Animal Welfare Resources

A personally curated directory of organizations and resources in the animal welfare space. Coverage spans the scale and severity of the problem, paths to individual and institutional impact, direct-action and research organizations, giving platforms, career development, and learning resources including newsletters, books, podcasts, and academic journals. Most organizations listed emphasize evidence-based approaches and measurable outcomes.

Caveats: This is a subset of what I’ve encountered, not comprehensive research. I’ve likely missed excellent organizations, don’t know everything about those listed, and am not affiliated with or vouching for any. Information is current as of January 2026; organizations evolve, so visit their websites directly. Use this as a starting point, not as definitive recommendations.

Why this Matters

Understand the Problem

Every year, humans kill more animals for food, clothing, and entertainment than the total number of humans who have ever existed, most in conditions of extreme confinement and suffering.

An estimated 99% of US farmed animals live on factory farms. In food production, approximately 9 billion chickens, 128 million pigs, and 36 million cattle are killed yearly in the US alone, with an estimated 1–2 trillion wild fish caught from oceans and over 100 billion farmed in aquaculture annually. The dairy industry involves repeated artificial insemination and distressful separation of calves from their mothers. Meanwhile, 7 billion male chicks are killed annually worldwide in egg production. Beyond food, animals suffer in entertainment (zoos, marine parks, circuses, racing, rodeos), clothing production (fur, leather, wool, down), and animal testing. For comprehensive overviews, see 80,000 Hours’ factory farming problem profile, Faunalytics, and Our World in Data.

A substantial scientific literature supports that these animals are sentient, that is, capable of subjective experience, including physical pain and affective emotional states such as fear and distress. The evidence is extensive; some representative reviews are: fish sentience, chickens’ cognition and emotion, pigs’ cognitive and emotional complexity , and distress associated with common dairy practices such as cow–calf separation.

Many philosophers, ethicists, and researchers have argued that the degree and scale of suffering caused to nonhuman animals represent the most severe and neglected moral crisis in history.

Paths to Impact

Individuals can help animals in many ways, including changing their diets and lifestyles to eliminate or reduce animal products, donating to impactful animal welfare organizations, choosing advocacy-focused careers, and volunteering their free time and skills.

Being vegan is the most direct ways to withdraw personal support from systems that cause animal suffering. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2016) stated that well-planned vegan diets are nutritionally adequate for all life stages; a 2025 update reaffirmed this for adults. Clinical guidelines emphasize attention to certain nutrients (like B12, vitamin D) for long-term health; practical guidance on meeting these needs is available from the Vegan Society, Vegan Health, Vegan Outreach, and The Vegan RD. HappyCow helps locate plant-based restaurants when eating out. Structured programs can help with the transition: Veganuary and Challenge 22 offer daily guidance, recipes, and support from registered dietitians, and attract participation in the millions.

Communication skills can extend the impact of individual change by shaping everyday conversations and social norms. The Vegan Advocacy Initiative provides training grounded in social psychology; and Faunalytics’ Effective Advocacy resources synthesize evidence on framing and messaging. Sustaining individual action is easier with targeted support: Vegan Psychologist and Beyond Carnism addresses distress, burnout, and interpersonal friction.

Beyond Individual Action

Individual actions matter. Choosing plant-based foods, caring for rescued animals, and making compassionate daily choices reflect personal integrity and reduce direct participation in harmful systems. However, the unimaginable scale of animal use means that individual consumption changes alone cannot address the problem within any reasonable timeframe. Many advocates stop at personal lifestyle changes without realizing that some of the highest-impact opportunities lie in shifting institutions, policies, and social norms.

Corporate campaigns, for example, have secured welfare commitments affecting hundreds of millions of animals through the work of relatively small teams. Thus, beyond personal choices, an individual can amplify their impact by supporting organizations with the capacity to deliver change at scale. This can be done through donating, volunteering, or building a career in the animal advocacy space. For time-constrained volunteering, The Humane League’s Fast Action Network and Mercy For Animals’ Take Action hub offer quick actions; for higher-leverage roles, ACE’s volunteering guidance helps align effort with impact.

Strategic donations to effective organizations can spare orders of magnitude more animals than a single person’s dietary choices over a lifetime. The following resources can help translate that concern into broader impact.

Direct Impact Organizations

The Humane League (THL)

A global nonprofit ending the abuse of animals raised for food through corporate campaigns and policy change. Thanks to THL and allies, US cage-free hen production rose from ~3% to 45.7% over 15 years. They founded the Open Wing Alliance, a 95-organization coalition across 75 countries working to eliminate cages globally.

Anima International

A high-impact European animal rights organization, operating across Poland, Denmark, Norway, UK, France, and Bulgaria. Anima International conducts undercover investigations, corporate campaigns, and legislative work to improve farm animal welfare standards.

