Every year, Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) spends several months evaluating animal advocacy organizations to identify those that work effectively and are able to do the most good with additional donations. Our goal is to help people help animals by providing donors with impactful giving opportunities that can reduce animal suffering to the greatest extent possible. We are excited to announce that this year, we have selected six recommended charities.
In previous years, we have categorized our recommended charities into two separate tiers: Top and Standout. This year, we have decided to move to only one tier: Recommended Charities. Having just one tier more fairly represents charities and better supports a pluralistic, resilient, and impactful animal advocacy movement. We expect it will also increase our ability to raise funds for the most important work being done to reduce animal suffering. Additionally, this shift will allow us to make better-informed grants to each charity and reduce time spent on administrative tasks.
In 2023, we conducted comprehensive evaluations of 14 animal advocacy organizations that are doing promising work. We are grateful to all the charities that participated in this year’s charity evaluations. While we can only recommend a handful of charities each year, we believe that all the charities we evaluate are among the most effective in the animal advocacy movement. However, per our evaluation criteria, we estimate that additional funds would have marginally more impact going to our Recommended Charities, making them exceptional giving opportunities.
Faunalytics, The Humane League, and Wild Animal Initiative have all retained their status as Recommended Charities after being re-evaluated this year. Newly evaluated charities that join their ranks are Legal Impact for Chickens, New Roots Institute, and Shrimp Welfare Project.
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The Good Food Institute, Fish Welfare Initiative, Dansk Vegetarisk Forening, Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği and Sinergia Animal have all retained their recommended charity status from 2022.
Below, you will find a brief overview of each of ACE’s Recommended Charities. For more details, please check out our comprehensive charity reviews.
Recommended in 2023
Faunalytics is a U.S.-based organization that connects animal advocates with information relevant to advocacy. Their work mainly involves conducting and publishing independent research, working directly with partner organizations on various research projects, and promoting existing research and data for animal advocates through their website’s content library. Faunalytics has been a Recommended Charity since December 2015. To learn more, read our 2023 comprehensive review of Faunalytics.
Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC) works to make factory-farm cruelty a liability in the United States. LIC files strategic lawsuits for chickens and other farmed animals, develops and refines creative methods to civilly enforce existing cruelty laws in factory farms, and sues companies that break animal welfare commitments. LIC’s first lawsuit, the shareholder derivative case against Costco’s executives for chicken neglect, was featured on TikTok and in multiple media outlets, including CNN Business, Fox Business, The Washington Post, and Meatingplace (an industry magazine for meat and poultry producers). This is the first year that Legal Impact for Chickens has become a Recommended Charity. To learn more, read our 2023 comprehensive review of Legal Impact for Chickens.
New Roots Institute (formerly known as Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, or FFAC) is a U.S.-based organization that works to empower the next generation to end factory farming. Their educational outreach program in classrooms throughout the U.S. is designed to inspire critical thinking and spark dynamic discussions about the connections between industrial animal agriculture and important issues like animal welfare, climate change, environmental sustainability, human rights, and personal and public health. Through the organization’s Leadership Program, students interested in a deeper exploration of factory farming’s impacts and solutions can participate in a yearlong fellowship, where they receive training in communication, organizing, and other critical leadership skills. FFAC received Movement Grants from ACE in 2019 and 2020. This is the first year that New Roots Institute has become a Recommended Charity. To learn more, read our 2023 comprehensive review of New Roots Institute.
Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) is the first organization to focus exclusively on improving farmed shrimp welfare. Their efforts include corporate and producer outreach and raising awareness about the welfare of farmed shrimps. The organization collaborates with stakeholders across the supply chain, including retailers and medium-to-large producers of shrimp, to improve welfare standards. SWP also runs the Sustainable Shrimp Farmers of India, which takes a farmer-centric approach to improving welfare standards on farms in the country. SWP conducts and disseminates relevant research and participates in effective altruism, animal welfare, and shrimp farming industry conferences to increase the visibility of shrimp welfare as a neglected and tractable issue. Shrimp Welfare Project received a Movement Grant from ACE in 2022. This is the first year that Shrimp Welfare Project has become a Recommended Charity. To learn more, read our comprehensive review of Shrimp Welfare Project.
