Welfare Science

Animal Welfare Impact Assessment: Evaluating Systemic Change

Welfare impact assessment methodologies enable comparison of welfare interventions across species and scales, helping advocates and funders prioritise the most effective actions.

Key Facts

Animal Charity Evaluators uses welfare points and scale estimates to compare interventions
The number of animals affected, duration of welfare improvement and intensity of welfare change determine impact
Farmed animal interventions typically affect larger numbers than companion or wildlife interventions
Corporate welfare commitments (cage-free pledges) have high impact per dollar of advocacy spent
Wild animal welfare interventions face measurement challenges due to inaccessible populations

Welfare Considerations

Welfare impact assessment provides a rigorous framework for prioritising advocacy and funding where it will have the greatest effect. The most impactful interventions typically combine high numbers of animals affected with meaningful improvements in welfare intensity. This framework suggests that improving conditions for the most numerically abundant animals - particularly farmed animals - offers the highest welfare return on advocacy investment.

What You Can Do

Learn about welfare impact assessment methodologies from Animal Charity Evaluators
Use welfare impact frameworks when deciding where to donate to animal welfare causes
Support organisations that demonstrate high impact per dollar through transparent evaluation
Engage with the growing field of welfare economics as applied to animal welfare