Supporting Effective Animal Welfare Charities

With limited resources and many animal welfare organisations to choose from, understanding how to evaluate and support effective charities maximises the impact of charitable giving.

Key Facts

The most effective animal welfare charities are estimated to help 10-1000x more animals per dollar than average
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) provides evidence-based charity evaluations for donors
The highest-impact interventions typically target farm animals due to their vast numbers
Corporate campaigns to improve farm animal welfare are among the most cost-effective interventions known
Foundational research funding and policy advocacy can have leverage effects beyond direct welfare improvement

Welfare Considerations

Not all animal welfare donations have equal impact. A donation to a highly effective farm animal charity may help 100-1,000 times more animals than the same donation to a companion animal organisation, simply due to the difference in scale. Animal Charity Evaluators applies rigorous research methods to evaluate organisations on criteria including room for more funding, counterfactual impact, and cost-effectiveness. Engaging with effective altruism principles in animal welfare giving allows donors to have much greater positive impact with the same resources.

What You Can Do

Consult Animal Charity Evaluators before making animal welfare donations
Prioritise charities working on the highest-scale welfare problems including farm animals
Consider recurring donations to highly evaluated charities for sustained impact
Share evidence-based giving guidance with other animal welfare supporters
Engage with the effective altruism community's approach to animal welfare cause prioritisation