Recommended Charity Fund: Early 2025 Update

By Animal Charity Evaluators @ 2025-03-03T14:35 (+2)

In July, thanks to the generous donor support of ACE’s Recommended Charity Fund, we awarded $523,083 to our 2023 Recommended Charities. Those 11 organizations have updated us on how they’ve utilized their grants to make a positive impact on animals, and we’re thrilled to share their achievements with you.

Donating to our Recommended Charity Fund supports impactful charities around the world, easing animal suffering. Much of the inspiring work outlined below depends on grants from this fund. Thank you!

Recommended Charity Updates

Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği

$37,711 grant

Five restaurant chains in Türkiye, including Big Chefs (109 locations) and Cookshop (38 locations), have announced new cage-free commitments affecting over 200 eateries. Some of these commitments are already in effect.
Kılıç, Türkiye’s largest fish producer, published its first sustainability report outlining specific welfare policies. These include a maximum stocking density requirement of 10 kg/m³ and increased use of electrical stunning.
Two major fish producers, Luckyfish and İlknak, formally signed the fish welfare commitment of Future For Fish, ÇHKD’s fish welfare program. Future For Fish aims to help establish higher welfare practices as industry norms and demonstrate the feasibility of their standards at scale to relevant stakeholders through these commitments.
In the hospitality and restaurant sector, ÇHKD secured fish welfare commitments from Divan (35 restaurants, 17 hotels) and NG Hotels (five hotels), covering an estimated 400,000 fishes annually through improved welfare standards.
Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği successfully launched an educational initiative focused on fish welfare, providing fish welfare training for 25 third and fourth-year aquaculture students. The program featured speakers from major producers including Abalıoğlu, Kılıç, Noordzee, and Sürsan. Participants showed significant improvement in their fish welfare knowledge after the training, according to test results. They also demonstrated a significant willingness to promote fish welfare according to survey results and behavioral measures.

Dansk Vegetarisk Forening

$49,875 grant

Dansk Vegetarisk Forening (DVF) has successfully advocated for increased funding for Denmark’s Plant-Based Food Grant, with the government allocating an additional 420 million DKK (approximately 58.5 million USD) for the period from 2025 to 2030. This grant has also been made permanent, extending beyond its previously scheduled end date of 2030. This initiative is part of the Green Tripartite Deal, which includes a commitment to an E.U. Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods.
DVF presented and attended in-person and virtual meetings to discuss Denmark’s plant-based policies and share best practices for NGOs, politicians, and stakeholders in various countries, including the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Canada, as well as COP29 in Azerbaijan and AVA Summit in Brazil.
DVF engaged with politicians from across the political spectrum. A notable moment was when they participated in joint meetings with three other NGOs during the negotiations for the Green Tripartite Deal, where they collectively met with representatives from three different parties in Parliament.
With ACE’s support, DVF was able to move forward with a new project engaging and collaborating with sports clubs and fitness centers.
In late October, DVF held an initial meeting with numerous NGOs in Brussels to discuss collaborative efforts toward creating an EU Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods. Following this meeting, a total of 133 stakeholders (including DVF) sent a joint position letter to E.U. Agriculture Commissioner Hansen, requesting the development of the action plan.
After eight years of effort—including a petition, policy papers, a lawsuit, and numerous meetings between DVF and the Danish government—constructive rhetoric regarding vegan nutrition for children under two years old was adopted by the government in September. This new stance aligns with similar policies in other Nordic countries.

Faunalytics

$59,607 grant

Faunalytics would like to thank ACE’s Recommended Charity Fund donors for helping make the following original research studies possible:
Donations also helped fund the following activities in the second half of 2024:
- Over 430 researchers and advocates connected live to share insights on the latest research and data at Faunalytics’ third annual online symposium, Fauna Connections. Session recordings have received over 300,000 views on YouTube.
- The Office Hours program provided free one-on-one support to 80+ advocates and organizations.
- Faunalytics’ Research Library published over 125 articles summarizing external studies on important topics in animal advocacy.
- The Research Ambassador project conducted presentations to over a dozen organizations worldwide. Find impact results and plans for 2025 here.
- Visual updates to Faunalytics’ Wild Animal Fundamentals and Research Animal Fundamentals are available, ensuring that advocates can quickly understand the most relevant research.
- The second publication of the “Tactics In Practice” blog series focused on The Science Of Plant-Based Defaults And Nudges.
- Faunalytics welcomed a new Research Director, a new People and Operations Director, and new board members. Meet their team here.
Additionally, ten studies are in progress and planned for publication in 2025. Visit Faunalytics’ website to view their full 2024 Year In Review and 2025 Plans.

