Funding the most effective interventions for animals
We find and fund the most impactful efforts to end factory farming, improve farmed animal welfare, and tackle neglected causes of animal suffering worldwide.
Considering a major gift?
$30M+
in grants
370+
grants awarded
We find and fund the most impactful efforts to end factory farming, improve farmed animal welfare, and tackle neglected causes of animal suffering worldwide.
Considering a major gift?
About the fund
Rigorous grantmaking for the world's most neglected animals
Every year, tens of billions of land animals and trillions of aquatic animals and invertebrates endure extreme suffering on factory farms — yet animal welfare receives only a tiny fraction of philanthropic funding. The gap between the scale of the problem and the resources dedicated to solving it is enormous.
We close that gap by finding the most cost-effective and neglected opportunities — from corporate welfare campaigns helping chickens in the Global South to pioneering work on invertebrate welfare. Every grant is backed by rigorous evaluation so your funding goes where it will help the most animals.
AWF operates as a pooled fund. Every contribution is combined to unlock opportunities that no single donor could fund alone — giving you access to an expertly curated portfolio of the highest-impact animal welfare work worldwide.
3-year grantmaking strategy
Where your funding goes 2026–2028
01
Ending cage confinement globally
Corporate campaigns and policy advocacy in the Global South, where hundreds of millions of hens remain caged with no welfare oversight.
02
Aquatic animal welfare
R&D and on-farm improvements for farmed shrimp and fish across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
03
Humane slaughter as the default
Global corporate and producer outreach to end the most painful forms of slaughter for shrimp.
04
Protecting neglected species
Acting before invertebrate farming scales to prevent suffering rather than fight entrenched systems later.
05
Wild animal suffering
Researching and piloting cost-effective interventions in urban and agricultural settings.
06
Building the Global South ecosystem
Core funding and movement coordination for advocates in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“If you're looking to do as much good as possible with your money, donating to AWF is as safe a bet as you’re likely to get in this life. They’ve built a team with strong epistemics who grok the gravity of their work in the face of overwhelming need and try to rise to the occasion each day. I'm so grateful a group exists that I can trust to allocate my funds optimally.”Mark LeeMajor donor to the Animal Welfare Fund
Impact
Highlighted impact
The Animal Welfare Fund has recommended over 30 million dollars' worth of grants that supported our grantees’ work and their successes, including:
Our approach
How we find and fund the best opportunities
How we work
01
Global outreach
We actively solicit applications from organizations and individuals worldwide, ensuring a diverse range of high-impact projects for consideration.
02
Rigorous evaluation
Our team conducts thorough assessments of project proposals to identify and select the most effective interventions.
03
Continuous improvement
We aim to systematically evaluate the impact of our grants and adapt our grantmaking strategies to maximize our positive influence.
04
Strategic collaboration
We partner with leading animal welfare organizations, researchers, and advocates to leverage collective expertise.
05
Pooled resources
We aggregate donations to create a shared fund that significantly exceeds individual donor capacity, enabling support for both smaller- and larger-scale initiatives.
06
Transparency and accountability
We are committed to openness in our resource allocation processes, ensuring responsible stewardship of donor funds in advancing animal welfare.
Fund managers
Karolina Sarek
Director · EA Animal Welfare Fund
Zoë Sigle
Fund Manager · Farmed Animal Funders
Renata Scarellis
Fund Manager · EA Animal Welfare Fund
Neil Dullaghan
Senior Program Officer · EA Animal Welfare Fund
Ren Ryba
Fund Manager · EA Animal Welfare Fund
Fund advisors
Lewis Bollard
Fund Advisor · Coefficient Giving
Catherine Low
Fund Advisor · Centre for Effective Altruism
Aurelia Adhiambo
Fund Advisor · The Humane League
Kieran Greig
Fund Advisor · Rethink Priorities
“The EA Animal Welfare Fund's rigorous, evidence-based approach consistently identifies high-impact opportunities that traditional funders overlook — especially in the most neglected regions and for the most numerous and neglected species.”Lewis BollardFarm Animal Welfare Managing Director at Coefficient Giving
Consider this
Who this fund is for
Why donate to this fund
The Animal Welfare Fund holds a unique position to identify and support the most effective opportunities to help animals globally.
01
The scale of animal suffering is immense
85 billion chickens, 100 billion farmed fish, 440 billion farmed shrimp are raised each year — most in systems where welfare is an afterthought. The problem is vast and underfunded relative to its scale.
02
Funding to address this remains critically limited
Despite the magnitude of this problem, animal advocacy receives only a small fraction of charitable donations — most of it going to companion animals in shelters. This leaves billions of farmed animals highly neglected relative to their numbers.
03
Our fund maximizes the impact of your contribution
We deploy a rigorous evaluation process — assessing theory of change, counterfactual impact, cost-effectiveness, and likelihood of success. Every grant undergoes systematic review. We track outcomes and continuously improve.
Why you might choose not to donate
This fund isn't the right fit for everyone. Two reasons to look elsewhere:
01
You don't support incremental welfare improvements
Much of our grantmaking supports work on reducing farmed animal suffering through positive but incremental changes — corporate campaigns, cage-free transitions, welfare standards. We also support systemic interventions like policy advocacy, but if you believe incremental welfare improvements are wrong to fund, some of our grants may not align with your worldview.
02
You have a preference for specific interventions or species
We build a diversified portfolio across species, regions, and intervention types. If you want certainty that your donation goes to a specific cause area — for example, only wild animal welfare or only alternative proteins — a more targeted fund may be a better fit.
Recent updates
Writing by the fund managers
The fund publishes payout reports, strategy updates, and research on the EA Forum.
Explore the data
Grants distribution in 2025
Featured grants in detail
People for Animals Uttarakhand and Cage Free Free Range Poultry Producers Association
$58,650
2025 Q1
Training of Trainers (5-day) in India to equip key stakeholders with best practices in cage-free egg farming
$58,650
2025 Q1
The Center for Responsible Seafood
$117,000
2024 Q4
Research & pilot program on humane chill-killing at Indian shrimp farms to inform global certification standards
$117,000
2024 Q4
Animal Welfare League
$130,000
2024 Q4
A budget to support cage-free policy work in Ghana and recruiting cage-free farms in South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco
$130,000
2024 Q4
Fórum Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Animal
$100,000
2024 Q3
Project and staff expenses to work on corporate welfare washing in cage-free accountability in Brazil
$100,000
2024 Q3