I’m a longtime GiveWell donor looking to diversify my giving somewhat. What are the best options for donating in animal welfare? I value certainty, track-record, etc. over something more speculative but potentially higher-impact.
My current sense is that my best options are https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/funds/animal-welfare and https://animalcharityevaluators.org/donation-advice/recommended-charity-fund/. Are those reasonable options? Anything else I should consider?
Both of those funds are great; I intend to base my donations in part on their recommendations.
However, if you’re highly risk-averse, it’s worth noting that they will send some of your money to speculative work, such as basic research on wild animal welfare.
If you want the animal welfare equivalent of bednets, it’s probably corporate campaigns run by The Humane League, Mercy For Animals, and Compassion in World Farming.[1] These campaigns have helped hundreds of millions of hens using single-digit millions of dollars. Independent cost-effectiveness analyses have generated extremely impressive estimates.[2][3]
Notably, though, these analyses sometimes have to make a lot of assumptions about animal sentience. Personally, I’m sympathetic to some of the points made here about the limitations of corporate campaigns, and I’m more bullish on vegan movement building that what I perceive to be the consensus of EAA. But if you’re looking for something low-risk and independently vetted, corporate campaigns are probably your best bet.
Of these three, Animal Charity Evaluators thinks that THL has the most room for more funding (see these three spreadsheets)
Report from Rethink Priorities: Corporate campaigns affect 9 to 120 years of chicken life per dollar spent
Report by Vasco Grilo: Corporate campaigns for chicken welfare are almost 10,000 times as effective as Givewell’s Maximum Impact Fund?