Fish Welfare Initiative

$43,793 grant

Fish Welfare Initiative (FWI) invests heavily in research and development to identify better interventions for reducing the suffering of farmed Indian major carps. From July to December of 2024, their R&D work included:
- continuing to explore the technology of using satellite imagery to monitor water quality, discovering some issues with their previous study;
- launched a new Remote Sensing Innovation Challenge; and,
- wrapping up their Feed Fortification Study, for which they expect results to be available in a few months.
FWI also launched several new studies and initiatives, including:
- a request for proposals (RFP) challenge to develop pre-slaughter stunning in India;
- a study on the minimum levels of dissolved oxygen Indian major carps must have in order to not exhibit indicators of poor welfare; and,
- a new welfare assessment protocol for Indian major carps.
FWI’s farm program expanded to an additional 43 farms, bringing the total number of active farms to 155 (at the time of publication). FWI staff visits partners’ farms every few weeks to ensure stocking density limits and maintain high water quality.
FWI estimates their farm program improved the lives of about 800,000 fishes over the July–December 2024 period. This was primarily through their work addressing an outbreak of ammonia spikes, too much of which is toxic for fishes.
In collaboration with local organizations, FWI supported the World Conference on Farm Animal Welfare in Beijing. They aim for conferences like these to help build the field of fish welfare in China.
FWI began the hiring process for a China Program Director.

Legal Impact for Chickens

$60,824 grant

Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC) filed its opening appellate brief in LIC’s animal-cruelty lawsuit against KFC-supplier Case Farms. Since then, farming groups, veterinarians, and a North Carolina animal rescue all weighed in on LIC’s side via amicus briefs—including one amicus brief authored by former North Carolina appellate judge Lucy Inman. LIC then filed an appellate reply brief.
LIC commissioned an undercover investigation of poultry giant Foster Farms. The animal protection charity Animal Outlook released the investigation. The undercover investigator caught Foster Farms driving forklifts over chickens, throwing them, and kicking them. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has launched its own investigation as a result. Foster Farms also released a statement that, as a result of the LIC-sponsored investigation, Foster Farms has “‘implemented'” new animal welfare procedures.
LIC filed an animal-cruelty suit against Alexandre Family Farm for pouring salt into cows’ eyes, dragging disabled animals across the concrete, starving cattle, and more.
LIC sued DC butcher shop Harvey’s Market on behalf of client Animal Outlook for calling foie gras humane. The suit had an immediate impact! “Harvey’s Market . . . discontinued the sale of foie gras once notice of this lawsuit was received,” according to the butcher shop’s answer to the complaint.
LIC sent an official request for books and records to Tyson’s board on behalf of a shareholder. The shareholder is demanding more information about Tyson’s treatment of chickens and of workers. LIC is now in communication with attorneys for Tyson’s board regarding the documents to which their client is entitled.
LIC and the University of San Francisco School of Law Student Animal Legal Defense Fund submitted a comment to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking the USDA to take animal welfare into consideration in its Salmonella Framework. Sixty-seven members of the public then submitted their own comments echoing LIC’s.

New Roots Institute

$30,412 grant

Educational Outreach

In the fall semester, New Roots Institute educators taught lessons in 89 cities across 11 states.
93% of people surveyed after the lessons support more plant-based options in their communities or legislation to limit the impact of factory farming.
87% reported being more knowledgeable about factory farming after the lesson.

Recruitment and Training

In the fall semester, 38 Academic Year Fellows initiated campaigns. Below is a small sampling of their campaign successes:
- Plant-Based Alternatives: Two dining halls at Columbia University (~36,000 students) introduced plant-based milk dispensers. At the University of San Diego (~10,000 students), the oat milk upcharge was permanently eliminated at all eatery locations across campus.
- Alternatives to Animal Testing: Cupertino High School (~2,000 students) has launched a pilot program to replace the use of fetal pigs (a byproduct of factory farming) in biology class dissections with non-animal alternatives.
- Event Coordination: Fellows organized the EA Nigeria Summit, American University’s VegFest, UCLA’s Sustainable Food Futures: Career and Networking Fair, and many more.
- Policy Work: In the U.S., North Carolina Representative Pricey Harrison was secured as a primary co-sponsor of a state octopus ban, and over 10,000 signatures were gathered for the Yes on IP28 (PEACE Act) campaign in Eugene, Oregon. In Nigeria, the Deputy Chair of the Committee on Environment of the Nigerian House of Representatives endorsed an Eat for Impact initiative.

