Menu of Interventions

This category refers to books, documentaries, and podcasts intended to spread anti-speciesist values, promote behavioral change, or increase support for animal advocacy initiatives. Tactics can include: collaborating with authors to publish books that highlight animal welfare issues; producing and distributing documentaries that raise awareness about animal welfare issues; or producing or appearing on podcasts that feature discussions with experts and advocates.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy
• Increased prevalence of anti-speciesist values

This category refers to engagement with celebrities and/or influencers to change public attitudes and behaviors toward animals or increase support for a specific animal advocacy initiative. Tactics include: forming partnerships with influential celebrities or social media influencers to amplify a charity’s message and reach new audiences; receiving endorsements from celebrities/influencers to raise a charity’s profile and attract more support; collaborating with celebrities/influencers to create social media posts, videos, or other content promoting a charity’s cause and mission; organizing fundraising events featuring appearances or performances by celebrities; or having celebrities/influencers take over a charity’s social media accounts for a short time.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy
• Increased prevalence of anti-speciesist values

This category refers to outreach or campaigns to encourage food companies (e.g., retailers, producers, supermarkets, or restaurants) or institutions (e.g., schools, universities, or hospitals) to commit to improving animal welfare standards throughout their supply chains. Unlike Farmer collaboration, which involves directly engaging with farmers and producers to adopt better practices on the ground, this approach targets the institutional policies and commitments that drive supply chain changes. This includes work such as corporate commitment campaigns, outreach to certification programs, efforts to track companies’ implementation of welfare commitments, and providing support to companies to facilitate implementation.

Expected outcome(s):

• Improvement of welfare standards

This category refers to initiatives that transform the food environment in various food companies and institutions, including retailers, supermarkets, restaurants, schools, universities, and hospitals, to promote plant-based consumption and reduce animal product consumption. It includes efforts such as securing corporate commitments to increase plant-based offerings, redesigning menus to prioritize plant-based items, launching new plant-based products, and establishing meatless days or plant-based defaults.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Increased availability of animal-free products
• Decreased availability of animal products

This category refers to humane education and other formal educational programs aimed at students in educational institutions that are intended to spread anti-speciesist values and change attitudes and behaviors toward animals. Tactics include developing and integrating curriculum materials that focus on animal welfare and ethics, conducting workshops and seminars that engage students in discussions about animal agriculture, and familiarizing children with animals and their needs and abilities.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy
• Increased prevalence of anti-speciesist values

This category refers to influencing funding toward animal advocacy organizations or individuals, as well as startups or other companies working on alternatives to animal products. This can include influencing investors to support the development and implementation of innovative solutions to promote plant-based living or animal welfare, influencing government funding for plant-based and animal welfare initiatives, and lobbying funders or governments to divest from industries that are harmful to animals.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased availability of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased availability of animal-free products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to providing funding for animal advocacy organizations or individuals, as well as startups or other companies working on alternatives to animal products. Tactics include establishing funds and providing financial support to help animal advocacy organizations scale, awarding grants to promising initiatives, or investing in the development of new technologies and products that promote plant-based living and animal welfare.

Expected outcome(s):

• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased availability of animal-free products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to conducting investigations to document animal welfare violations and expose the mistreatment of animals in farms, transport facilities, slaughterhouses, and research laboratories. It can also include developing and implementing tools and systems that facilitate reporting animal welfare violations, such as establishing a hotline or an online reporting platform.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy

This category refers to using existing legislation and legal systems to bring about change for animals. Tactics include filing lawsuits against factory farms, helping animal-free product companies defend against lawsuits from the animal agriculture industry, or filing complaints or breach notifications to regulatory agencies or industry associations. Examples of governmental litigation include filing lawsuits against government agencies for failing to enforce existing animal protection regulations, challenging the legality of legislation that harms animals, or suing government bodies that fail to act in accordance with legal animal welfare-related mandates.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased availability of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased availability of animal-free products

This category refers to engagement with media outlets or journalists to change public attitudes and behaviors toward animals or support a specific animal advocacy initiative. Tactics include pitching stories and publishing press releases that emphasize animal welfare issues and anti-speciesist perspectives, giving interviews to media outlets, and building relationships with journalists and editors to facilitate ongoing coverage.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to building or strengthening networks, alliances, or coalitions within animal advocacy and with other movements. Tactics include organizing events and conferences to facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing and developing strategic partnerships with other organizations to enhance collective impact. Networking initiatives for veg*ns and advocates are also used to improve retention.