The Humane League (THL) operates in the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., and Japan, where they work to help farmed animals through advocacy and corporate outreach to improve farmed animal welfare standards. THL supports the growth of the global animal advocacy movement via the Open Wing Alliance (OWA), a coalition whose mission is to end the use of battery cages worldwide. THL has been a Recommended Charity since August 2012, when we used a different evaluation process and did not publish reviews. In 2014, THL was recommended in our first official round of ACE charity evaluations and has been renewed as a Recommended Charity ever since. To learn more, read our 2023 comprehensive review of The Humane League.
Wild Animal Initiative is a U.S.-based organization working to improve our understanding of wild animals’ lives by advancing the field of wild animal welfare science. By conducting their own research and supporting other wild animal researchers, Wild Animal Initiative aims to increase academic interest in wild animal welfare and identify evidence-based solutions to improving wild animals’ wellbeing. Wild Animal Initiative has been a Recommended Charity since 2020. To learn more, read our 2023 comprehensive review of Wild Animal Initiative.
Recommended in 2022
Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği (CHKD), also known as Kafessiz Türkiye or Open Cages Türkiye, is a Turkey-based organization that is primarily dedicated to improving farmed animal welfare standards—in particular, farmed chickens and fishes. They achieve this through corporate outreach, individual outreach, and media outreach. They also engage in research, education, and capacity-building initiatives to strengthen the animal advocacy movement. CHKD received a Movement Grant from ACE in 2021, and they became a Recommended Charity in 2022. To learn more, read our 2022 comprehensive review of Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği.
Dansk Vegetarisk Forening (DVF) is a Denmark-based organization dedicated to increasing the availability of animal-free products, strengthening the animal advocacy movement, and reducing the consumption of animal products. DVF specifically engages in policy work on agricultural reform and the right to access plant-based food, as well as corporate and institutional outreach to food companies to make plant-based options more available. They also conduct research, run a product-labeling strategy, offer an educational program for children and youth, and lead a public outreach program promoting plant-based nutrition. DVF received Movement Grants from ACE in 2020 and 2022, and they became a Recommended Charity in 2022. To learn more, read our 2022 comprehensive review of Dansk Vegetarisk Forening.
Fish Welfare Initiative (FWI) is one of few organizations to work exclusively on improving the welfare standards of farmed fishes. The majority of their work takes place in India, but they also work in China and the Philippines. They run the Alliance for Responsible Aquaculture (ARA), which sets standards to improve fish welfare. FWI also engages in corporate outreach to improve fish welfare across the supply chain and conducts field research that informs standard-setting for welfare improvements. FWI became a Recommended Charity in 2022. To learn more, read our 2022 comprehensive review of Fish Welfare Initiative.
The Good Food Institute (GFI) currently operates in the U.S., Brazil, India, Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and Israel, where they work to increase the availability of animal-free products through supporting the development and marketing of plant-based and cell-cultured alternatives to animal products. They achieve this through corporate engagement, institutional outreach, and policy work. They also work to strengthen the capacity of the animal advocacy movement through supporting research and start-ups focused on alternative proteins. GFI was a Recommended Charity from November 2016 to November 2021. To learn more, read our 2022 comprehensive review of the Good Food Institute.
Sinergia Animal operates in Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. They work to improve farmed animal welfare standards, increase the availability of animal-free products, decrease the consumption of animal products, and strengthen the animal advocacy movement. Sinergia Animal engages in corporate outreach to secure animal welfare commitments from major retailers. They also engage in investor and media outreach, policy work, investigations, individual and producer outreach, institutional outreach, and research. Sinergia Animal has been a Recommended Charity since November 2018. To learn more, read our 2022 comprehensive review of Sinergia Animal.
SUPPORT OUR RECOMMENDED CHARITIES
Each of these charities and the animals they help urgently need your support. Please consider making a gift to our Recommended Charity Fund. Your single donation will support all of ACE’s effective Recommended Charities and their efforts to reduce animal suffering around the globe. ACE disburses this fund to our Recommended Charities twice per year, according to the distribution that our Programs team determines to be most impactful at that time. Starting today, there is a special opportunity to have your donation to the Recommended Charity Fund matched! Click here to learn more about this limited giving incentive.
FINAL THOUGHTS
ACE’s goal is to offer clear recommendations of specific charities that would have the greatest impact with additional funds, and to foster a culture of evaluation and critical assessment of programs and organizations in the movement. We strive to provide informative reviews that charities can use to assess their impact in order to help more animals. We hope that you will support our work to help people help animals.
Executive summary: Animal Charity Evaluators announces six Recommended Charities to donate to in order to reduce animal suffering most effectively.
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