Comparison Chart of Our 2022 Recommended Charities

Our 2022 charity comparison chart summarizes key information about our 15 recommended charities. It’s intended to give you a basic understanding of what these charities do, what makes them so promising, and how well they may fit your interests and values. If you’re interested in learning more about any of these organizations, such as the cost-effectiveness of their programs or their plans for expansion, please refer to our comprehensive charity reviews.

View Our 2022 Charity Comparison Chart

The descriptions below provide some context on the information in each column of our chart.

Recommendation Status

This column indicates whether Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) has designated the charity as a Top Charity or a Standout Charity. Top Charities carry ACE’s highest recommendation status: They work in ways that are most likely to produce the greatest gains for animals, actively evaluate and improve their programs, and have a demonstrated need for more funding. Standout Charities are excellent charities that have narrowly missed our Top Charity status: They conduct strong work on behalf of animals but did not receive our top recommendation for one reason or another, e.g., because we had minor concerns or uncertainties about their approach or programs, other organizations performed stronger in areas we prioritize, or they had comparatively less room for more funding.

Last Reviewed

This column contains the most recent year in which we evaluated the charity and published our review. All recommended charities are re-evaluated every two years in order to maintain their recommendation status. In some cases, information in our 2021 charity reviews does not directly compare with information in our 2022 charity reviews. We confirm the information in our reviews with charities at the time of publication—it is accurate to the best of our knowledge, but some details may fall out of date over time.

Cause Area

Currently, we believe many of the most impactful opportunities to reduce animal suffering are through supporting organizations and programs that aim to help farmed or wild animals. Occasionally, we find an organization working in multiple cause areas—such as farmed animal advocacy and companion animal advocacy—in a way that we think is particularly effective.

Countries/Regions

ACE prioritizes charities that work in countries with relatively large animal agricultural industries, few other charities engaged in similar work, and in which animal advocacy is likely to be feasible and have a lasting impact. Additionally, we consider global influence as a fourth factor in our prioritization of countries. In our charity reviews, we use an adjusted version of Mercy For Animals’ Farmed Animal Opportunity Index (FAOI) to assess the priority level of the countries in which the charity works. In this column of our comparison chart, we list the countries and regions where the charity operates but do not include our priority-level assessment.

Primary Interventions

Charities focused on helping animals engage in a variety of interventions. Based on existing research, we believe some interventions our recommended charities pursue are likely to be more effective than others. We highlight those interventions in this column because individual donors may have particular ones they wish to support. We also highlight the charity’s unique attributes here.

Expected Outcome(s)

We categorize the work of animal advocacy charities by their outcomes, broadly distinguishing whether the interventions used to achieve those outcomes focus on individual or institutional change. Individual-focused interventions often involve decreasing the consumption of animal products, increasing the prevalence of anti-speciesist values, or providing direct help to animals. Institutional-focused interventions often involve improving animal welfare standards, increasing the availability of animal-free products, or strengthening the animal advocacy movement. We currently find the arguments for institution-focused approaches more compelling than individual-focused ones.

View Our 2022 Charity Comparison Chart