Announcing our 2026 Charity Recommendations

This was cross-posted from the Animal Charity Evaluators blog.

We update our list of recommendations annually. This year, we announced our recommendations on November 10.

Most people who care about animals arrive at the same impasse: the problem is enormous, there are thousands of animal advocacy organizations working on it, and there’s no obvious way to tell which of them are effective at turning donations into real-world change that helps animals at scale. 

That’s where Animal Charity Evaluators comes in. We spend months evaluating a small cohort of the most promising animal charities so you don’t have to. We examine their programs, evidence, finances, organizational health, and what they’d do with more funding. After this year’s comprehensive evaluations, we’re delighted to announce our Recommended Charities for 2026.

Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği (in Türkiye) and Sinergia Animal (in Latin America and Southeast Asia) have continued to demonstrate impactful strategic prioritization and effective methods in their work on the most important issues for animals. After being thoroughly re-evaluated this year, their recommendation status has been renewed. And this year, a newly evaluated charity joins their ranks: U.S.-based Greener by Default.

Many worthy charities applied to be evaluated this year, and we’re grateful to them for the incredible work they’re doing for animals who need help. We believe the six we selected for in-depth evaluation ^[1] are doing some of the most meaningful work to reduce the suffering of farmed and wild animals, and it was a pleasure to get to know their programs in such detail.

If you’d like to support our Recommended Charities, we invite you to give to our Greatest Needs Fund. The fund lets us stay responsive to animals’ needs in a rapidly and radically changing world, so we can act on things that are hard to anticipate, like a Recommended Charity facing an unexpected funding gap or a time-sensitive opportunity we’d otherwise have to pass up. Your gift today is what makes that responsiveness possible.

Thanks to a generous legacy donor, we’ll launch a Matching Challenge for our Greatest Needs Fund to increase the impact of your donations starting 14th November.
 

Charities Recommended in 2026

Three charities were newly evaluated this year; five carry forward their recommendation status from 2025, having met our rigorous evaluation criteria.

Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği

Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği (ÇHKD) is working to improve the lives of the more than 110 million egg-laying hens and 1.8 billion farmed fishes (around 600,000 tonnes) that are suffering at any given time in Türkiye’s food production systems. They are the country's only farmed animal advocacy organization, running corporate cage-free campaigns through Kafessiz Türkiye (Türkiye Without Cages) alongside a newer program building the welfare science base for farmed fishes. They aim to make Türkiye a country where corporate welfare standards are expected rather than exceptional.

ÇHKD’s recent achievements include:

• Securing 11 new cage-free commitments in 2024 and 2025, covering approximately 78,000 hens a year, including Big Chefs and Mado
• Bringing five earlier commitments to full implementation, including Caffè Nero and Starbucks
• Working with Migros, one of Türkiye's largest retailers, to accelerate its transition to cage-free eggs
• Launching Future for Fish, a regranting program funding primary welfare research on seabass, seabream, and rainbow trout

With your support, ÇHKD can expand the Future for Fish program beyond its first pilot round, encourage the development of a Turkish egg certification scheme, and sustain the accountability work needed to hold companies to cage-free commitments already secured.

Greener by Default

Greener by Default (GBD) works in North America and Europe to reduce the number of animals raised and killed for food by changing how institutions serve meals. Institutional kitchens serve billions of meals a year, and the choices made in those kitchens shape what millions of people eat. Rather than asking individuals to change their habits, GBD works with hospitals, universities, corporate dining programs, stadiums, and city governments to make plant-based options the default on menus, with meat available on request. 

Their approach is grounded in behavioral science, and because a single institutional contract can shift millions of meals, GBD's model reaches a scale that individual outreach cannot. The changes tend to persist because they’re built into procurement and menu design rather than depending on continued persuasion.

