2020 Donor Survey Analysis

Table of Contents

• Key Takeaways
• Research Aims
• Methodology and Limitations
• Donation Analysis
• Measuring ACE’s Impact
• ACE Community Analysis
• Feedback
• Appreciation

Key Takeaways

• Of the 253 individuals who participated in the ACE 2020 Donor Survey, 173 (68%) respondents viewed the entire survey.
• The majority of respondents (84%) reported using ACE’s recommendations at least a small amount to guide their donations between December 2, 2019 and November 23, 2020 (survey close date).
• Over half of respondents (56%) indicated that they gave more to animal charities because of ACE’s recommendations.
• Nearly all respondents (99%) who answered this question (170) at least somewhat agreed that they support the core concepts of effective altruism.

Research Aims

Annually, we conduct a survey of donors to Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) and our recommended charities. The goal is to help us better understand who is giving to ACE and who is using our recommendations when giving to our Top and Standout Charities, including via our Recommended Charity Fund. It also contributes to our understanding of how much money we are influencing within the animal advocacy movement and how it may have been spent otherwise.

ACE first conducted a donor survey in 2015. A similar version of the survey was distributed and the results were published in 2016. In 2017, we transitioned to a new survey format and made minor changes in 2018. Due to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we did not publish our 2019 donor survey results. After significant changes to the survey in 2020, we are pleased to present our most recent findings.

Methodology and Limitations

In October 2020, before the announcement of our 2020 charity recommendations in late November, we distributed an online survey using our mailing list of known individuals who donated to ACE and our recommended charities over the previous year. We also asked our 2019 Top Charities to send the survey to their donors who reported being influenced by ACE. Our 2019 Top Charities were the Albert Schweitzer Foundation (ASF), Anima International, The Good Food Institute (GFI), and The Humane League (THL).

The survey was hosted via Qualtrics and incorporated branching logic, such that not all respondents received all questions. The survey had two sections: 22–40 primarily multiple-choice questions in the first section (dependent upon participants’ responses) and a second section with four additional open-ended questions. All questions in both sections were optional. The first section included questions about donors’ behavior, motivation, and giving history over the past year. The second section included opportunities to provide specific feedback and suggestions for ACE.

ACE distributed the survey to 699 individuals who had donated to ACE between December 2, 2019 and October 14, 2019 (the date the list was generated), who had valid email addresses, and who opted to join our mailing list. During that period, 142 had given primarily to ACE, 160 had given primarily to our Top Charities, 133 had given primarily to our Recommended Charity Fund, and 138 had given primarily to our Effective Animal Advocacy Fund (now called Movement Grants). Frequently, donors give to more than one option when donating to ACE. For the first time, we also included 126 lapsed donors who had not given to ACE but whom we thought might have donated directly to our recommended charities.

Most of our 2019 Top Charities distributed the survey to their donors who made donations between December 2, 2019 and November 23, 2019, believed to have been influenced by ACE. They included 921 donors to The Humane League, 136 donors to the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, and 76 donors to The Good Food Institute, for a total of 1,133 individuals. Thus, the survey population does not include an equal proportion of donors from each organization. Anima International decided to not send the survey to their donors. The total number of recipients of the ACE 2020 Donor Survey may be fewer than the combined 1,832, as some duplication between groups may have occurred. However, participants were clearly instructed to complete the survey only once. Of the 253 individuals who participated in the survey, 173 (68%) viewed the entire survey. All questions were optional and not every respondent answered every question. Any incomplete responses were also recorded.

Donation Analysis

ACE’s general influence on respondents

The majority of the 232 respondents (84%) who answered this question reported that they had used ACE’s 2019 charity recommendations at least a small amount to guide their donations between December 2, 2019 and November 23, 2020. This reflects the nature of the sample population, which represents donors who are likely to have been influenced by ACE.

Donation distribution across charities

When asked to which charities they had donated, of the 208 respondents who answered this question nearly half (49%) reported donating to ACE, our Recommended Charity Fund, or our Effective Animal Advocacy Fund (now called Movement Grants), and 78% reported donating to one of our nine 2019 recommended charities. Respondents could select multiple options, and the majority of ACE donors (62%) also donated to one of our recommended charities. Of the 162 individuals who reported donating to a recommended charity, 86% reported donating to our Top Charities and 14% reported donating to our Standout Charities. This was the first year that we expanded this question to include our Standout Charities. ACE’s 2019 Standout Charities were Compassion in World Farming USA (Compassion), Faunalytics, Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), Sinergia Animal, and Sociedade Vegetariana Brasileira (SVB).