Alumni Engagement

In the long term, New Roots Institute is dedicated to building the largest and most effective network of outstanding advocates against factory farming. They perform regular audits of their alumni every quarter. As of December, New Roots Institute alumni are working, volunteering, or interning at over 250 distinct organizations.

Shrimp Welfare Project

$35,278 grant

Corporate Engagement

Through their Humane Slaughter Initiative (HSI), Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) has partnered with four new seafood producers in India, Venezuela, and Vietnam. These partnerships will improve the lives of an additional ~500,000,000 shrimp, bringing the total number of shrimp helped annually to ~2,700,000,000. Read more about SWP’s impact here.
Two retailers, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, published policies and commitments on shrimp welfare following their discussions and partnership with SWP.
SWP started a collaboration with CrustaWohl, a research initiative by the Alfred-Wegener Institute. CrustaWohl is investigating husbandry practices to better understand and reduce chronic stress in shrimp farming. SWP will integrate these findings into practical welfare standards, enabling producers to adopt practices that minimize stress.

Farmer Support

Through their Sustainable Shrimp Farmers of India (SSFI) initiative, SWP has improved conditions for ~30,000,000 shrimps annually across 100 acres of farms by removing sludge (which improves water quality) and lowering stocking densities.
- While this number is smaller than the number of shrimp helped through the HSI, the depth of impact is significant—some external estimates have suggested the per-shrimp impact is ~20x greater than that of the HSI, as it addresses chronic suffering throughout their lives. This dual approach allows SWP to tackle both acute and long-term suffering in shrimp farming.

Other

In October, the SWP team gathered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for their annual Shrimp-posium retreat. The global team collaborated to shape SWP’s future strategy. During the retreat, they also visited a partner shrimp farm in the Mekong Delta.
SWP launched a brand new website designed to make learning about shrimp welfare more engaging and accessible.
SWP team members Lien-Huong and Sri Rang shared insights at EAGxVirtual about improving farmed shrimp welfare through corporate and farmer engagement.

Sinergia Animal

$55,958 grant

Sinergia Animal’s 2024 Progress Report indicates that the organization continues to implement high-impact programs and achieve record-breaking results across various areas.
Corporate Commitments: The organization has secured 12 corporate commitments to improve farmed animal welfare. Notable participants include Belmond Hotels, a hotel chain present in 28 countries; Zen Group, a restaurant chain with over 330 locations throughout Asia; and Cañon Alimentos, a supplier for Starbucks and other brands at 2,000+ locations in Argentina.
Tracking Progress: Sinergia Animal continues to monitor food companies’ commitments to phase out the use of battery cages in egg production. In Latin America, their Cage-Free Tracker Report found that 68 out of 138 companies reported progress in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. In Asia, 78 companies saw significant engagement in 2024 (compared to 65 in the previous year) across India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand in 2024.
Institutional Diet Change: Sinergia Animal secured 13 new commitments from 240 institutions, potentially eliminating animal products from 2.5 million meals. In 2024, the program’s impact increased to a potential four million meals.
Influencing Public Opinion: In 2024, Sinergia nearly doubled its media outreach, with 527 hits in the second semester and a cumulative total of 1,489—a 92.36% year-over-year increase.
Academic Outreach: In December, the organization launched a technical white paper on cage-free production at a high-profile event, engaging policymakers, academics, and corporate stakeholders from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.
Investigations: Sinergia Animal released three undercover investigations. One investigation, presented in the Colombian Congress, resulted in the creation of a government committee for animal transport improvements.

