The review does mention the leadership transition under Criterion 5: Leadership and Culture:
Anima International had a recent transition in leadership. Kirsty Henderson took the role of Acting CEO in April 2020, after being elected by the managing board of Anima International. Their new leadership describes the transition as an opportunity to re-evaluate their goals, structure, work, and values, through frequent communication with staff about the transition process and challenges. Henderson is requesting more in-depth feedback from staff members and having one-to-one meetings with all of them to learn more about who they are and how they see Anima International’s work. In the next few months, a new CEO will be elected. We are yet to see how successful the leadership transition turns out.
But ACE doesn’t give any indication that it thginks the leadership transition or firing of the previous CEO is a bad thing. Additionally, when the review cites results from the culture survey, the results generally seem quite positive. And the review’s overall assessment of culture and morale appears positive:
Overall, we think that Anima International’s staff satisfaction and morale are higher than the average charity we evaluated this year.
However, when it comes to Anima leadership’s comments on DEI, ACE paints a negative picture, stating:
In particular, we think leadership staff publicly engaging in conversations about the relevance of racial equity to the animal advocacy movement may have had a negative impact on the progress of racial equity in the movement
And ACE concludes the section by saying
Overall, we believe that Anima International is less diverse, equitable, and inclusive than the average charity we evaluated this year.
This is despite the culture survey results related to DEI generally being quite positive.
And in the weaknesses section of the review summary, ACE states:
We think Anima International’s leadership has a limited understanding of racial equity and that this has impacted some of the spaces they contribute to as an international animal advocacy group—such as coalitions, conferences, and online forums
But doesn’t mention anything related to firing the CEO or leadership transitions.
So based on the review, I would be quite surprised if firing the previous CEO played a larger role in ACE’s evaluation of Anima than public comments from staff related to DEI. And if it did, then I think ACE did a poor job indicating that in the review.
Thanks! I had interpreted “We are yet to see how successful the leadership transition turns out” as a pretty strong statement, but I agree that the review doesn’t specify how the different factors they list are weighted and your interpretation could be correct. I hope someone from ACE can clarify.
Hi Ben, thanks for your comment.
I don’t think ACE’s review of Anima supports this interpretation at all.
The review does mention the leadership transition under Criterion 5: Leadership and Culture:
But ACE doesn’t give any indication that it thginks the leadership transition or firing of the previous CEO is a bad thing. Additionally, when the review cites results from the culture survey, the results generally seem quite positive. And the review’s overall assessment of culture and morale appears positive:
However, when it comes to Anima leadership’s comments on DEI, ACE paints a negative picture, stating:
And ACE concludes the section by saying
This is despite the culture survey results related to DEI generally being quite positive.
And in the weaknesses section of the review summary, ACE states:
But doesn’t mention anything related to firing the CEO or leadership transitions.
So based on the review, I would be quite surprised if firing the previous CEO played a larger role in ACE’s evaluation of Anima than public comments from staff related to DEI. And if it did, then I think ACE did a poor job indicating that in the review.
Thanks! I had interpreted “We are yet to see how successful the leadership transition turns out” as a pretty strong statement, but I agree that the review doesn’t specify how the different factors they list are weighted and your interpretation could be correct. I hope someone from ACE can clarify.