Our Giving Fund: Improving Animal Welfare in H2/2024

Billions of animals around the world continue to suffer every day in the food industry – and still, only a fraction of available resources goes toward solving this massive problem. This makes it all the more important to highlight progress: In a new guest article on our blog, Lewis Bollard, an expert at Open Philanthropy, describes the global achievements made for animals over the past year – made possible by dedicated people like you. These examples show just how many practical and effective approaches already exist to sustainably improve animal welfare. Unfortunately, progress is still far too slow in many areas, and countless animals continue to live under catastrophic conditions. There is still much to be done. That’s why we’re especially grateful for every donation that has supported this important cause over the past six months.

Donations received

In the second half of 2024, around €640,000 were donated to the Improving Animal Welfare Fund by 1,576 donors (approximately €440,000 from Germany and Austria, and 190,000 Swiss francs from Switzerland). As usual, in consultation with the experts from the EA Animal Welfare Fund, we supported the following organizations, as we currently believe they offer the greatest potential impact for animals.

• Sinergia Animal (€286,000): Animal protection in Southeast Asia and South America, primarily through corporate campaigns
• The Humane League (€180,000): Corporate campaigns to end particularly cruel forms of animal farming
• Animal Policy International (€55,000): Policy work to apply local animal welfare standards to imports, especially in New Zealand and the United Kingdom

(A further grant of 119,000 euros is currently in preparation).

The Humane League & Sinergia Animal

More then 70% of the fund’s resources go to our two top recommendations in the field of improving animal welfare, both of which make an effective contribution to reducing animal suffering in different regions of the world. As described in our organization profiles for The Humane League (THL) and Sinergia Animal, both organizations are committed to ending the mistreatment of animals in the food industry. They focus on corporate campaigns and building a global movement. We awarded these grants because their work continues to be a cost-effective way to help animals. With additional funding, THL can expand its corporate outreach and hire staff globally, while Sinergia Animal can strengthen its infrastructure for more sustainable operations and scale its programs for long-term and impactful results.

Animal Policy International

Animal Policy International (API) advocates for the protection of farmed animals and their consideration in international trade. Their current focus is on closing a loophole in animal welfare legislation: when governments ban cruel practices such as cage farming, these standards often do not apply to imported products. This results in the outsourcing of factory farming, subverting public expectations for real change, and putting local farmers at a disadvantage.

API is working to ensure that countries with higher animal welfare standards also apply them to imported products. Their work involves collaboration with policymakers and other stakeholders to address this issue. Despite the challenges of such policy efforts, a successful legislative change could lead to significant improvements for many animals. In New Zealand alone, this could prevent the suffering of around 9 million fish, 500,000 pigs, and 300,000 chickens each year, while also setting an international precedent to improve global animal welfare standards. With offices in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, API is making progress toward the implementation of new laws.

Updates on previous grants

The Mission Motor

The Mission Motor aims to increase the impact of animal protection organizations by helping them better monitor and evaluate their work, and draw the right conclusions from the data. The organization received €75,000 in early 2024 from the giving fund. In 2024, they conducted training sessions for 27 animal protection organizations, which have already led to at least 16 process changes. Further changes are planned in additional organizations. They also held 13 webinars and 4 workshops, and their communication channel on monitoring and evaluation within the animal advocacy network Hive has now grown to over 300 members.

Fish Welfare Initiative

In 2024, the Fish Welfare Initiative (FWI) – which received approximately €100,000 from the fund in early 2024 – achieved remarkable progress: it expanded its program in India from 105 to 155 active farms, thereby improving the lives of an estimated 1.2 million fish. FWI also conducted several research studies, including on satellite imagery and feed enrichment, to make future programs more effective. In China, FWI supported the World Conference on Farm Animal Welfare to raise awareness about fish welfare.

The Good Food Institute

In 2024, we supported the Good Food Institute (GFI) – at the time still a top recommendation for both climate and animal protection – with a total of €500,000 from our Giving Fund: Mitigating Climate Change. In 2024, GFI published 54 reports and scientific articles, informed over 8,000 stakeholders at global events such as COP29, funded 14 new research projects, generated more than 4,600 media reports, and helped Germany develop a comprehensive strategy for alternative proteins. GFI also mobilized over €20 million in public investment in the EU and the UK.

Animal Society

Another positive update comes from the German animal protection organization Animal Society, which we supported in 2023 through our fund. Just in time for the upcoming federal election, they launched their long-prepared Animal Policy Monitor: the first platform in Germany to systematically analyze and make transparent political decisions related to animal protection. The goal is to provide voters with an independent overview of parliamentarians’ engagement with animal welfare issues, enabling more informed voting decisions.