Priority deadline: October 15, 2026. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and we encourage earlier submission for time-sensitive work. Apply here.
Summary
The EA Animal Welfare Fund (AWF) is seeking proposals that accelerate the cage-free transition for laying hens at scale, especially in Asia, Latin America, and Africa (although we are open to applications from other regions, too). The majority of the world's laying hens are still confined in barren battery cages, and the fastest growth in egg production is in the Global South, where cage-free markets are least developed. Corporate cage-free commitments now cover a meaningful share of egg supply in many countries, but a commitment converts to animal impact only when three things are in place: accountability that holds companies to their word, supply-side capacity that makes cage-free eggs available to buy, and a local enabling environment of clear cage-free standards.
AWF funds the entire pipeline of cage-free transitions—from corporate commitments, to accountability campaigns, to producer technical support, to supply chain innovation, to mandatory labelling policy, to cage egg policy bans. In 2026, we plan to deploy $15M+ towards a cage-free future for laying hens.
This request for proposals is an open application. After reviewing the RFP, apply here.
What we are funding
Cage-free technical implementation, Global South
The binding constraint on many Global South commitments is supply: companies cannot buy cage-free eggs that do not yet exist at commercial scale. AWF aims to fund supply-side conversion work:
- Producer engagement: cage-free technical training for producers, cage-free directories that route buyers to compliant farms.
- Successful applications will be focused on scale converting major commercial farms, rather than smallholder farms, to cage-free.
- Proposed metric: Verifiable number of hens farmed by producers who commit to maintaining cage-free systems (in countries susceptible to switching to cages) or make the switch to cage-free systems and have cage-free purchasing contracts in place to maintain this commitment.
- Supply-chain support: procurement support connecting committed companies with compliant producers, book-and-claim credit schemes.
- This might include supply chain consultants actively advising major food-purchasing clients (i.e., major CPG, foodservice, or retail companies).
- Proposed metric: Verifiable number of hens estimated to be impacted by progress or fulfillment of cage-free commitments.
- Certification and labelling standards: development of or advocacy for cage-free standards and/or mandatory method of production labelling at the national level. Formalize "cage-free" standards and implementing on farm verification so companies can confidently source and report on cage-free progress.
- Proposed metric: Whether or not the target country has cage-free labelling standards or mandatory labelling codified into regulations.
Cage-free corporate campaigns and accountability, Global South
AWF aims to fund corporate campaigns and accountability work for organizations ready to scale beyond early-stage grants. This includes:
- Securing new corporate cage-free commitments: with a focus on major retailers or other food purchasers with a strong rationale for why.
- This is more relevant for organizations in countries with fewer cage-free commitments, while still having a realistic path to implementation via producer and supply chain engagement mechanisms within the formal market.
- Proposed metrics: Number of hens estimated to be impacted by new cage-free commitments; number of new major influential commitments.
- Holding companies accountable: to their existing cage-free commitments.
- This is most relevant in countries with a large number of corporate commitments either overdue or due in the next 2-3 years.
- Proposed metrics: Verifiable number of hens estimated to be impacted by progress or fulfillment of cage-free commitments.
For organizations starting corporate cage-free commitments and accountability work, we encourage looking into the Open Wing Alliance for training and early-stage grants, rather than applying for a grant through this RFP.
However, current Open Wing Alliance grantees are eligible for grants through this RFP if their funding gap exceeds the grant sizes offered by the Open Wing Alliance and/or if they seek funding for activities supporting cage-free transitions that fall outside the Open Wing Alliance’s grantmaking scope (i.e., cage-free technical implementation).
Cage-free legislation and accountability, EU
The European Commission has committed to publishing a proposal by the end of 2026 to revise EU animal welfare legislation and phase out cages for laying hens. We are focused on lobbying for the strongest possible proposal from the Commission, and on building support for it in the European Parliament and Council of the EU, including equivalent requirements for imported egg products. We expect this work to continue through 2027 as the legislation is negotiated.
Proposed metrics:
- Across all grantees: By the end of 2026, a Commission proposal that phases out cages for laying hens with the shortest possible transition period, no open-ended exemptions, coverage for imported products, and finance to support farmers through the transition.
- By grantee: Number of MEPs publicly on record supporting the proposal, and number of member states voicing support in Council working party or AGRIFISH.
Because of the very active policy window in the EU, we encourage applications ASAP and will review on a rolling basis.
Lower priority interventions
While we prioritize the three cage-free strategies above, we will also consider applications for other cage-free interventions when an organization has an exceptional plan and track record, such as:
- Cage-free public policy outside the EU (e.g., cage-free transition subsidies, legislative cage bans)
- Cage-free corporate campaigns and accountability in the Global North
Grant sizes and duration
We are flexible on size and open to multi-year requests.
We expect grants will range from $100k to $5M+, with most in the $250k-$2M range. We are actively looking to make larger, more ambitious grants, and we welcome proposals at $1M+ where the scaling case is exceptionally strong. Larger grants and multi-year requests are typically reserved for existing, known (to AWF, AWF’s grantees, or an aligned, peer funder) organizations with infrastructure prepared to effectively absorb multi-million dollar grants for scaled impact.
These figures are indicative, not caps. Tell us what the work needs.
What we will not fund
- Early-stage cage-free campaign groups (i.e., less than one year of experience conducting cage-free campaigns). We leave these to the Open Wing Alliance to vet, train, and fund.
- Consumer awareness work dissociated from a specific corporate or legislative ask.
- Directly paying producers for barn transitions.
How we evaluate
We assess proposals on the strength of the theory of change; the counterfactual scale of impact (we want grantees thinking seriously about how to reach a million or more hens in their markets); cost-effectiveness against our grantmaking benchmark; the strength of the team and their plan; the quality of monitoring and evaluation; room for more funding and absorption capacity; and complementarity with other funders.
Eligibility
Organizations and fiscally sponsored projects working on laying hen welfare with a clear plan to scale to at least one million laying hens spared from cages. We fund across the ecosystem — established NGOs, technical partners, certifiers, and newer groups with a credible plan — with the exception noted above for early-stage campaign groups, which we direct to the Open Wing Alliance.
Existing AWF grantees are eligible for a top up grant if they can demonstrate capacity to scale their plans within their current grant period. Get in touch with your fund contact if you are interested in a top up grant.
How and when to apply
Apply here. In your application, please note that you are applying in reference to the Cage-free RFP.
Priority deadline: October 15, 2026. We review applications on a rolling basis and encourage earlier submission for time-sensitive work.
Questions: [email protected]
- If you would like to first discuss your proposal prior to submission, including its scope and scale, please book a 15-minute call during our office hours. We have two booking calendars to accommodate a range of timezones:
- Due to the quantity of applications we receive, we sadly cannot offer feedback on rejected applications.
- We expect to share additional RFPs on other strategic priorities in the coming months. More about EA AWF's push for scaling here.
We look forward to reading your proposal!