Expected outcome(s):

• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy

This category encompasses the creation and distribution of leaflets and other forms of physical media aimed at raising awareness of animal issues or promoting behavioral change. In addition to leaflets and pamphlets, examples include billboard campaigns, posters, stickers, guerrilla advertising campaigns, and print media advertisements.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased prevalence of anti-speciesist values

This category includes ballot initiatives, propositions, referendums, and other citizen-led efforts aimed at changing laws and policies affecting animals. These initiatives serve as tools for law and policy advocacy, therefore overlapping with the “Government outreach” intervention. However, they are categorized separately here due to their distinct theories of change. This intervention encompasses both direct democracy mechanisms, where the electorate directly votes on a policy without requiring the involvement of elected representatives (for example, U.S. city and state-level ballot initiatives), and indirect democracy mechanisms, where a petition meeting specific requirements can initiate a legal process to address a proposed measure (e.g.,, the E.U. European Citizens’ Initiatives).

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased availability of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased availability of animal-free products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to programs or schemes that label or certify products as vegan or vegetarian (veg*n), along with cruelty-free, eco/climate, health, and higher-welfare labeling and certification schemes. Examples of tactics include launching labeling initiatives, campaigning for new products to receive veg*n/plant-based labels, and lobbying brands to commit to labeling their products.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased availability of animal-free products

This category encompasses services aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of individuals involved in the animal advocacy movement or alternative protein industry. These services are often more specialized, affordable, or accessible compared to what is typically found in the market. Examples of such services include those in technical support, legal assistance, marketing, human resources, or operational management.

Expected outcome(s):

• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased skills/knowledge in animal advocacy

This category refers to protests or organized demonstrations to support an animal advocacy initiative. Tactics include: organizing or participating in protests, demonstrations, or marches to raise awareness about animal welfare issues and advocate for change; engaging in nonviolent direct action campaigns such as sit-ins, blockades, or banner drops; and developing creative and attention-grabbing stunts or performances to raise awareness about animal welfare issues and promote plant-based living.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased availability of animal products
• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to initiatives to recruit individuals to the animal advocacy community as volunteers or paid staff and to improve retention in the movement. Tactics include connecting candidates with high-impact organizations, providing recruitment support and hiring advice, facilitating candidate placement in partner organizations, and offering career development services. Tactics can also include organizational health and employee wellbeing initiatives intended to enhance retention, productivity, and job satisfaction.

Expected outcome(s):

• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to investigating and evaluating strategies, interventions, and cause areas to identify impactful and cost-effective ways to help animals. It can also include more foundational social science research to understand the context in which advocates operate. This research is carried out by academics, research organizations, or researchers at animal advocacy organizations.

Expected outcome(s):

• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy

This category refers to advancing the study of farmed animal welfare to improve living conditions and treatment. Tactics include conducting scientific research to assess the welfare needs of farmed animals, evaluating the effects of welfare interventions, and identifying practices that improve animal wellbeing. The research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for policy changes and industry practices.

Expected outcome(s):

• Improvement of welfare standards
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy

This category refers to conducting or promoting research that supports wild animal welfare advocacy. Tactics include investigating the challenges faced by wild animals, developing interventions to improve their wellbeing, and assessing the impact of human activities on their habitats and health. Research can also answer more foundational questions, such as those around animal sentience, how we can measure animal welfare, and the ecology and evolution of wild animal welfare. The goal is to generate evidence-based insights that can inform policies and practices aimed at enhancing the welfare of wild animals.

Expected outcome(s):

• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy

This category refers to developing or strengthening the skills, processes, and/or resources that animal advocates need to conduct and improve their work. Tactics include providing training and advice through workshops, internships, courses, talks, webinars, mentorships, and support programs.

Expected outcome(s):

• Increased engagement in animal advocacy
• Increased knowledge/skills for animal advocacy

This category refers to in-person vegan or vegetarian (veg*n) events, vegfests, or similar food events that promote animal-free products and behavioral change. These events typically include showcasing plant-based foods, hosting cooking demonstrations, and featuring speakers who advocate for a plant-based lifestyle or educate on animal welfare issues.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Increased availability of animal-free products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to vegan or vegetarian (veg*n) pledge campaigns that promote behavioral change. Veg*n pledges are commitments from individuals to eliminate or reduce their animal product consumption for a specific period of time. Charities typically campaign to achieve sign-ups to their pledge program and then keep in touch with participants over the course of the commitment, with varying levels of support and information provided.

Expected outcome(s):

• Decreased consumption of animal products
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy

This category refers to providing veterinary care and/or shelter to rescued animals, often in the form of sanctuaries, animal shelters, or vaccination and spay/neutering programs. Tactics include providing veterinary care, operating animal shelters or sanctuaries, conducting animal rescue missions, and coordinating with other organizations to ensure proper care and placement of rescued animals. This also encompasses adoption and foster programs, as well as TNR programs (Trap-Neuter-Return).

Expected outcome(s):

• Direct help
• Increased engagement in animal advocacy