ACE’s influence on first-time donors

Of the 213 respondents answering this question, 14% indicated that it was the first time they had donated to any animal charity or animal-focused fund (not limited to ACE and our recommended charities). These donations could include those that may have, if not for ACE’s work, gone to other causes.

Of the 30 individuals who reported donating to an animal charity or animal-focus fund for the first time, the majority (70%) indicated that ACE had some amount of influence on their decision to start supporting the animal advocacy movement financially. When asked to rank ACE’s influence, two selected  “exclusively,” seven selected “a substantial amount,” seven selected “a moderate amount”, and five selected “a small amount”. The remaining nine first-time donors indicated that ACE did not influence their decision to contribute to the animal advocacy movement at all.

Measuring ACE’s Impact

Tracking the amount of funding that ACE influences to our recommended charities and our grantees is one way we aim to measure our impact within the effective animal advocacy movement. Of course, we’re interested in how donors would have used their money if it hadn’t been for ACE’s recommendations. We can have a greater positive impact by moving funding from other causes to farmed and wild animal advocacy, whereas we might have less impact if we are shifting funding from one farmed or wild animal charity to another.

How much did respondents donate?

Respondents were asked to estimate how much money they donated to ACE since our charity recommendations announcement on December 2, 2019. There were 175 individuals who answered this question by providing approximate donation amounts. We also asked how much money they donated to our Top and Standout Charities, our Recommended Charity Fund, and our Effective Animal Advocacy Fund (now called Movement Grants) combined. Additionally, we explored their other philanthropy: donations to other animal charities or funds aligned with effective altruism and/or focused on helping farmed animals; donations to other animal charities; donations to charities or funds that do not focus on animals but are aligned with effective altruism; and donations to other charities not included in the previous options.

Donations reported across all respondents

*All donations are reported in USD

The donations voluntarily reported by participants of our 2020 Donor Survey are a small fraction of the $11 million we estimate that ACE influenced within the animal advocacy movement last year. Since we started tracking this metric in 2014, we estimate that our efforts have helped to influence more than $37 million in donations to reduce animal suffering.

How much did ACE influence the value of donations?

We asked respondents about the impact of ACE’s recommendations on the amount of their donations. The majority (56%) of the 171 individuals who answered this question said that they gave more to animal charities because of ACE, with 23% selecting “much more” and 33% selecting “slightly more.” On average, respondents estimated that they gave approximately $753 more to charities than they would have without ACE’s recommendations. While 40% said that ACE did not change their donation amount, 3% indicated they gave less to animal charities.

How much did ACE influence where respondents donated?

We asked respondents about the impact of ACE’s recommendations on where they donated. The majority (87%) of the 171 respondents to this question said ACE influenced their choice of charity, ranging from “total influence” to “slight influence.” The remaining 13% said that their choice of charity was not influenced by ACE in any way.

Counterfactual use of donations

When asked how they would have otherwise used the money they had donated to ACE, our recommended charities, or our funds, of the 124 respondents to this question, 95% indicated that they would have donated to some type of charity. Of those, 73% stated that they would have donated to animal charities or funds aligned with effective altruism and/or focused on helping farmed animals, 52% of respondents indicated that they would have donated to charities or funds not focused on animals but aligned with effective altruism, and 27% said they would have donated to other charities not included in the previous options. Respondents were able to select multiple options.

ACE Community Analysis

How did respondents learn about ACE?

When asked how they had learned about ACE, the 171 respondents who answered this question were most likely to cite the effective altruism movement (33%). A further 16% had learned about ACE from a search engine, 9% from an ACE recommended charity, 5% from social media, 4% from a friend, 4% from a book, and 2% from a conference or event, while 14% could not recall. Notable “Other” responses submitted (14%) included GiveWell, The Life You Can Save, Open Philanthropy, and Vox’s Future Perfect podcast.

Why did respondents donate to ACE?

We asked respondents why they donated to ACE and offered the following options, with the opportunity to select multiple responses.

• I value ACE’s charity reviews to help me determine my own charitable giving
• I value ACE’s efforts to promote effective animal advocacy
• I want to see more philanthropic funding go to effective charities
• I think meta-charities are generally the most effective giving opportunities
• Other

The most popular reasons selected by the 42 respondents who answered this question were valuing ACE’s efforts to promote effective animal advocacy (83%), wanting effective charities to receive more philanthropic funding (74%), and valuing ACE’s charity reviews to help determine charitable giving (71%). Only 14% of respondents indicated that they donated to ACE because they believe that meta-charities are the most effective giving option. One notable “Other” response shared that they donated to ACE in honor of a friend who is an animal advocate.

