Hi Alfred, thank you for your question!

Sub-Saharan Africa includes many countries and contexts, so I am reluctant to make any sweeping statements about what are the most impactful areas for such a large region, but I will try to offer some useful thoughts. 

There has been relatively little advocacy work in the region, so if I were to advise groups on what they might focus on, I would start by looking at what interventions have been the most impactful in other parts of the world, and focus on how one might adapt such approaches to the new context. For instance, higher rates of informal markets, or norms around communication might be different, this would lead to significant changes in how you might implement an intervention that has been successful in other parts of the world. 

Another angle would be to look at what interventions have uniquely worked well in your country for other (non-animal) issues, and if you could test whether these interventions could be used to benefit animals. 

The current and predicted rate of animal farming and consumption vary greatly between countries within sub-Saharan Africa so it is possible that if you have the freedom to move and work in different countries (I appreciate this is a privilege many don’t have), you may find that you can be more impactful in your work. 

I am not an expert in advocacy in this region, so I would love to see in the replies what others think!

Thank you, Eleanor

Hi Gwenna,

Yes, in some cases we’ll fund operating costs like salaries, depending on the type and strength of the application, and the operating budget of the organization that the employee works at. We’ll also fund projects from U.S. citizens who want to do outreach work in other countries; however, we take seriously the importance of our grantees understanding the cultural context of their work, so we’d need to see in the application some kind of evidence of “right fit” for the person doing the work. For general outreach work, we’d also need to see evidence of a strategically developed approach that has the capacity to reach people at scale and track relevant outcomes.

Thank you, Elisabeth

Hi David, thanks for your questions!

1. We don’t have predetermined criteria for which ballot measures we would or wouldn’t fund, and proposals are assessed on a case-by-case basis. That said, 3 out of the 4 U.S. measures run in 2024 were unsuccessful, including the Denver fur ban, which we expected to perform better. Given that, we are more pessimistic that more radical measures can be achieved through ballot initiatives. We supported ProAnimal Future and Sentient Politics in part to capture insights from those campaigns, which will inform our future grantmaking. Beyond the ask we also take into consideration the opposition to the measure, the political and media environment, and current public sentiment. 
2. Perhaps it goes without saying that our ideal proposal is a campaign with a reasonable likelihood of success and a measure that would create a meaningful positive impact for animals. We do also consider broader movement-building effects, such as engaging and training new advocates or shifting public attitudes toward animals. We would expect applicants to propose the most relevant impact metrics, particularly if they believe success should be measured beyond a campaign win.
3. While we prioritize promoting the work of our recommended charities and grantees, we are open to hearing from other organizations that are doing high-impact work and/or have interesting learnings that could help others for our guest blog. For example, you can submit a guest blog proposal for writing about movement-level strategies, potentially impactful interventions, and discussions of interventions or strategies between experts from different angles. You can read more about what we publish on this page under “blog submission.”

Thank you, Holly and Eleanor

Thank you for your question! Federal legislation, corporate policy change, and governmental policy change all have the potential to have a huge impact based on the change that is being called for and the likelihood of success. For each of the ideas you have suggested, we would like to hear what your expected outcomes are, how you’re tracking them, and how you expect those outcomes to have downstream impacts for animals e.g., did removing the surcharge for plant-based milks in Starbucks result in a significant reduction in dairy milk consumption? We are currently highly uncertain about the impact of digital campaigns, but find they can be impactful as part of a wider campaign utilizing multiple tactics—it will be interesting to learn more about the impact you are hoping to see with your UPF campaign!

Thank you, Elisabeth

One exciting trend is the increase in climate funders supporting a reduction in animal agriculture through dietary change and alt proteins as climate mitigation. Just last week the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein opened at Imperial College London with $30M in funding. This shift could open up a lot of funding opportunities for organizations that are currently solely reliant on funding from funders concerned with the welfare of animals. 

I enjoy reading applications from new organizations the most –that’s not to say they are more/less likely to get funding– but it is such a pleasure to see the dedication and bravery it takes to start something new. Even more so, when I see they are working in a country where there is a nascent animal advocacy movement.