GBD’s recent achievements include:

• Advising Sodexo Healthcare on the rollout of plant-based defaults and other menu nudges for one meal per day across roughly 400 U.S. hospitals
• Shifting plant-to-animal ratios at one food station in each of three dining halls at a major East Coast university, with no increase in any animal-product category
• Launching a centralized client portal they anticipate will reduce staff time per institution by 30% to 50%, and an international train-the-trainer program

With your support, GBD will be able to hire two healthcare managers to expand their coverage across U.S. regions and open up the senior living sector, an area which no other organization currently works in. They will also grow their train-the-trainer program, which they expect to equip at least 10 organizations by 2028, reaching institutions that serve over 9 million meals a year. Support will also help them add capacity to work with individual hospitals they currently turn down.

Sinergia Animal

Sinergia Animal works across Latin America and Southeast Asia to reduce the suffering of farmed animals in countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Peru, and Thailand — countries where farmed animals have few advocacy organizations working on their behalf. Sinergia drives meaningful welfare improvements through corporate outreach, institutional meat reduction, and programs for pigs’ welfare. Their campaigns are both locally tailored and globally strategic. With a strong track record and impressive plans for the future, Sinergia is well positioned to create lasting change for farmed animals worldwide.

Sinergia’s recent achievements include:

• Securing 51 new cage-free commitments between January 2024 and June 2026, covering roughly 1.7 million hens a year, including Arcor, one of Latin America's largest food manufacturers
• Pressuring 36 companies on existing commitments, with five reporting a completed transition and seven reporting significant progress
• Extending accountability work to multinational targets, and engaging companies including Carrefour, Unilever, and Marriott

With your support, Sinergia Animal will be able to hire five new accountability campaigners in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia, and Thailand, and senior campaign strategists to support national teams. They’ll also be able to run more pressure campaigns and develop a staff retention and succession plan.

Charities Recommended in 2025

Animal Welfare Observatory

Animal Welfare Observatory (AWO) works to improve the welfare of farmed animals through corporate campaigns, investigations, and legislative advocacy. Based in Spain, one of the EU’s largest producers of farmed animals and a strategically important yet neglected country for animal protection, AWO focuses on improving conditions for egg-laying hens, chickens raised for meat, and farmed aquatic animals, including fishes and shrimp. The organization works with companies and policymakers in Spain and at the EU level to advance stronger welfare standards and lasting institutional changes toward ending factory farming.

AWO’s recent achievements include:

• Pushing three Spanish retailers to complete their cage-free fresh egg commitments through a corporate accountability campaign, affecting around 1.2 million laying hens
• Bringing the overlooked suffering of farmed shrimp into mainstream debate with an international campaign challenging the shrimp industry in Spain (the EU’s largest shrimp importer)
• Joining the European Commission’s Aquaculture Advisory Council, giving AWO a formal channel to influence EU aquaculture policy discussions, and launching an open letter calling for stronger EU legislation on farmed fish welfare

With your support, AWO will hold Spain’s largest retailers accountable for fulfilling their cage-free commitments, push chicken producers to adopt European Chicken Commitment standards, and secure corporate commitments to end eyestalk ablation and introduce effective stunning for shrimp. Additional funding will also support advocacy during the upcoming revision of EU animal welfare legislation, particularly to advance an EU-wide ban on cages and stronger legal protections for farmed fishes.

Shrimp Welfare Project

Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) is the first organization dedicated exclusively to improving the welfare of farmed shrimp. They secure commitments for electrical stunning, which minimizes suffering during slaughter, through two key approaches: supporting retailers’ shrimp welfare policies and providing producers with stunning equipment, ongoing technical support, and supply chain consulting. SWP also works to improve water quality on shrimp farms and researches shrimp welfare. In recent years, shrimp welfare advocacy has gained more traction and found opportunities to make meaningful change. SWP’s long-term goal is to transform industry standards toward higher welfare.

SWP’s recent achievements include:

• Signing their 37th memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide stunners to shrimp producers across nine countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, which is expected to help about 6.5 billion shrimp per year once all are delivered and operational
• Celebrating 18 retailers’ shrimp welfare policies, including every major U.K. supermarket chain, plus global commitments from ALDI Nord and ALDI Süd
• Partnering with Dutch retailer Albert Heijn, seafood supplier Klaas Puul, and Venezuelan producer Confremarca on a first-of-its-kind validation process to monitor electrical stunning in their supply chains, setting a new standard for industry traceability

With your support, SWP will be able to continue deploying stunners to accelerate industry-wide change, catalyze cheaper and fit-for-purpose models of electrical stunners, and bring in third-party verification for electrical stunning to improve implementation.

