Navigating Equity & Inclusion Across A Diverse Animal Advocacy Movement

By JLRiedi @ 2025-07-30T17:32 (+1)

Faunalytics’ new report, From Performative To Transformative: Navigating Equity & Inclusion Across A Diverse Animal Advocacy Movement, explores how farmed animal advocacy organizations can approach diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in ways that are aligned with their mission, strategy, and values. Drawing on interviews with BIPOC advocates and analysis of over 200 organizations, the report identifies key barriers and opportunities for making DEI efforts meaningful rather than symbolic. With practical recommendations for advocates, leaders, and funders, this resource is designed to help our movement grow stronger, more inclusive, and more effective.

Background

Farmed animal advocacy organizations face a strategic crossroads. While the impact of industrial animal agriculture on both animals and humans is undeniable, many groups struggle with whether to focus solely on animal suffering or engage more broadly with the interconnected systemic harms of animal agriculture. The tension between a narrow focus on animal protection and a broader, intersectional approach influences who is drawn to collaborate or work within the movement: While a standalone focus may be appealing to some, integrating related social justice issues, such as food justice or racial equity, can resonate better with more diverse advocates, thereby expanding the movement’s reach and impact (see Reisman et al., 2022).

These issues are integral to considerations of if and how organizations should approach diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. When done well, DEI work is more than a strategy for equity and inclusion — it is a strategy for coherence, accountability, and long-term sustainability. As such, this report is intended as a resource for movement leaders, members, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) advocates to better understand their organizational contexts, identify pathways for advancing DEI, and do so in ways that align with their personal values and experiences.

Specifically, the central question for this report is:

How can farmed animal advocacy organizations meaningfully support DEI efforts — internally and externally — without losing sight of and complementing their core mission and strategic goals?

We offer a two-part response to this question: First, what an organization does on DEI should depend on awareness and recognition of its organizational identity — the answers to the foundational questions of who organizations are, what they do, and how they do it (Whetten, 2006).

Second, we suggest a reframing in how organizations and leaders conceive and execute DEI work: Organizations should understand their DEI strategies in terms of the relationship between organizational justice and social justice approaches. Some approaches are oriented more towards organizational justice, focusing on equity in how decisions are made, how resources are shared, and how people are treated (Brown & Coukos, 2025; Cropanzano, 2007). Issues of organizational injustice are often associated with differences in demographic identity, but organizational justice approaches tend to focus on structural and process fairness for everyone, rather than in relation to specific identity groups.

DEI work can also be grounded more deliberately in social justice perspectives, which center identity, power, and systemic transformation, asking not just whether practices are fair, but for whom, under what conditions, and to what end, and taking specific action to address these issues (Thrift & Sugarmann, 2019).

The maintenance of organizational justice is a bare minimum for formal organizations looking to operate in fair and just ways. The extent to which social justice approaches are integrated depends on questions of identity, and honest assessments of organizational goals and how DEI efforts fit with these goals (Ninh & Brown, 2024). These efforts, in cases where organizations orient toward justice-specific modes of engagement, like street-level activism, can and should include efforts oriented explicitly toward social justice. Other organizations, embedded in more mainstream contexts, must consider for themselves the broader role of social justice in their overall work and approach DEI through honest organizational assessment and reflection.

DEI initiatives that are disconnected from organizational identity and strategy often falter or create internal dissonance. Failing to integrate social justice efforts with organizational justice practices in a way that meaningfully considers organizational identity can result in detached and ceremonial processes and policies that do little to achieve intended outcomes and become sidelined, leading to their deprioritization or removal when resources become more constrained (Bromley & Powell, 2012).

For organizations and leaders, the path forward starts with a core question: Are we genuinely committed to equity, inclusion, and social justice? If the answer to any of these is no, that must be named honestly. Half-hearted or episodic efforts will not hold up under scrutiny or sustain over time. This complexity and often unacknowledged tension between these perspectives are especially pronounced in the farmed animal protection movement (hereinafter referred to as the movement), where organizations vary widely in scope and strategy, from grassroots street-level activism to institutional engagement and policy change.

It is also important to note that we present this report at a contentious moment for DEI work. Across organizations, industries, and sectors, similar tensions are unfolding amid the current political climate, shaped by the 2025 United States (U.S.) presidential executive orders targeting DEI efforts. We recognize that external pressures from funders or the government, along with the emotional toll on staff and communities, may limit the ability to act on some of our recommendations and that some organizations may find it increasingly difficult to fully implement or sustain DEI initiatives. In light of these realities, we offer our findings not as one-size-fits-all solutions, but as guiding principles rooted in empirical findings and real-world challenges.

Nevertheless, to the extent that organizations and leaders can wholeheartedly commit to DEI efforts, moving forward requires embracing a broader vision of DEI: one that treats historically marginalized people not as participants to be “included,” but as active agents and co-creators of organizational purpose and structure.

