Funder Opportunity: Aquatic Animal Funding Circle

Zoë Sigle

Farmed Animal Funders is pleased to invite eligible donors beyond our existing membership to join our Aquatic Animal Funding Circle.

Funding circle prospectus assembled by Farmed Animal Funders, adapted and expanded from proposals submitted by, and subsequent conversations with, Rethink Priorities and Aquatic Life Institute.

Summary

In line with Farmed Animal Funders’ (FAF) mission to replace factory farming with a more humane and sustainable food system through funder collaborations, FAF is hosting an Aquatic Animal Funding Circle, which aims to reduce suffering for farmed aquatic animals, including the 100 billion fish and 440 billion shrimp farmed annually, and prevent the growth of aquaculture. As aquaculture takes off with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization calling for a 75% increase in aquaculture farming, we know that the best time to intervene was decades ago—and the second best time is now.

The Aquatic Animal Funding Circle aims to reduce suffering for farmed aquatic animals by:

Coalescing major funders (giving $250,000+ annually to reform or replace factory farming) interested in allocating some of their giving or expanding their giving to help aquatic animals
Learning about key barriers, theories of change, funding gaps, and the most promising interventions and groups to reduce aquatic animal suffering
Soliciting proposals for funding in a joint RFP round
Co-evaluating proposals, to actively learn about each other’s evaluation styles
Co-funding the most promising opportunities to reduce aquatic animal suffering with a co-funding goal each cycle of at least $1 million USD
Updating our assumptions and strategies as we learn from funding impacts

Examples of interventions the funding circle might fund include:

Harm reduction interventions, such as certifier campaigns, corporate engagement, and policy work.
Interventions to prevent the growth of aquaculture altogether, such as strategic litigation, legislative bans, or exceptional, near-term alternative protein opportunities.
Movement strategy research and coordination, particularly given the early stage of the aquatic animal welfare movement.

The Aquatic Animal Funding Circle includes several FAF members, and we are open to including non-FAF members on a case-by-case basis who have a sincere interest in donating at least $100k to aquatic animal welfare interventions per funding round.

Aquatic Animal Funding Circle members are encouraged to attend monthly meetings, participate in the grant evaluations, and co-fund the grants that meet their philanthropic goals. If there is a funding gap at the end of each funding circle, FAF will share the funding opportunities with other donors and seek to close any funding gaps.

To join the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle, starting January 2025, please reach out to Zoë Sigle, Farmed Animal Funders’ Director of Programs, at aquaticanimals-fc@farmedanimalfunders.org. If you are interested in being aware of funding circle grants and opportunities to co-fund but can’t actively participate in the funding circle, let Zoë know.

The Case for Aquatic Animals

The movement to protect farmed aquatic animals is a nascent movement when compared with the movement to protect farmed land animals. Despite being a relatively new area for funder focus, the number of farmed aquatic animals eclipses the number of farmed land animals and is expected to grow.

Aquatic animals, including finfishes and shrimps, are farmed in the hundreds of billions and caught from the wild in the trillions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has called for a 75% increase in aquaculture farming. We know that the more entrenched an industry, the more difficult it is to oppose the industry.

In recent years, a range of organizations supporting farmed aquatic animal welfare have launched and have demonstrated successful interventions, such as:

Engaging with certifiers to improve the animal welfare standards of their certifications.
Recognizing crustaceans as sentient beings in the UK Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill.
Securing major retailer commitments to end eyestalk ablation and require electric stunning for shrimp.
Collaborating with aquaculture farmers in India to improve fish welfare via water quality and stocking density improvements.
Preventatively banning octopus farming in various jurisdictions.

Given the very limited funding for improving (or preventing) the lives of hundreds of billions of farmed aquatic animals, the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle aims to increase funder attention towards aquatic animal welfare initiatives. The Aquatic Animal Funding Circle will lead a joint funding round for organizations and projects that:

support interventions that institutionally eliminate some of the cruelest practices in aquaculture, such as certifier campaigns, corporate engagement, and policy work.
prevent the growth of aquaculture altogether, such as via strategic litigation, legislative bans, or exceptional, near-term alternative protein opportunities
conduct strategy research and coordinate movement actors, which is essential for the long-term success of younger movements like farmed aquatic animal welfare advocacy

Some interventions the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle might support include:

Harm Reduction
Certifier Outreach	Supporting (and pressuring, such as via benchmarking reports) certifiers to introduce and/or improve the animal welfare standards for aquaculture certification schemes. Measurable Outcomes: Number of certification schemes improved Number of animals impacted and estimated hours of suffering reduced by each improved standard
Corporate Engagement	Persuade major retailers and foodservice companies to adopt improved animal welfare requirements for various species of aquatic animals in their supply chains. Measurable Outcomes: Number of major retailers publicly launching measurable and timebound aquatic animal welfare policies Number of animals impacted and estimated hours of suffering reduced by each improved standard
Policy Work	Educating policymakers on the reasons for including aquatic animals in bills related to animal sentience or welfare or otherwise including aquatic animal welfare in aquaculture regulations. Measurable Outcomes: Number of bills or regulations passed in highly influential jurisdictions with actionable outcomes for farmed aquatic animals Estimated number of aquatic animals impacted by these policy improvements
Farmer Engagement	Educating farmers on farmed aquatic animal welfare and following up with audits, equipment support, or other practical support. Measurable Outcome: Number of animals impacted and hours of suffering reduced, as measured by farm population sizes and confirmation of improvements via auditing.
Preventing Growth
Legislative Bans	Rejecting the establishment of octopus farms will send a clear market signal that this practice is unsustainable, unnecessary, and extraordinarily cruel, thus establishing a precedent for banning the introduction of other aquatic animals in the future. Advocating for legislative measures and regulations that restrict or prohibit the farming of additional species for human consumption. Measurable Outcome: Number of coastal state-level or higher jurisdictions with strong potential to expand aquaculture into new species that pass legislative bans on new species of aquaculture.
Strategic Litigation	Apply creative litigation strategies, such as water protections or rights to fish, to prevent or shut down coastal aquaculture operations. Measurable Outcome: Number of influential and impactful states or jurisdictions with precedent-setting rulings in favor of preventing or shutting down aquaculture operations.
Alternative Proteins	Supporting research and innovation in plant-based alternatives to farmed aquatic animal products, when near-term exceptional opportunities arise. Measurable Outcome: Major advances are made to bring commercially viable products to market.
Movement Research & Coordination
Research	Conduct applied movement (and scientific, as needed) research to scope untapped opportunities and possible future trajectories for the movement to more strategically accelerate the end of aquaculture. With so many species being farmed under different systems that vary across geographies, the movement still needs to identify ask(s) that will be most tractable and replicable. Measurable Outcomes: Number of high-quality species-specific asks developed that balance both impact (focused on species with high farmed populations and welfare improvements that reduce significant hours and/or intensity of suffering) and tractability (measured in the long-term by the ability for organizations to secure and enforce asks). Impact of interventions ultimately proposed, assuming they are funded by the Funding Circle or otherwise.
Coordination & Capacity Building	Support the development of new infrastructure to ensure better coordination between organizations (e.g., an “OWA-equivalent” for aquatic animals; setting milestones for specific species farmed under the most intensive conditions), share best practices, and track progress. Measurable Outcome: Qualitative feedback from involved organizations on whether they believed the intentional coordination had an additive impact.

Funding Circle Logistics

Objectives

The Funding Circle coalesces major funders interested in expanding their giving to help aquatic animals. Success is measured by:

Increased movement giving (in terms of both dollars and the number of major donors) to reduce the suffering of farmed aquatic animals
Animals positively impacted by funding from the joint RFP that would not have otherwise been impacted
Funding Circle members who report having learned more about aquatic animal welfare interventions and/or grant evaluation best practices

Activities

Over six months, the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle will meet monthly to:

Learn about key barriers, theories of change, funding gaps, and the most promising interventions and groups to reduce aquatic animal suffering
Solicit grant proposals in a joint RFP round
Co-evaluate proposals
Co-fund the most promising opportunities to reduce aquatic animal suffering

After the initial six-month funding round, the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle will debrief and decide on the most beneficial path forward, whether setting a schedule for more funding rounds, spend more time learning about various aspects of the farmed aquatic animal protection movement, or assessing impact reports from past grantees.

Eligibility to Join

Beyond FAF members, we welcome non-FAF members to join the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle on a case-by-case basis. Funders with sincere interest in co-funding at least $100k to aquatic animal interventions in 2025 are eligible to join. FAF staff will assess non-FAF members prior to their joining the Funding Circle to confirm strong fit (particularly, mission alignment and collaborative spirit).

Member Expectations

Aquatic Animal Funding Circle members are encouraged to attend monthly meetings, participate in the grant evaluations, and co-fund the grants that meet their philanthropic goals.

If a funder wants to donate to help aquatic animals but lacks the bandwidth to attend meetings and evaluate grants, they may still receive funding recommendations and make grants accordingly. In this case, please email Zoë, who will share recommendations at the end of the funding round.

Funding Decisions

Each funder retains full autonomy over their funding decisions. Funders should only join the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle if they have a sincere interest in significantly funding aquatic animal welfare interventions or interventions to slow the growth of aquaculture.

How to Join

To join the Aquatic Animal Funding Circle, please reach out to Zoë Sigle, Farmed Animal Funders’ Director of Programs, at aquaticanimals-fc@farmedanimalfunders.org.

Monthly meetings begin in January!

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