Sociedade Vegetariana Brasileira

Sociedade Vegetariana Brasileira (SVB) is a nonprofit organization working to transform Brazil’s food systems by making plant-based eating more accessible, affordable, and widely adopted. SVB combines government relations, public policy advocacy, and grassroots mobilization to drive systemic change. Through engagement with policymakers, public institutions, and other stakeholders, they work to integrate plant-based nutrition into public policies and institutional food systems while building the political and social support needed to sustain these changes. By combining technical assistance, professional training, and policy engagement, SVB helps translate policy opportunities into practical improvements in food provision at scale.

SVB’s recent achievements include:

• Being on track to reach an estimated 34 million plant-based meals in 2026 across public schools, hospitals, community kitchens, and universities.
• Shaping school food policy by advancing discussions on dietary diversity, nutritional adequacy, and heme iron requirements in Brazil’s National School Feeding Program (PNAE)
• Being the only civil society organization invited to participate in the National Fund for Education Development’s regional listening process on sustainable school menus

With your support, SVB can build on this momentum by strengthening their work in government relations and public policy advocacy, expanding their campaigns and capacity-building efforts, and broadening their nutrition education initiatives through courses and lectures at universities. The funding will also support SVB’s participation in health-related and international climate events, as well as their strategic engagement in fiscal policy through the hiring of a specialized consultant.

The Humane League

The Humane League (THL) drives corporate and legislative change for farmed animals worldwide. Billions of chickens raised for eggs and meat suffer in intensive farming systems designed to maximize output at the expense of welfare. THL accelerates the adoption of cage-free and other welfare commitments, backed by their international Open Wing Alliance (OWA) network. Their tactics include direct company engagement and public pressure campaigns. They also establish lasting welfare reforms through their Animal Policy Alliance and direct political outreach.

THL’s recent achievements include:

• Securing 234 new corporate commitments for chickens by Open Wing Alliance members in 2025, with more than 60 of those commitments established in Africa
• Holding 131 companies accountable in 2025, and sparing 7.5 million hens from cages around the globe
• Providing over $2 million in funding in 2025 to 36 Open Wing Alliance member groups across 30 countries and six continents

With your support, THL will be able to provide training and funding for Open Wing Alliance members around the world, expand their cage-free accountability work, drive forward progress in Asia, and support policy alignment to convert corporate norms into durable legislation.

Wild Animal Initiative

Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) is a U.S.-based organization working to improve our understanding of wild animals’ lives by advancing the field of wild animal welfare science. The vast majority of animals live in the wild, many of whom live very short lives and experience painful deaths. Yet we know very little about most wild animals’ quality of life or how to improve it. WAI conducts their own research and supports other wild animal researchers to expand academic interest in wild animal welfare. Together, these efforts help uncover evidence-based solutions to improve the wellbeing of wild animals.

WAI’s recent achievements include:

• Awarding 96 wild animal welfare research grants, totaling nearly $6 million in funding for the field
• Publishing 15 papers about wild animal welfare in peer-reviewed scientific journals
• Co-organizing the 2025 meeting of the UK’s Animal Welfare Research Network, one of the world’s premier animal welfare science conferences, resulting in approximately one-third of the conference focusing on wild animal welfare

With your support, WAI will be able to ensure their grants, research, and services programs remain high-impact. They will also be able to pursue new milestones for the field, such as an interdisciplinary conference dedicated to wild animal welfare science and the launch of formal wild animal welfare science programs at major universities.

1. ^{^}

    While Aquatic Life Institute was listed in our blog post announcing the charities being evaluated in 2026, we did not complete their evaluation due to concerns about governance. Taking these issues seriously, ALI is now in the midst of incorporating changes that will reflect their growing professional needs and resources as an organization.
   
   Note 
   Edits made: link to Recommended Charities page added, mention this was cross-posted and added a linked footnote.