Sinergia Animal

International animal protection organization working in the Global South, where factory farming is rapidly expanding but receives little attention. Conducts undercover investigations, runs institutional meat reduction programs, and advocates for policy reform. Their Cage-Free Tracker monitors implementation across the region.

Mercy For Animals

A leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture through investigations, corporate campaigns, and legislative advocacy. Founded in 1999, MFA was instrumental in passing California’s Proposition 2 and helped launch the Good Food Institute in 2016.

Legal Impact for Chickens

A litigation nonprofit working to make factory-farm cruelty a legal liability in the US. Files civil lawsuits to enforce existing animal cruelty laws that prosecutors rarely apply to factory farms. Cases include a lawsuit against Costco executives for chicken neglect and ongoing litigation against Case Farms and Tyson Foods.

Good Food Institute

A global nonprofit accelerating plant-based and cultivated meat development to transform the food system. GFI provides open-access research, corporate engagement, policy advocacy, academic grants, and student programs to make alternative proteins delicious, affordable, and accessible.

Aquatic Life Institute

Works to reduce suffering for trillions of farmed and wild-caught aquatic animals—the most numerous yet most neglected. Achievements include California’s ban on octopus farming, developing Aquaculture Certification Schemes Benchmark, advancing fish stunning commitments with major European producers.

Shrimp Welfare Project

The only organization dedicated to improving farmed shrimp welfare—approximately 440 billion animals annually, over 5x all farmed land animals combined. SWP works in the UK, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America deploying electrical stunning and improving on-farm conditions.

Foundational & Mainstream Organizations

These organizations built the modern animal advocacy movement and continue to shape public discourse, though they may not rank among the most cost-effective per dollar by EA evaluators. Their reach, cultural influence, and legislative wins have paved the way for the targeted interventions above.

The Vegan Society (UK, 1944) is the world’s oldest vegan organization, where Donald Watson first coined the term “vegan,” and oversees the Vegan Trademark certification and World Vegan Day. PETA (US, 1980), with over ten million supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in existence, known for provocative campaigns, undercover investigations, and landmark victories against fur, animal testing, and circus cruelty. Humane World for Animals (formerly HSUS/HSI, US, 1954) ranks among the largest US animal protection organizations, advancing the cause of farm animals, wildlife, and companion animals through legislation, corporate engagement, and investigation.

Compassion in World Farming (UK, 1967) was founded by a dairy farmer dismayed by factory farming and pioneered EU legislation securing bans on veal crates and battery cages. Farm Sanctuary (US, 1986) gave birth to the farm animal sanctuary movement, helped pass the first US laws against factory farming, and has brought the lives of farmed animals into the hearts of millions. Animal Legal Defense Fund (US, 1979) established animal law as a discipline, secured landmark victories expanding protections, and nurtures the next generation of advocates through law school programmes. World Animal Protection (1981, formerly WSPA) works across fifty countries on farm animal welfare, wildlife protection, and disaster response.

Research & Evaluation Organizations

Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE)

Conducts rigorous annual evaluations to identify the most effective animal charities worldwide. Since 2012, ACE estimates it has influenced over 81 million dollars in funding to recommended charities (2014–2020), plus an additional 59 million dollars from January 2019 to March 2025.

Faunalytics

A nonprofit providing data-driven insights to animal advocates. Conducts original studies, maintains a library of 5,000+ research summaries, and offers one-on-one research support. Topics range from dietary interventions to political advocacy strategies, making academic research accessible and actionable.

Rethink Priorities

Conducts critical research to inform policymakers and major foundations on how to best help people and animals. Their animal welfare department produces influential work on moral weight estimates across species, cost-effectiveness analyses, and strategic prioritization.

Sentience Institute

A think tank researching how to most effectively expand humanity’s moral circle to all sentient beings. Key outputs include the Summary of Evidence for Foundational Questions in Effective Animal Advocacy, social movement case studies, and the Animals, Food, and Technology survey tracking US attitudes.

Welfare Footprint Institute

A research organization quantifying animal suffering to inform policy, practice, and investment. Uses the Pain-Track framework to measure cumulative time in pain across intensities, providing comparable metrics across species. Key outputs include analyses of cage-free transitions and the Better Chicken Commitment.

Animal Ask

A research consultancy helping advocacy organizations prioritize between legislative and corporate campaigns. Animal Ask identifies which “asks”—specific requests to governments or companies—will have the highest impact. Has completed 57+ projects covering insects, shrimp, fish, chickens, pigs, and ruminants.

Giving Platforms

Giving What We Can (GWWC)

A nonprofit promoting effective giving through the 10% and Trial Pledges, where members commit to donating a percentage of income to effective charities. Helps donors identify where donations have the greatest impact across global health, animal welfare, and catastrophic risk reduction.

Effektiv Spenden (DACH region)

Germany and Switzerland’s leading effective giving platform, founded in 2019. Makes tax-deductible donations to effective international charities accessible to German and Swiss donors, with personal consultation covering global health, animal welfare, climate, and democracy.

