A GREATER GOOD FOR ALL A Guide to Effective Giving ANIMAL CHARITY EVALUATORS “Many people tell me that they want to change the way we treat animals, but don’t know to which organization they should give. I’m very pleased that now I can point them to Animal Charity Evaluators, where they can find the best available research and thoughtful discussion to A GREATER GOOD FOR ALL answer that difficult and very important question.” A Guide to Effective Giving -Peter Singer, Professor at Princeton University; 2014 Author of Animal Liberation ANIMAL CHARITY EVALUATORS A Letter From The Executive Director Dear Donors, We’ve all been there. You donate to one organization, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in solicitations from dozens of different organizations. How do you know where to give? How can you help the largest number of animals? We’ve all spent countless hours advocating for animals, but are we being effective? Animal Charity Evaluators was founded to answer those questions, and to empower you to maximize your impact as a donor. We are an independent evaluator organization that provides advice on which tactics produce the greatest good for animals and on which charities are most effective. We have no stake in any of the organizations that we evaluate, and have spent months considering over 100 different groups. We evaluated each of them based on their focus area, their financial reports, and on seven rigorous criteria which we describe later in this booklet. Based on our evaluations, we are proud to recommend Mercy For Animals and The Humane League as our top charities in 2014. Please read more about them in this booklet and in detailed reviews on our website, and consider supporting their highly effective campaigns. Sincerely, Jon Bockman, Executive Director Animal Charity Evaluators [email protected] Our Mission Animal Charity Evaluators is a nonprofit dedicated to finding and advocating highly effective opportunities to help animals. Our Goal We assist compassionate volunteers, donors, and professionals in making informed decisions on how to help as many animals as possible. We do this through researching which charities A GREATER GOOD FOR ALL ANIMALS operate most effectively as well as through recommending high- impact interventions to activists and charities alike. Our Philosophy We use evidence and reason to determine the most impactful ways to help animals. A charity’s impact is much more important to us than the percentage of their budget spent on overhead or the use of anecdotal metrics. We believe that you can be substantially more effective by carefully considering where you donate your time and money. HELPING YOU HELP ANIMALS OLIVER 1 Room For Funding To Support Growth Plans to expand beyond the capacity of existing funding sources 2 A Cost-Effective Approach Based On A Back-Of-The- Envelope Calculation Estimate of organization's effectiveness in fund allocation 3 Mission Effectiveness Programs and activities that contribute strongly to goal achievement 4 A Structured Process To Identify Success and Failure Internal processes to identify success and failure 5 Repeated Instances Of Success In High-Impact Areas Continued work and success in high-impact areas of animal advocacy 6 A Process For Organizational Leadership And Structure Process for management of funds, projects, and leadership continuity 7 A Transparent View Of Their Operations Readily available reports about their activities and processes DARLENE CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVENESS Compassion Over Killing National Anti-Vivisection Society Compassionate Action for Animals New England Anti-Vivisection Society Ducks Unlimited New Harvest Organizations Factory Farming Awareness Coalition Party for the Animals USA Recommended Farm Animal Rights Movement Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention Farm Sanctuary of Cruelty to Animals Organizations Fishcount People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Considered Food Animal Concerns Trust Performing Animal Welfare Society Food Empowerment Project PetSmart Charities Friends of Animals Physicians Committee for Responsible Grey2K USA Medicine Houston Society for the Prevention Primate Freedom Project A Well Fed World Animal Protection and Rescue League of Cruelty to Animals RedRover - United Animal Nations Abolitionist Approach Animal Rights Party USA Humane Alliance of WNC Respect For All Animals Ministry Alley Cat Allies Animal Welfare Institute Humane Farming Association Responsible Policies for Animals America for Animals Animals and Society Institute Humane Party US Sanctuary One American Humane Association Animals' Angels Humane Research Council Sea Shepherd Conservation Society American Society for the Anti-Cruelty Society Chicago Humane Society of Huron Valley Society of Animal Welfare