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Menu of Outcomes for Animal Advocacy

The Menu of Outcomes was developed to inform Animal Charity Evaluators’ charity evaluations and grantmaking activities and to support advocates in better defining and evaluating their advocacy outcomes. In this context, the term “outcome” refers to the changes made by organizations or individuals as a result of their animal advocacy activities.

The eight outcomes below aim to capture the full spectrum of work animal advocates do to create change for animals. They were developed with the intention of better understanding and communicating both how the animal advocacy movement works as a whole and how individual charities operate within the movement. We use these outcomes to categorize the work of charities we encounter in our Charity Evaluations and Movement Grants applications. We believe they are also useful for individuals and organizations that are evaluating their work or developing their strategic plans.

We don’t think these outcomes are entirely discrete, and many interventions are likely to have multiple outcomes associated with them. For example, undercover investigation footage may be used to support campaigns to improve welfare standards, and it may also be used for outreach to increase the prevalence of anti-speciesist values. We have added examples of interventions to each outcome to better illustrate our thinking. These intervention examples are not intended to be exhaustive lists.

Decreased Availability of Animal Products

This category refers to interventions aimed at decreasing the availability of animal products (e.g., meat, eggs, dairy, fish, insects, leather, fur, etc.).

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Lobbying for a national ban in fur production or sales
  • Encouraging supermarkets to stop selling foie-gras or other specific animal products
  • Divestment from insect farms
  • Lobbying for ending subsidization of animal farms to increase production cost
  • Campaigning to ban factory farming

Decreased Consumption of Animal Products

This category refers to interventions aimed at encouraging and supporting individuals to decrease their consumption or use of animal products (goods or services).

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Vegan or vegetarian (veg*n) starter kits or programs
  • Veg*n pledge programs
  • Veg*n education via leafleting, billboards or online ads, and media outreach
  • Encouraging people to boycott zoos, aquariums, circuses, and other forms of human entertainment involving the use of animals
  • Encouraging people to boycott cosmetics companies that test on animals
  • Encouraging people to boycott companies that manufacture clothing using animal fur
  • Lobbying for the introduction of meat taxes and/or ending meat subsidies to increase the price of animal products

Direct Help

This category refers to interventions aimed at providing direct help for animals. Interventions that work toward this outcome often also work toward other outcomes, such as increased prevalence of anti-speciesist values or increased engagement in animal advocacy.

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Protecting and rehabilitating stray or abandoned companion animals
  • Providing veterinary care and shelter for rescued animals, often in the form of sanctuaries
  • Representing individual animals in court cases
  • Providing veterinary care and rehabilitation for wild animals

Improvement of Welfare Standards

This category refers to interventions aimed at improving animal welfare standards.

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Campaigns pressuring producers of animal products to commit to adopting higher welfare standards (e.g., ending the use of battery cages for hens in the egg industry, switching to faster-killing insecticides, etc.)
  • Outreach to encourage food service providers (e.g., supermarkets, restaurant chains, and companies providing food for hospitals or school canteens) to source animal products from supply chains with higher animal welfare standards
  • Ballot initiatives to encode animal welfare policies into law
  • Welfare certification schemes or programs
  • Lobbying for humane methods to control animal populations (e.g., contraception as an alternative to culling)

Increased Availability of Animal-Free Products

This category refers to interventions aimed at increasing the availability and improving the quality of plant-based and cell-cultured options in the food industry and other industries (e.g., fashion, homegoods, automotive, etc.).

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Labeling schemes or programs for alternative proteins
  • Lobbying government food authorities to approve alternative proteins as safe
  • Campaigning to oppose bans on using “meat,” “milk,” and other words traditionally used to describe animal products to describe plant-based meats and milks
  • Providing strategic support and fundraising to food tech start-ups and entrepreneurs
  • Conducting scientific research aimed at improving the texture and taste of cell-cultured meat
  • Campaigning to get institutions (schools, hospitals, prisons) to offer more plant-based options
  • Providing advice to start-ups developing materials to replace leather and other materials made with animals in the fashion industry

Increased Engagement in Animal Advocacy

This category refers to interventions aimed at increasing engagement in animal advocacy.

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Supporting organizations in their Representation, Equity and Inclusion (REI) initiatives and supporting individual activists and advocates of marginalized groups
  • Running veg*n festivals, conferences, vigils, and other events focused on networking or bringing more people into the animal advocacy community
  • Connecting with other social movements, communities, or influencers
  • Implementing initiatives to support the mental health of animal advocates
  • Offering career advising services, job boards, and other recruitment services in animal advocacy organizations

Increased Knowledge/Skills for Animal Advocacy

This category refers to interventions aimed at increasing knowledge or improving the skills for animal advocacy.

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Organizing workshops, courses, or internships to improve the skills or knowledge of activists
  • Helping organizations create healthy cultures and sustainable structures by promoting the best management, human resources, and workplace practices
  • Conducting research to improve understanding of different interventions or approaches and how they work in different contexts
  • Building academic fields or disciplines to improve animal welfare
  • Creating and promoting academic courses on animal law
  • Publishing books on animal welfare and animal advocacy

Increased Prevalence of Anti-Speciesist Values

This category refers to interventions aimed at spreading and solidifying anti-speciesist values.

Examples of interventions that could work toward this outcome include the following:
  • Education programs aimed at fostering compassion and empathy for farmed or wild animals
  • Legal work to encode anti-speciesist values into policy (e.g., recognition of certain animals as persons)
  • Protests and other direct actions aimed at promoting moral consideration of animals in public discourse
  • Documentaries aimed at promoting compassion for farmed animals