This report can be read in its entirety or explored in sections based on your role or interest area in the sections outlined below. Additional details about our methodological approach, methods,  and qualitative results can be found in our Methodological Appendix.

1. Key Findings. Six insights from desk research and qualitative interviews conducted prior to January 2025.
2. Key Concepts and Contextualizing the Findings. Insights from scholarly literature to frame DEI in the movement context.
3. Recommendations for Organizations and Leaders. Practical guidance for aligning DEI with mission and identity.
4. Recommendations for Funders. Strategic considerations for supporting DEI in movement infrastructure.
5. Recommendations for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Advocates. Centering agency, authenticity, and co-creation beyond representation.

Finally, we understand that reports like this have a lot of information to consider and that acting on research can be challenging. Faunalytics is happy to offer pro bono support to advocates and nonprofit organizations who would like guidance on applying these findings to their own work. Please visit our virtual Office Hours or contact us for support.

Key Findings

Our six key findings draw on desk research and qualitative interviews conducted prior to January 2025. They are organized from movement-level observations to insights shared by BIPOC advocates about their roles, challenges, and perspectives within the movement.

1. DEI Commitments Are Often Absent from Core Missions. Out of 211 U.S. farmed animal protection organizations, only 20% include DEI or social justice in their mission statements and only 22% have formal DEI workplace policies. Qualitative data mirrors this pattern: Participants described the mainstream movement as siloed and often unwilling to integrate animal protection into broader justice frameworks. Despite this, 43% of organizations had a program dedicated to DEI or social justice, suggesting that organizations may be more likely to offer one-off initiatives than to make it a core aspect of their organization’s mission and identity. This finding also reflects the single-issue narrative of the mainstream movement described by our interview participants.

Key Takeaway: Organizations can update their missions and practices that go beyond one-off programs to reflect DEI or social justice values, attracting broader support and enhancing relevance in intersectional movements.

Figure 1. Percentage of U.S. Farmed Animal Advocacy Organizations Committed to Social Justice/DEI

2. Balancing Mission Focus and Inclusivity Remains Divisive. Leaders and advocates are split on whether animal protection should be treated as a standalone cause or one inherently linked to other social justice issues. Some feel a broadened approach is necessary to attract younger, more diverse staff and collaborators. Others worry about “mission drift.” Still, many agreed that shared goals, like food justice, could open the door to broader coalitions and faster progress.

Key Takeaway: Embracing shared goals, like food justice, can bridge divides, spark new partnerships, and appeal to younger, more diverse advocates.

3. Efforts Toward Inclusion Are Undermined by Structural Barriers. Many organizations struggle with inclusive hiring, particularly for leadership roles. At the movement level, financial precarity and funder resistance to DEI work hinder progress. Several participants reported that professionalizing too quickly or adopting corporate models can backfire, creating alienation rather than inclusion.

Key Takeaway: Addressing organization- and movement-level structures and processes (e.g., hiring practices, leadership access, and funding constraints) can create more inclusive and resilient organizations.

4. Motivations for Joining the Movement Are Diverse. While animal ethics is a key motivator, many BIPOC advocates cited health or cultural experiences as entry points into plant-based lifestyles. Some had “light bulb moments” when they recognized parallels between the treatment of marginalized humans and non-human animals. Embracing these varied motivations can help the movement grow more diverse and inclusive.

Key Takeaway: Recognizing varied motivations for involvement with the movement — from ethics to culture — can help the movement connect with a wider, more diverse base.

5. Exclusion Goes Beyond Demographic Identity Categories. While some participants described racial discrimination, many also felt excluded due to norms and values in the movement itself. For example, interview participants who were non-vegans or those who followed plant-based diets for non-animal reasons reported feeling judged or marginalized. Several BIPOC informants also critiqued the movement’s elitist and single-issue framing, which often ignores intersecting issues like food insecurity or worker rights.

Key Takeaway: Broadening movement norms beyond single-issue frames can foster inclusion and solidarity across diverse experiences.

6. DEI Efforts Are Often Perceived as Performative. Many BIPOC informants criticized current DEI initiatives as superficial and focused on symbolic gestures or increasing diversity at white-led organizations, rather than shifting power and resources. One informant noted that the ability to be authentic at work is often a privilege not extended to BIPOC staff.

Key Takeaway: Shifting from symbolic DEI to real power-sharing builds trust and drives lasting change.

These findings underscore the need for more than surface-level fixes. To make sense of the tensions surfaced in our research, the next section draws on key organizational theory frameworks — namely, organizational and social justice — to contextualize why some DEI strategies succeed, while others stall or reinforce exclusion. These concepts offer leaders a strategic lens for decision-making grounded in identity, power, and accountability.

Conclusions

This report offers no single blueprint for equity in farmed animal advocacy. Instead, it surfaces a set of interlocking insights and recommendations that can guide reflection and action at the organizational, movement, and individual levels. By centering identity, aligning strategy with values, and redistributing power, not just representation, organizations can move from symbolic inclusion to structural transformation.