Not all animal welfare charities are equally effective. Understanding how to evaluate and compare charities helps donors maximize the welfare impact of their giving.
Charity effectiveness matters enormously for animal welfare impact. Giving to a less effective charity rather than a more effective one can mean many fewer animals helped per dollar donated. Animal Charity Evaluators' methodology evaluates charities on their scale of impact, tractability of their interventions, evidence quality, and organizational capacity. Farmed animal welfare charities typically receive ACE's highest ratings because they reach the most animals per dollar given the enormous scale of factory farming. This does not mean companion animal charities are unimportant - but donors who want to maximize aggregate welfare impact should understand the differences in reach.