How familiar are respondents with ACE?

When asked how familiar they were with ACE and our work, the most common response selected by the 171 respondents who answered this question was moderately familiar (36%). An even amount said they were either very familiar (24%) or slightly familiar (24%), and 5% said they were extremely familiar. Additionally, 11% reported not being familiar at all with ACE.

How much time did respondents spend deciding where to donate?

Respondents were asked to estimate how many hours they spent researching and deciding where to direct their charitable donations since the announcement of ACE’s 2019 charity recommendations. The time ranged widely from 0 to 200 hours, with an average of 7.9 hours.

How much time did respondents spend reading ACE’s 2019 charity reviews?

For the first time, we asked respondents to estimate how many hours they spent, if any, reading ACE’s 2019 charity reviews. The time ranged widely from 0 to 100 hours, with an average of 2.7 hours.

How much time did respondents spend reading ACE’s blog posts?

For the first time, we asked respondents to estimate how many hours they spent, if any, reading various ACE blog posts since December 2, 2019. The time ranged from 0 to 15 hours, with an average of 1.6 hours.

Why did respondents donate to ACE’s Recommended Charity Fund?

We asked respondents why they donated to ACE’s Recommended Charity Fund and offered the following options, with the opportunity to select multiple responses.

• I trust ACE to direct my donation effectively
• I want to support all of ACE’s recommended charities
• I want to support effective altruism programs
• Other

The most popular reason selected by the 43 respondents who answered this question was trust that ACE would direct their donation effectively (91%). One notable “Other” response shared that they were motivated to give by the Double Up Drive matching opportunity, which doubled their donation.

Why did respondents donate to ACE’s Effective Animal Advocacy Fund?

We asked respondents why they donated to ACE’s Effective Animal Advocacy Fund (now “Movement Grants”) and offered the following options, with the opportunity to select multiple responses.

• I trust ACE to direct my donation effectively
• I want to support charities that haven’t yet been recommended by ACE
• I am interested in high-risk/high-reward funding opportunities
• I want to support promising animal advocacy projects
• I want to support effective altruism programs
• Other

Again, the most popular reason selected by the 24 respondents who answered this question was trust that ACE would direct their donation effectively (88%), with the second reason being the desire to support promising animal advocacy projects (79%). One notable “Other” response shared that they were motivated to give by the matching opportunity, which doubled their donation.

Do respondents identify as effective altruists?

The majority of the 170 respondents (85%) who answered this question at least somewhat agreed to the statement that they identify as an effective altruist, while 3% at least somewhat disagreed, and 12% did not specify. Additionally, 99% of all respondents at least somewhat agree that they support the core concepts of effective altruism.

We also asked if respondents were active in the effective altruism movement and/or the animal advocacy movement, aside from charitable donations. Of the 166 respondents who answered the questions related to effective altruism and the 168 respondents who answered the questions related to animal advocacy, the most popular selection for both (73% and 74% respectively) involved reading articles online. All responses are listed below.

Effective altruism movement

Animal advocacy movement

Feedback

In the second section of the donor survey, respondents were asked four additional open-ended questions. This was an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback and specific suggestions for ACE. Below are the questions and some common themes of the responses received.

What is the most useful thing ACE has done?

• Conducted comprehensive charity evaluations
• Recommended effective animal charities
• Reviewed charities around the world
• Provided convenient giving opportunities
• Promoted farmed animal advocacy

What is the most useful thing ACE could do that we haven’t done yet?

• Evaluate more charities
• Expand geographic scope of recommended charities
• Promote wild animal and invertebrate welfare
• Increase outreach beyond the effective altruism movement
• Offer more volunteer opportunities

What are important ways that ACE could improve?

• Improve website navigation
• Create more visuals and videos
• Increase financial transparency
• Expand outreach to enhance name recognition
• Further explain stance on representation, equity, and inclusion (REI)

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

• ACE’s work is appreciated

Appreciation

ACE would like to thank everyone who participated in our 2020 Donor Survey, including our 2019 Top Charities that helped to distribute the survey to their donors. Your time, feedback, and suggestions are valuable and appreciated. Thank you!