The Good Food Institute

$45,010 grant

The Good Food Institute Japan (GFI Japan) officially launched in September, representing GFI’s latest effort to focus on Asia, a hub for alternative protein innovation.
GFI published the most comprehensive open-access life-cycle assessment of plant-based meats to date, confirming that these products provide significant environmental benefits compared to conventional meat, regardless of their production methods.
GFI Europe published two analyses of the European alternative protein research landscape.
GFI selected 14 proposals to receive open-access research funding through their Research Grant Program.
GFI’s university program welcomed 21 new groups, bringing the total number of global chapters to 70.
GFI launched the alternative protein ecosystem map, allowing users to visualize and interact with geographical “hot spots” of alternative protein activity.
With direct engagement from GFI, the world’s foremost journal of biotechnology, Nature Biotechnology, did a deep dive into the science of cultivated meat and concluded that the technology has great potential. The journal released its official position on cultivated meat, stating that governments should invest in the technology.
The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded $51 million to the iFAB Tech Hub at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to advance precision fermentation. Leading up to the award, GFI met with iFAB leadership to discuss policy needs and build support from leaders in Congress and the Illinois State Legislature.
With input from GFI Europe, the first regulatory authorization submission for a cultivated meat product (foie gras) was filed in the European Union.
After significant engagement from GFI India, the Indian government announced its national biotechnology policy, BioE3, which includes alternative proteins as a key focus area.
GFI shared recommendations for building the U.S. agricultural bioeconomy with the Trump Administration transition team.

The Humane League

$45,010 grant

After fierce pressure from Open Wing Alliance (OWA) activists around the world, Japanese mayo juggernaut Kewpie committed to increase its cage-free egg usage to meet targets by 2027 and 2030. Responsible for purchasing 10% of all eggs in Japan, Kewpie’s commitment will inject rapid momentum to boost the cage-free market in Japan, a major global business hub and egg consumer. The Humane League (THL) estimates that this victory will spare a minimum of 700,000 hens from suffering annually once implemented.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of THL, THL UK, and the OWA, over 378 companies across Europe have committed to the Better Chicken Commitment, agreeing to adopt essential welfare standards for chickens. The OWA published its inaugural European Chicken Commitment Report, revealing that 230 million chickens raised for meat are already being protected from some of the worst forms of suffering on factory farms, with more than a billion chickens each year expected to benefit once these commitments are fully realized.
Through public accountability reports and hard-hitting campaigns, THL pressured 61 companies to make and transparently report progress on their cage-free commitments. Several companies reported progress for the first time, including Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr in the U.S., as well as MGM Resorts and Dairy Queen globally. THL estimates that together, updates from these 61 companies spared three million hens from suffering in 2024.
The OWA hosted Regional Summits in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, uniting advocates from 48 member groups to deepen connections, build their skills, and develop shared regional strategies to end the use of cages in their region.
The Animal Policy Alliance (APA) expanded from 15 to 25 member organizations. THL offered policy analysis and grant funding to help these members achieve various local legislative victories, such as banning octopus farming in California.

Wild Animal Initiative

$59,607 grant

Outreach

Executive Director Cameron Meyer Shorb appeared on the 80,000 Hours podcast to discuss and dismantle the myth that we can’t do anything to help wild animals. Shorb also attended the United Nations’ biodiversity summit in Colombia and presented a five-year retrospective on the growth of the field at EAG Boston.
Wild Animal Initiative staff attended several conferences, including:
International Society for Behavioral Ecology, where they highlighted the importance of integrating welfare into ecological research;
Animal Behavior Society, where Outreach Manager Dr. Janire Castellano-Bueno presented the potential for wild animal welfare science;
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, where their team spoke on biologging in welfare, optimizing population density for welfare, and addressing gaps in knowledge for assessing wild animal welfare; and,
International Society for Applied Ethology, where Physiology and Behavior Researcher Dr. Bonnie Flint and Outreach Manager Dr. Janire Castellano-Bueno led a workshop on integrating wild animal welfare science into Ethology.

Grants

Grantees Dr. Michael J. Sheriff and Sam Sonnega, Ph.D., authored “Harnessing the gut microbiome: a potential biomarker for wild animal welfare” in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Grantees Dr. Rafael Freire and Dr. Christine J. Nicol contributed “A novel method to measure the impact of water quality on judgment bias in wild juvenile fish” to Global Ecology and Conservation.
Wild Animal Initiative announced six new grantees. Grantees’ research projects explore indicator validation and parasites and pathogens.
The organization hosted a grantee meetup in Toronto, Canada, where participants connected to share ideas and learn about how different projects contribute to growing the field.

Research

Senior Researcher Michaël Beaulieu’s paper, “Plugging biologging into animal welfare: an opportunity for advancing wild animal welfare science,” became their first paper published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
Researchers Simon Eckerström Liedholm and Luke Hecht published “Improving wild animal welfare through contraception” in Bioscience.

If you are inspired by these achievements and want to fuel more progress for animals, please donate to support ACE’s Recommended Charity Fund. Your gift today will help reduce animal suffering tomorrow.