Effective altruist approaches to animal welfare giving use evidence and analysis to identify where charitable donations can do the most good for animals.
Effective giving for animal welfare requires confronting the uncomfortable mathematics of scale. While companion animal welfare is emotionally salient and charity in this area is widespread, the number of animals affected is far smaller than the farmed and wild animal populations experiencing suffering at enormously greater scale. Effective giving analysis suggests that donations to highly effective farm animal welfare organisations - those influencing industry practices, regulations, and consumer behaviour at scale - can help many more animals per dollar than donations to local rescue organisations. This does not mean local charities are unimportant, but it does suggest that thoughtful allocation of charitable resources can dramatically increase impact.