We think that this list on EA Forum hits some of the best-written works to date. For books, specifically, here are some that we’d recommend: 

• Animal Liberation by Peter Singer 
• Grilled: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry by Leah Garces
• The Animal Activist's Handbook: Maximizing Our Positive Impact in Today's World by Bruce Friedrich and Matt Ball
• Moo's Law: An Investor’s Guide to the New Agrarian Revolution by Jim Mellon
• Food, Animals, and the Environment by Christopher Schlottmann and Jeff Sebo
• Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters by Richard Rumelt
• Engines of Liberty: How Citizen Movements Succeed by David Cole

Yeah, we definitely do other things on active grantmaking than just our RFP. Other things we do include:

• Having calls with potential applicants 
• Encouraging some applicants to apply
• Encourage some applicants to apply for more funding
• If someone applies for something we don’t find as promising, we think of whether there are ways to get them above our bar for funding
• Help initiate some projects

I think historically most of our success in active grantmaking hasn’t come through our RFP and I think I would expect it to stay that way. 

In general, the AWF would be inclined to continue supporting those groups as they scale up if their work continues to be effective and in line with our funding priorities. I suspect as we have more funding available, we will be able to balance our support of new projects while helping to sustain existing groups. We are also in touch with other funders and grantmakers in this space and will reach out if we think a particular group is better suited for a different funding opportunity.

Thanks for the insightful post! I’d like to add the Open Wing Alliance (OWA) is currently engaged in EAA movement building by bringing groups into a collaborative coalition that is focused on institutional campaigns to ban battery cages and improve the welfare of broiler chickens. https://www.openwingalliance.org/

We have a library of shared resources related to the most effective ways to secure corporate welfare policies and will soon be launching a peer to peer mentorship program for individuals in the coalition. Additionally, we provide grants and training to OWA groups to support corporate cage-free and broiler welfare campaign work. In addition to securing the first corporate cage-free pledges in dozens of countries and more frequent global and regional pledges, we have received feedback from members of the coalition that feeling more connected to and supported by the broader movement makes this type of EAA work more manageable and sustainable.

I’d be very interested in speaking with anyone who is interested in taking on any of the projects suggested and/or discuss resource sharing ideas. We are also happy to share some of OWA’s resources with groups outside of the coalition if requested.