Animal Welfare Fund (EA Funds)

A grantmaking fund that evaluates and funds the most effective interventions for neglected animals. Fills critical gaps by funding early-stage projects, supporting work in neglected regions, and scaling proven interventions.

Training and Career Development

Charity Entrepreneurship / Ambitious Impact

A charity incubation program launching high-impact nonprofits by connecting entrepreneurs with effective ideas, training, and seed funding. The 2-month program includes co-founder matching. Focus areas include animal welfare, global health, biosecurity, and climate.

Amplify for Animals

A free 12-week AI training program helping animal advocates harness AI for real impact. Provides hands-on guidance, practical tools, and community support to build applicable AI skills.

The Mission Motor

Provides free monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) support to animal advocacy organizations—helping gather reliable data, design theories of change, implement evaluation frameworks, and make evidence-based improvements.

New Roots Institute

Empowers the youth to end factory farming through education and leadership training. Provides interactive classroom lessons at high schools and colleges connecting factory farming to climate, animal welfare, and public health. Their Leadership Academy fellowship trains students in advocacy and campaign skills.

Animal Advocacy Careers

Helps individuals find meaningful careers in animal advocacy through free 1:1 coaching, an online course, a job board, and a Top Talent Directory connecting candidates with hiring organizations.

Networking & Community Platforms

Hive (formerly Impactful Animal Advocacy)

The digital home for farmed animal advocacy. Operates one of the largest Slack workspaces in effective animal advocacy, plus a bi-weekly newsletter with movement updates, research, and jobs. Has facilitated 400+ help requests, matched 200+ advocates, and helped 29 secure paid roles.

Connect for Animals

A platform connecting people who want to end factory farming. Aggregates 2,000+ pro-animal groups (from international nonprofits to local vegan Meetups), helps advocates find events and opportunities, and lets users create profiles to discover nearby advocates. Available on web and mobile.

Key Learning Resources

Welcome to Effective Animal Activism (ACE)

An introduction to effective animal activism principles and approaches from Animal Charity Evaluators. Good starting point for understanding evidence-based animal advocacy.

Effective Animal Advocacy (EA Forum)

Ongoing discussions, research, and debates on effective animal advocacy from the Effective Altruism community. Active forum for engaging with current strategic questions in the movement.

Giving for Animals Guide

Comprehensive guide helping donors identify high-impact opportunities to support animal welfare. Covers evaluation criteria, recommended charities, and how to maximize donation impact.

Individual Resources & Content

Influential newsletter from Open Philanthropy’s Managing Director of Farm Animal Welfare, which has awarded 400+ grants (15K–13M dollars). Covers corporate campaigns, policy developments, and strategic analysis. Essential reading for farm animal welfare. Also see: His TED Talk on how to end factory farming.

Books

Animal Liberation Now by Peter Singer (2023): Updated edition of the 1975 classic that launched modern animal rights. New material on factory farming’s role in climate change, pandemic risk, and global expansion. Introduction by Yuval Noah Harari.
The End of Animal Farming by Jacy Reese Anthis (2018): Strategic roadmap for transitioning to an animal-free food system from an EA perspective. Analyzes social forces, technology, and activism driving institutional transformation. Praised by Steven Pinker.
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (2009): Personal investigation blending memoir, investigative journalism, and philosophy. Makes industrial animal agriculture accessible to general audiences.
How to Create a Vegan World by Tobias Leenaert (2017): Strategic guide from “The Vegan Strategist” arguing for pragmatism over purity. Helps advocates communicate effectively and avoid alienating potential allies.
Beyond Beliefs by Melanie Joy (2017): Guide for navigating relationships across dietary differences. Complements her earlier Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, which introduced “carnism.”

Podcasts

Sentience Institute Podcast: Deep-dive interviews on effective strategies for expanding humanity’s moral circle. Highly analytical and evidence-focused.
How I Learned To Love Shrimp: Innovative approaches to helping animals: alternative proteins, political change, movement building. Biweekly.
Our Hen House: One of the longest-running animal advocacy podcasts. Features movement leaders, changemakers, and entrepreneurs.
Knowing Animals: 20-minute academic podcast on animals and ethics, law, politics, and advocacy.
Hope for the Animals: Longtime advocate Hope Bohanec covers farmed animal ethics, environment, and effective outreach.

Academic Journals

Animals (MDPI): Open access journal on animal science, ethics, and welfare. Est. 2011.
Animal Sentience: Open access journal on what and how animals feel. WellBeing International, 2016.
Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science: Welfare research across lab, farm, companion, and zoo settings. Taylor & Francis.
Animal Welfare: Longest-running animal welfare science journal. Cambridge/UFAW.
Anthrozoös: Human-animal interactions research since 1987. Official journal of ISAZ.
Society & Animals: Human-animal studies from social sciences and humanities. Brill, 1993.
Journal of Animal Ethics: Moral dimensions of human-animal relations. U of Illinois Press, 2011.