Venture philanthropy fund—evergreen fund (profits get recycled to make more investments) to invest in technologies/companies that improve animal lives (alt proteins, more humane slaughter, conservation, etc)
Hedge fund/venture scout model—turn high performing individuals in non-grantmaking roles into part-time grantmakers by giving them philanthropic budgets to deploy autonomously (and only continue giving them funds if they show “impact returns”)
Longtermist Animal Welfare NGO—this seems almost completely neglected by both EA LT’s and non-EA AW people but there are many long-term nightmare scenarios we are not defending against (e.g. CAFOs in space, insect farming, digital animals, animal pandemics).
Endow a university institute—I am not aware of any institutes dedicated to the study and promotion of animal welfare. “Animal health” is very common at the American land grant universities but in practice “animal health” means the opposite of animal welfare
Mass media—funding of documentaries and other media that can convince mainstream consumers to stop eating animal products or otherwise expand their moral circle
Asset management—Create a philanthropic private equity fund to engage in shareholder activism (such as Carl Ichan’s failed bid with McDonalds)
Infrastructure fund for alternative proteins—there is a desperate need for plant protein extraction infrastructure and precision fermentation/cultivated meat bioprocessing infrastructure (about $60Bn needed total). Venture capital largely won’t invest because they are too capital intensive and governments mostly refuse to support the sector due to agribusiness lobbying power. Loan guarantees would help too.
Supercharging existing EA AW orgs and Charity Entrepreneurship
Impact litigation to make factory farming a liability like Legal Impact for Chickens
Happy to share additional details on anything! These are mostly finance based as that is my background.
Some of my favorite ideas (some listed above):
Venture philanthropy fund—evergreen fund (profits get recycled to make more investments) to invest in technologies/companies that improve animal lives (alt proteins, more humane slaughter, conservation, etc)
Hedge fund/venture scout model—turn high performing individuals in non-grantmaking roles into part-time grantmakers by giving them philanthropic budgets to deploy autonomously (and only continue giving them funds if they show “impact returns”)
Longtermist Animal Welfare NGO—this seems almost completely neglected by both EA LT’s and non-EA AW people but there are many long-term nightmare scenarios we are not defending against (e.g. CAFOs in space, insect farming, digital animals, animal pandemics).
Endow a university institute—I am not aware of any institutes dedicated to the study and promotion of animal welfare. “Animal health” is very common at the American land grant universities but in practice “animal health” means the opposite of animal welfare
Mass media—funding of documentaries and other media that can convince mainstream consumers to stop eating animal products or otherwise expand their moral circle
Asset management—Create a philanthropic private equity fund to engage in shareholder activism (such as Carl Ichan’s failed bid with McDonalds)
Infrastructure fund for alternative proteins—there is a desperate need for plant protein extraction infrastructure and precision fermentation/cultivated meat bioprocessing infrastructure (about $60Bn needed total). Venture capital largely won’t invest because they are too capital intensive and governments mostly refuse to support the sector due to agribusiness lobbying power. Loan guarantees would help too.
Supercharging existing EA AW orgs and Charity Entrepreneurship
Impact litigation to make factory farming a liability like Legal Impact for Chickens
Happy to share additional details on anything! These are mostly finance based as that is my background.
Just replying, very belatedly, to say: You’re amazing.