Open Philanthropy
Major grantmaker funding corporate campaigns, research, and institutional capacity. The largest single source of animal welfare philanthropy globally.
Economics for compassion
Maximizing wellbeing per dollar is the core question.
Welfare economics asks how to allocate scarce resources to maximize wellbeing. Applied to animals, it becomes a practical question: which interventions help the most animals, the most, for the least money? This approach has shifted animal advocacy toward measurable outcomes, transparent tradeoffs, and evidence-based philanthropy.
$0.01–$0.10
Cost per animal helped in top corporate campaigns
$200M+
Open Philanthropy animal welfare grants since 2015
70B+
Land animals killed each year (scale of impact)
Links: Impact calculator · Giving guide
What Is Welfare Economics?
Welfare economics evaluates how to maximize wellbeing given limited resources. For animal advocacy, it asks: which interventions produce the most wellbeing per dollar, and how certain are those outcomes?
Core idea: maximize wellbeing per dollar
Rather than funding whatever feels most urgent, welfare economics evaluates outcomes, cost, and scale. The goal is to make tradeoffs explicit, not hidden.
Key figures
Peter Singer argues the utilitarian calculus extends to all sentient beings. Nick Beckstead popularized effective altruism’s focus on measurable impact. Dustin Moskovitz funded large-scale animal welfare research and grants through Open Philanthropy.
Cost-Effectiveness in Animal Advocacy
Estimated cost per animal helped across common interventions (Animal Charity Evaluators estimates).
| Intervention | Est. cost per animal helped |
|---|---|
| Corporate cage-free campaigns | $0.01 - $0.10 |
| Leafletting / online ads | $0.50 - $2.00 |
| Individual vegan outreach | $30 - $200 |
| Direct rescue / sanctuaries | $200 - $2,000 |
Use the impact calculator to compare personal actions and donations.
Open Philanthropy & Major Funders
Open Philanthropy has granted over $200M to animal welfare since 2015, accelerating a field that previously relied on small donations. The effective altruism movement has directed hundreds of millions toward farmed animal welfare.
Top recipients
The Humane League ($50M+), Animal Equality, Mercy For Animals, Good Food Institute ($70M+ for alt proteins), Wild Animal Initiative.
Movement-level funding
EA-aligned funds and donor circles have pushed the field from localized rescue toward global systems change.
The Neglectedness-Tractability-Scale Framework
Animal welfare scores unusually high on all three dimensions.
70B+
Scale: land animals killed each year
$3B vs $500B
Neglectedness: animal welfare vs human health aid
1–3 years
Tractability: corporate wins in short cycles
DALYs, WALYs, and Measuring Animal Suffering
Human health uses DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years). For animals, researchers propose WALYs (Welfare-Adjusted Life Years).
WALYs: a parallel to DALYs
WALYs estimate how much suffering or wellbeing is altered by interventions. They allow apples-to-apples comparison across programs.
Key challenges
Weighting suffering intensity across species, uncertainty about moral patienthood, and lack of direct welfare metrics in many systems.
Welfare Range estimates
Rethink Priorities suggests relative weights (e.g., chicken ≈ 0.3 of human moral weight on some metrics, shrimp ≈ 0.04).
Institutional Funding Landscape
Global animal welfare philanthropy is roughly $500M/year (2024 estimate), highly concentrated among a few funders.
Described funding split (not a chart)
- Open Philanthropy ~60%
- Wellspring Philanthropic Fund ~15%
- Private donors ~15%
- Government grants ~5%
- Other foundations ~5%
Why Animals Are Underfunded
A structural funding gap persists despite massive scale.
Political invisibility
Animals cannot vote or lobby; advocacy is underpowered compared to industry lobbying ($100M+/year against welfare legislation).
Cognitive biases
Identifiable victim bias favors visible individuals over statistical animals. Cultural norms further normalize factory farming.
Massive subsidy mismatch
Animal welfare philanthropy is ~$500M/year, while US livestock subsidies are roughly $38B/year. See subsidies.
The Economic Cost of Factory Farming
Large externalities are offloaded to the public and future generations.
$55B/year
Projected antibiotic resistance costs (see antibiotics)
$12T
COVID-19 global cost (pandemic risk)
$1.7T/year
Environmental damage (global estimate)
If externalities were priced in, the true cost of a hamburger could be $30–35, effectively subsidized by taxpayers. Learn more about systemic costs in subsidies and antibiotic resistance.
Call to Action
Give where it matters
Target the most cost-effective organizations through the giving guide to maximize impact per dollar.
Act beyond donations
See the highest-impact advocacy moves in Take Action and Advocacy Effective Advocacy Compassion Fatigue.
Estimate your impact
Use the impact calculator to compare diet changes, campaigns, and giving.
“If we are to act on our highest moral principles, we should give to the organizations that will do the most good per dollar.” — Peter Singer