I would like to see some applicants include a bit more detail on the context in which they are working, in particular, whether there are political, social, or economic factors that might impact their work. Similarly, for some niche species-specific work, it is useful for our grant review team if you include the animal science research you are relying on. 

Thanks, Eleanor

Hi Darleen, thank you for reaching out and for the work you’re doing with Plant Futures. All of the areas you mention are within the scope of the Movement Grants program. Given your experience working in Mexico, you likely have insights into which area is the most pressing or has the highest potential impact right now, and I recommend that you submit your proposal on that basis. Alternatively, if you think that the programs have synergies that mean they should be implemented at the same time, you could apply for general operating funds for all your work in Mexico. 

Thank you, Eleanor

Hi Cinzia, thank you for your question and this work sounds very interesting! We don’t fund academic research unless there is a clear dissemination plan that goes beyond publishing the work in academic journals. We would like to know how you’ll create information value that can be used by animal advocates and lead to impact for animals. Without such a plan, we would be hesitant to award funding. Another factor we take into consideration is that academic research often has other sources of funding (e.g. through government grants or other academic funders) so we prioritize work that is unlikely to be funded by other means. I hope this provides more clarification. 

Thank you, Holly

Hi Pilar, thank you for your 15 years of dedication for animals! 

1. This year we will have two funding rounds. We expect the first round of grants will be disbursed in May and June, and the second round of grants will be disbursed in December and January. 
2. If you decide to complete an Expression of Interest, please focus on what you intend to use the grant funds for. If you are invited to complete a full application, there will be a question about your achievements in previous years where you can outline your recent accomplishments. You can also learn more in this video.

Thank you, Eleanor

Hi Morgan, ACE does not offer matching grants in the sense that we do not require grantees to secure additional funding as a condition of our grants. However, if an organization has received a grant from another funder that requires matching funds, an ACE grant can be used to fulfill that requirement—unless the other funder has specific restrictions that prevent this. 

Thanks, Eleanor

Thanks for doing this interesting work, Abir. We don’t fund academic research like this unless there is a clear dissemination plan that goes beyond publishing the work in academic journals. We want to know how you’ll create information value that can be used by animal advocates and lead to impact for animals, so without such a plan in place we would be very hesitant to award funding. An additional factor is that academic research often has other sources of funding (e.g. through government grants or other academic funders) so we prioritize funding work that is unlikely to be funded by other means.

Thanks, Elisabeth

Thanks for joining and for your questions. 

We assess effectiveness on a case-by-case basis, depending on the intervention and the stage of the project (e.g., pilot, scaling, or full implementation). We start with what the applicant states they aim to achieve and how they plan to measure it. Based on this, we identify additional reporting requirements and share them with the grant recipient early on in the grant period, allowing them to provide feedback if they believe other metrics would be more useful. We are in the early stages of implementing our own Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) in the Movement Grants program, which will include what we learn from our grant reporting to understand our own impact. We hope to share how this is going towards the end of the year.

At this time, we are not considering applications for regranting, as we are a regranting organization ourselves. However, if you know of a regranter playing an important role in the movement, we’d be happy to hear about them—we may be able to share their information within our network. 

Thank you, Eleanor

Hi there! Thanks for your questions. 

1. The definition we use is an organization’s attempts to influence legislation. We are not able to fund activities to attempt to influence the outcome of any specific public election; or to carry out directly or indirectly, any voter registration drive. 
2. ACE does have a limit on the amount of lobbying work that we are able to fund. However, this limit is across our total disbursed funds. Applicants should not be concerned when applying about this limit.

Thanks, Eleanor

Thank you for your question—it sounds like an exciting initiative. For a proposal like this, we would need to understand how the event would lead to meaningful change for a large number of animals. Specifically, we’d be interested in whether the event is targeting influential individuals within the movement, how it differs from or complements existing initiatives, and what concrete outcomes it aims to achieve.

If you decide to submit an expression of interest, providing specific examples of expected outcomes would strengthen your proposal.

Eleanor

Hi Amruza, yes, capacity building working is within the scope of the program.  You can find the full Movement Grants eligibility criteria here on our website under the FAQs: What are we interested in funding? What are we not interested in funding?

Thanks, Eleanor