Animal Welfare Fund: Payout recommendations from April to October 2024

By KarolinaSarek🔸, Neil_Dullaghan🔹 , Ula Zarosa, Zoë Sigle, Ren Ryba @ 2024-11-27T11:43 (+57)

Introduction

This payout report covers the Animal Welfare Fund's grantmaking from April 1 2024 to October 1 2024 (6 months). It follows the previous May 2022–March 2024 payout report.

As mentioned in the recently published 2024 review, the Animal Welfare Fund made a conscious decision to increase transparency and prioritize more frequent communications about our work. As part of those efforts, we've resumed regular publication of detailed payout reports after previously reducing our public reporting to focus fund manager capacity on grant evaluations. With additional support now in place, we've streamlined our reporting process to provide comprehensive information about our grants and their intended impact. Given that these are recent grants, outcomes data will not be included in the initial payout reports. We plan to share these reports quarterly to keep the community informed of our grantmaking activities.

Four of our grantees, who received a total of $196,618, requested that we do not include public reports for their grants (you can read our policy on public reporting here). 

Highlighted Grants

Highlighted grants correspond to grants that the AWF team rated highly, usually because they thought the grant was very likely to be very cost-effective or the potential upside was likely very high.

Youth for Animals and Veganism Africa ($26,592): Legal review and reform for enhanced protection of farmed animals in Uganda

In June 2024, the Animal Welfare Fund provided a $26,592 grant to Youth for Animals and Veganism Africa to support their comprehensive legal review and reform of the Animals (Prevention of Cruelty) Act of 1957, Uganda’s only legal protections for farmed animals. The review and reform will occur in three phases: a legal assessment to identify gaps in the existing legislation, stakeholder engagement to create collaborative advocacy coalition, and an international standards review to ensure proposed reforms align with international best practices. This project aims to expand the scope and increase the specificity of Uganda’s farmed animal protections to improve the welfare of over 130 million farmed animals, primarily focusing on fish and chickens, which constitute 67% and 17% of Uganda’s farmed animal population, respectively.

This project addresses a hugely neglected legislative area since Uganda’s farmed animal protections are outdated. Fund managers were impressed with their application and the trained lawyers and animal scientists working for the organization. The organization demonstrated a strong understanding of the policy process and was receptive to feedback to improve their high-level strategy. Moreover, because Uganda’s existing legal framework for farmed animal protections is being reviewed by the government, this project offers an especially time-sensitive and high-leverage opportunity and fills a gap in existing advocacy efforts.

Fórum Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Animal ($100,000): Project and staff expenses to work on corporate welfare washing in cage-free accountability in Brazil

In September 2024, the Animal Welfare Fund provided a grant of $100,000 to Fórum Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Animal to support accountability work for companies who already have committed to banning cages in their egg supply chains. The project aims to increase transparent reporting from 140 companies who are transitioning or have already transitioned to cage-free egg production. They will then launch a national campaign to publicize companies who are simply “humane washing,” but not actually fulfilling their commitments.

Fórum is a professional and experienced organization with a strong track record of engaging with companies throughout Brazil that have made cage-free commitments. They had strong outcomes using previous funding from the AWF and have increasingly improved their efforts to strongly pressure companies into reporting and improving their progress. The fund managers also believe that cage-free accountability efforts are an especially effective intervention because companies must be engaged frequently in order to fulfill their commitments. Additionally, Brazil has a high population of farmed animals (e.g., 255 million layer hens slaughtered in 2021 per FAOSTAT data) but is somewhat neglected in terms of funding. Fórum’s campaign involving these 140 companies would improve the welfare of 13 million hens.

Animal Friends Jogja (Perkumpulan Sahabat Satwa Jogja) ($10,000): A 12 month stipend and expenses for a staff member to continue government advocacy on cage-free / FA welfare legislative change

In August 2024, the Animal Welfare Fund recommended a grant of $10,000 to Animal Friends Jogja. The grant covers 12 months of funding for a staff member to advocate for cage-free legislation to end caged layer hen and duck farming in Indonesia. Animal Friends Jogja has been engaging stakeholders in local, regional, and national governments and aims to continue consistent meetings and focus group discussions to present recommendations for policy change. They will also advocate for local governments to support farmers transitioning to cage-free farming.

Animal Friends Jogja is one of the three leading organizations working on cage-free advocacy in Indonesia. They have an established track record of positive relations with government officials and contributed to successful regional bans on dog and cat meat trade. According to FAOSTAT data, as of 2017, Indonesia's poultry sector included approximately 205 million layer hens and 50 million ducks in intensive farming systems. Given these numbers, successful welfare reforms in Indonesia's could improve conditions for hundreds of millions of birds annually at a relatively low cost per animal affected. Moreover, the Indonesian government is currently planning policy priorities for the next twenty years, so this is a critical moment for impact organizations like Animal Friends Jogja to consult on cage-free transition efforts.

Other writings

The following articles or writeups published since the last payout report can provide a good overview of the Animal Welfare Fund, or otherwise be very helpful to donors and community members.

Other Grants We Made During This Time Period

Below is a list of about 30 other grants, totaling over $2.1 million, that the Animal Welfare Fund made during this period to support work on animal welfare in many countries.

