Hi Steven! That’s fantastic that you’re planning to donate to cost-effective animal charities. Thanks for thinking of ACE’s Recommended Charities and engaging with our work. When people ask us about the most impactful animal charities to donate to, we typically recommend donating to our Recommended Charity Fund. Our team of researchers decides how best to allocate this money among our Recommended Charities based on their current funding needs and the latest information on which activities this money would fund so that we can be confident that donations are being used as cost-effectively as possible. That said, here are some things we think are worth considering if you prefer to select charities yourself:
At ACE, we agree with the other commenters regarding the importance of wild animal welfare, given the sheer number of animals living in the wild, the likelihood that many of these animals suffer intensely, and the fact that the wild animal welfare field is currently so neglected. It’s great that you’re planning to look into this in more detail. If you haven’t seen them already, some helpful resources include this EA Forum post and a recent 80,000 Hours interview with Cameron Meyer Shorb (head of Wild Animal Initiative). ACE’s Why Wild Animals? page also cites some useful sources.
As for fishes, there is strong and growing evidence for their sentience and capacity for pain and pleasure. This briefing gives a helpful overview; you could also check out this EA Forum post or this recent interview with Doug Waley on the How I Learned to Love Shrimp podcast.
While there’s little current evidence for shrimp sentience, this is because there has been very little research in general rather than because people have found evidence against shrimp sentience. Shrimp Welfare Project has published an overview of the existing evidence, and this report by Rethink Priorities gives a great rundown of the potential welfare threats of shrimp farming. When you consider these threats, the huge numbers farmed, and the reasonable probability of shrimp sentience, it seems likely that current shrimp farming practices could be a major source of suffering.
Finally, while the kinds of work done by Faunalytics and New Roots Institute are less direct than some of our other charities, we think they’re likely to relieve a great deal of suffering by empowering other advocates and organizations to help many more animals than they otherwise would. Effective animal advocacy strategies to build a world where animals experience well-being has a relatively long time horizon. We expect that the work these organizations do speeds up the timeline significantly. The faster we can bring about a future where animals are protected, the more suffering is abated.
Hope that’s helpful and wherever you end up donating, thank you for thoughtfully trying to create a better world for animals!
Hi Steven! That’s fantastic that you’re planning to donate to cost-effective animal charities. Thanks for thinking of ACE’s Recommended Charities and engaging with our work. When people ask us about the most impactful animal charities to donate to, we typically recommend donating to our Recommended Charity Fund. Our team of researchers decides how best to allocate this money among our Recommended Charities based on their current funding needs and the latest information on which activities this money would fund so that we can be confident that donations are being used as cost-effectively as possible. That said, here are some things we think are worth considering if you prefer to select charities yourself:
At ACE, we agree with the other commenters regarding the importance of wild animal welfare, given the sheer number of animals living in the wild, the likelihood that many of these animals suffer intensely, and the fact that the wild animal welfare field is currently so neglected. It’s great that you’re planning to look into this in more detail. If you haven’t seen them already, some helpful resources include this EA Forum post and a recent 80,000 Hours interview with Cameron Meyer Shorb (head of Wild Animal Initiative). ACE’s Why Wild Animals? page also cites some useful sources.
As for fishes, there is strong and growing evidence for their sentience and capacity for pain and pleasure. This briefing gives a helpful overview; you could also check out this EA Forum post or this recent interview with Doug Waley on the How I Learned to Love Shrimp podcast.
While there’s little current evidence for shrimp sentience, this is because there has been very little research in general rather than because people have found evidence against shrimp sentience. Shrimp Welfare Project has published an overview of the existing evidence, and this report by Rethink Priorities gives a great rundown of the potential welfare threats of shrimp farming. When you consider these threats, the huge numbers farmed, and the reasonable probability of shrimp sentience, it seems likely that current shrimp farming practices could be a major source of suffering.
Finally, while the kinds of work done by Faunalytics and New Roots Institute are less direct than some of our other charities, we think they’re likely to relieve a great deal of suffering by empowering other advocates and organizations to help many more animals than they otherwise would. Effective animal advocacy strategies to build a world where animals experience well-being has a relatively long time horizon. We expect that the work these organizations do speeds up the timeline significantly. The faster we can bring about a future where animals are protected, the more suffering is abated.
Hope that’s helpful and wherever you end up donating, thank you for thoughtfully trying to create a better world for animals!
- Max