Project summary

The Animal Advocacy Strategy Forum (AASF) is an annual gathering of around 35 leaders and key decision-makers in the animal advocacy movement. Hosted by Rethink Priorities (RP), this forum aims to foster collaboration, share knowledge, identify challenges and bottlenecks, and develop strategies to tackle them. Through targeted networking, workshops, and structured analysis activities to turn discussions into tangible next steps, participants will explore how to better align efforts, and develop new initiatives to strengthen the movement. 

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

GOAL I: CONNECT - develop new and deeper relationships between leaders and key decision-makers.

We aim to develop meaningful relationships among leaders in different areas of animal advocacy. Participants will network across various movement sub-causes, roles, and approaches, such as researchers with campaigners. Participants are strategically grouped to facilitate new learning opportunities, whilst also having ample free time for deeper conversations. Travel bursaries will ensure those from smaller, newer, or less-well-resourced organizations can attend, promoting cross-pollination of ideas between a range of organizations.

GOAL II: COORDINATE - explore how to better align efforts and learn from each other.

Through presentations, panels, and structured activities, participants will learn about challenges across the movement, resulting in a deeper understanding of how they feed into each other. The AASF will cover various theories of change within the movement, as well as issues related to movement building and funding constraints. Activities aim to help leaders work together more effectively to address critical challenges.

GOAL III: STRATEGIZE - drive forward plans in critical areas of animal advocacy.

Developing tangible next steps for the movement is a key goal of the AASF, and the next edition will build on the work of previous ones.

In 2023, leaders identified and prioritized a list of 5-year goals for the movement with key milestones, as well as legislative, research, organizational, capacity building, fundraising, and political goals. See the public 2023 summary here; this was shared with a wide range of animal advocates and funders, who told us it helped inform their work. 

The 2024 AASF identified new challenges, and attendees pitched ideas, including projects, networks, working groups, and research plans, that could tackle these. Of these, five were further developed before participants assumed project lead roles and responsibility for their implementation. RP staff are offering ongoing support to monitor the progress of these new projects. A public summary of the 2024 forum will be published by the end of October.

How is the AASF structured?

The AASF will be facilitated through carefully formed sub-groups made up of representatives of organizations working on different theories of change. The sub-groups collaborate throughout the forum, coming together at key moments to develop a shared understanding of their takeaways.

This “practically oriented” format enables strong networking opportunities and leads “to actual decision making that can make a difference” (AASF participant).

Sub-groups are facilitated by RP staff, who moderate conversations and note-take. 2024 participants commented in a feedback survey that through this structure RP staff “stewarded us towards concrete action plans for the most pressing challenges we collectively agreed we were facing” and that “this format helped create a sense of collaboration and common goals despite us each working in different lanes of the movement” (quotes from AASF participants).

Who will attend?

We aim to accept approximately 35 leaders and key decision-makers at the next AASF, with a maximum of 1-2 representatives per organization. Our selection criteria focus on influence, impact, diversity of approaches, scales, and sub-causes, and representation of neglected topics, regions, and theories of change. This careful selection ensures that attendees can contribute to, and benefit from, the forum, and drive forward identified strategies afterwards. 

How will this funding be used?

Funding will go towards the running costs of the next edition of the AASF, including venue hire, catering, equipment, and travel bursaries for participants from under-resourced organizations or regions. These bursaries are crucial to ensuring diverse respresentation and the participation of those who would not otherwise be able to attend.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Rethink Priorities has successfully hosted the AASF for the past three years. In 2023, over 90% of responders to our survey found the forum useful and relevant, and in 2024, all respondents agreed that the AASF met its goal of building connection, with a majority also agreeing that it met its knowledge sharing and strategy goals.

Past attendees have told us that the AASF provides a space for “creative, out-of-the box thinking”, and more in-depth discussions than would usually be possible, allowing a chance to “zoom out and consider how our approach compliments that of other organizations” as well as a structure to “better coordinate and collaborate with others”. 

Advisory Committee

For 2024, the AASF agenda and post-event evaluation was supported and informed by an advisory committee. The 2025 edition will operate similarly, with the committee providing expertise and insight to ensure that the AASF’s content is aligned with movement needs and can be responsive to emerging opportunities between now and the event. The committee will also leverage their networks to facilitate stronger collaboration and resource sharing, and offer an additional layer of accountability and oversight to ensure that the AASF achieves its objectives.

Other relevant work of Rethink Priorities.

Additionally, Rethink Priorities co-hosted the inaugural Wild Animal Summit with Wild Animal Initiative in 2020, and hosted a summit on invertebrates in 2024.

Rethink Priorities has been researching farmed animal welfare, invertebrate sentience, wild animal welfare, and more, since 2018. All of our published work on animal welfare from the past six years is available here. We also share updates on our in-progress and completed research with over 80 leaders and funders via our quarterly Research Insights which we launched in 2021. Our research and coordination efforts have informed strategies across the movement, mobilizing resources and leading to the creation of new initiatives.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Potential challenges include a lack of stakeholder buy-in or insufficient funding, which could limit the AASF’s scale and diversity. Our Advisory Committee helps to mitigate some of this risk, and ongoing conversations with leaders and advocates, including our annual impact survey and interviews, help ensure that we are responsive to changes in the movement’s needs or challenges. Additionally, this year we are fundraising earlier and seeking additional funds to ensure broader representation, particularly of leaders from the Global South.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

Previous AASFs have been supported by EA Animal Welfare Funds. It seems likely that EA AWF would be open to supporting this event again to some extent, subject to a new application. Additional funding has been granted by Open Philanthropy and Craigslist Foundation for sub-cause area coordination forums, which were highlighted by AASF participants as particularly under-resourced areas of the movement. These funds are allocated to separate events but reflect our commitment to aligning efforts in all areas of the movement. 

The approximate budget for the next edition of the AASF is $60,000, an increase on this year's budget as we seek to provide more travel awards. Any contribution towards this amount will be greatly appreciated and help demonstrate the value of the forum to the EA community, thereby helping us to leverage further funding.