Impact assessment frameworks help prioritize animal welfare interventions by comparing the scale, intensity, and probability of welfare improvements across different approaches and species.
Effective animal welfare advocacy requires prioritization among thousands of possible interventions across billions of animals. Impact assessment frameworks provide structured ways to compare interventions that differ in species, scale, intensity, and cost. These frameworks reveal that interventions targeting the most numerous animals (farmed chickens, farmed fish) in systems with the most severe welfare deficits (factory farming) have the highest potential for aggregate welfare improvement per unit of effort. This evidence base guides effective altruism donors and advocates toward high-leverage interventions.