Administrators Prevention Arizona Humane Society Humane Society of the United States Society for the Promotion of Education in of Cruelty to Animals Bat Conservation International HumaneWatch Animal Kindness SPEAK Americans For Medical Bat World Sanctuary In Defense of Animals The Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital Advancement Best Friends Animal Society International Fund for Animal Welfare The Humane League Animal Chaplains Born Free Foundation International Primate Protection League The Monday Campaigns Animal Defenders International Carnism Action and Awareness Network International Society for Animal Rights Vegan Outreach Animal Defense League Catskill Animal Sanctuary It’s Meow or Never For Ferals VegasVeg Animal Ethics Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Last Chance for Animals Vegetarian Resource Group Animal Law Coalition Center for Biological Diversity Maddie’s Fund VINE Sanctuary Animal Legal Defense Fund Center on Animal Liberation Affairs Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition Whale and Dolphin Conservation Socitey ORGANIZATIONS CONSIDERED ORGANIZATIONS Animal Liberation Press Office Certified Humane Mercy For Animals Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary Animal Place Compassion for Animals Michigan Humane Society World Society for the Protection of Animals successfully carrying out such investigations and following through on the additional avenues for influence they provide. They also have the ability to use additional funds to carry Undercover out more investigations. Investigations Grassroots Outreach We believe that MFA’s approach to consumer level outreach has high expected effectiveness, Online Outreach especially considering the recent shift of their Social Media focus to online campaigns. We believe this Corporate Outreach shift was motivated by a good understanding of which areas MFA was best placed to have Legal Advocacy success in, and that MFA’s team has the experience necessary to make their new focus on online outreach very productive. Room For Funding budget on online and media outreach; $460 We think MFA could use up to $500,000 in spent on online ads will reach about 1,917 Mercy For Animals because of their demonstrated willingness to increased funding this year. Of that, we would viewers. While these two areas account for engages in a variety of farm adjust their programming to seek maximum expect that about $350,000 could be used most of MFA’s program budget, they would animal advocacy programs effectiveness, and because of the range of in education programs, either to double the also spend about $90 on social media outreach generally centered around their programs they have undertaken with good number of online ads they will run this year or to their followers on various networks, $60 undercover investigations and results. to expand other projects. The other $150,000 on corporate outreach, and $30 on legal subsequent videos of factory could be used to fund 1-5 more undercover advocacy not related directly to undercover farms. They promote these MFA’s main program, undercover investigations, or as needed elsewhere. investigations. videos primarily through media investigations, has an unusually high number and online campaigns. They also of advantages and diverse results. While What You Get For Your Donation engage in legal and corporate undercover investigations can be risky and From an average donation of $1,000, MFA Mercy For Animals campaigns, and conduct a variety logistically complicated to carry out, they often would use about $360 towards undercover 8033 Sunset Blvd. Suite 864 of outreach campaigns such as receive significant media coverage and thus investigations, funding a tiny part of an Los Angeles, CA 90046 leafleting and video outreach. can influence a very large number of people. investigation but on average reaching about (866) 632-6446 Additionally, they offer avenues for corporate 4,500 viewers. They would spend about [email protected] TOP RECOMMENDED CHARITY Why We Recommend MFA outreach and legal advocacy and provide $460 on educational outreach, including both Overall, we find MFA to be an photos and videos that can be used for other grassroots and online programs. In 2014, they To make a donation please visit: exceptionally strong organization forms of outreach. MFA has a long record of expect to spend the majority of their education animalcharityevaluators.org/mfa animal agriculture, and that well-targeted ads likely result in significant dietary changes. We are also confident that much of the current local outreach is highly effective, as a large proportion of it is leafleting, which we believe is one of the best ways of creating change at the individual level. Online Ads Leafleting Room For Funding Cage-Free We think THL could use about $270,000 in Campaigns