GranteeAmountGrant PurposeAward Date
Global Food Partners, Inc$50,0001 year salary for Animal Scientist in cage-free content development, academic/industry engagement, and capacity-buildingApril 2024
Freedom and Respect for Every Earthling (F.R.E.E.)$74,00024-month project for corporate cage-free accountability & national ban on laying hens cage farmsApril 2024
Don Staniford$60,000Covert surveillance of salmon farmsApril 2024
Rethink Priorities$40,364A 3-day Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum (AASF) for movement leaders and key decision makersApril 2024
Uganda Vegan Society$20,000Promoting ethical treatment of hens through ‘Free the Hen’ cage-free initiative in UgandaMay 2024
Animal & Vegan Advocacy (AVA) International$50,000Organizing the largest in-person farm animal advocacy conference in South East Asia: Asia Farm Animal Day (AFAD) 2024May 2024
Anonymous$10,000Funding for a project that uses animal rights photography and videography to expose all animal crueltyMay 2024
Sneha's Care$20,000Inclusion of stakeholders in Animal Welfare Act, making Animal Welfare Act most inclusiveMay 2024
Pierce Manlangit$45,0001 year scientific talent & research fund outreach & engagement project to build alternative proteins in the PhilippinesMay 2024
Aquatic Life Institute$180,0001 year of operational funding to build capacity and strengthen the global impact of the Aquatic Animal Alliance, the leading global coalition harnessing the animal protection movement’s strengths to reduce the suffering of aquatic animalsMay 2024
Centre for Aquaculture Progress$30,000Funding to launch a farmed fish welfare charity to implement pre-slaughter electrical stunning in GreeceJune 2024
Rwanda Animal Welfare Organisation (RAWO)$42,074Promoting chicken welfare in Rwanda through a study of battery cages vs. cage-free systems for evidence-based awareness campaignJune 2024
Reporters for Animals International$100,000Support farmed animal welfare investigators and foster a more professional and resilient community by addressing their unique challengesJune 2024
Rethink Priorities$253,388Projects to identify likely impactful, tractable interventions for wild animals and begin implementationJune 2024
Sam Yan Press$50,500Funding to promote ethical living in Thailand through translated texts, seminars, documentaries, and a YouTube collaboration.June 2024
New Market ESG Benefit Company$19,250Funding for a publication and webinars (freely and publicly available) to educate farm welfare campaigners about engaging with financial institutionsJune 2024
Humánny pokrok$50,000Support to aid Humánny pokrok with fundraising to continue chicken and fish welfare work in Slovakia.July 2024
Africa Network for Animal Welfare$95,000Assess battery cage farming in N. & C. Africa, conduct outreach in E. & W. Africa, and host a conference in S. AfricaJuly 2024
Impactful Animal Advocacy (rebranded to "Hive" in May 2024)$100,000Funding to cultivate a more coordinated and strategic farmed animal advocacy movement.July 2024
NALSAR University of Law$12,5006-month stipend for animal law and policy research at NALSAR University of Law's Animal Law Centre, and support for international speaking opportunities/UN eventsJuly 2024
Wild Animal Initiative$216,667Funding would cover 24.8% of 2024 general operating expenses necessary to build an academic field of wild animal welfareJuly 2024
One Health and Development Initiative$50,000Scaling up Aquaculture Fish Welfare Training and Intervention among Fish Farmers in AfricaAugust 2024
Animal Welfare League$80,500Funds to facilitate a 4-day training program on best practices in cage-free production for various African animal welfare organizations.August 2024
Legal Impact for Chickens$85,000Strengthening Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC) to bring and win more lawsuits against factory-farm crueltyAugust 2024
Anonymous$4,980Funding for year 1 of a Yale undergraduate animal welfare club working to increasing awareness on farmed animal welfare amongst the Yale student populationAugust 2024
Utunzi Animal Welfare Organization$55,000Multi-thronged hen welfare project in Kenya, focusing on corporate cage-free outreach, veterinary student advocacy, social media/radio advocacy, and training animal welfare advocates.August 2024
Frente Animal (FA)$69,850Set up 1 non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare reforms in Portugal, mostly focused on chickens and fishAugust 2024
Animal Welfare Competence Center for Africa$83,000Government lobbying for and supporting implementation of policy to mitigate growth of industrial animal agriculture in UgandaAugust 2024
Convergence Animaux Politique$91,053Promote new advancements for farmed animal welfare and prevent regressive policies in France through advocacy over three yearsAugust 2024
Education for African Animals Welfare (EAAW)$66,930One year of funding to enhance corporate outreach and promotion of cage-free in TanzaniaAugust 2024

SummaryBot @ 2024-11-27T16:01 (+3)

Executive summary: The Animal Welfare Fund distributed $2.44M across 37 grants in 2024 (April-October), focusing on farmed animal welfare improvements through legal reforms, corporate accountability, and policy advocacy, with particular emphasis on projects in developing nations and neglected species like fish and laying hens.

Key points:

  1. The fund maintained a selective 31.1% acceptance rate (excluding desk rejections) and is increasing transparency through more frequent reporting, with $6.3M remaining available for additional grants as of November 2024.
  2. High-priority grants focused on legal reforms in Uganda ($26.5K), corporate accountability in Brazil ($100K), and cage-free advocacy in Indonesia ($10K), targeting regions with large animal populations but historically limited funding.
  3. The most frequently funded strategic areas were welfare campaigns, policy advocacy, and research, with egg-laying hens being the primary species focus, followed by multiple farmed animals, wild animals, and shrimp.
  4. Geographic diversity was emphasized, with significant funding directed to Global South countries where animal welfare improvements could affect millions of animals at relatively low cost per animal.
  5. Key uncertainties include outcome data (as grants are recent) and the success rate of policy/legal reform efforts in various jurisdictions, though the fund aims to mitigate risks through careful grantee selection and support.

 

 

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