funding to expand AFJ’s cage-free efforts in Indonesia and complement the group’s corporate campaigns. Funds will be used to hire a staff member focused solely on government advocacy to improve layer hen welfare. Specifically, AFJ aims to incorporate farmed animal welfare more comprehensively into legislation and food standards, and to work with government training departments to conduct animal welfare training for farmers.

Fish Welfare Initiative: $10,000

Strategic planning to improve decision making on fish welfare

Fish Welfare Initiative (FWI) is a relatively new research and advocacy organization for farmed fishes. FWI secured two fish welfare commitments in India that they expect will affect several million fishes annually, and is now considering how to expand. This grant will cover the cost of a strategic consultant, who will mentor 4-6 of FWI’s staff members and aid in the optimization of their strategy.