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Animal Charity Evaluators

Helping People Help Animals

Disclosures

This page lists all ACE staff and board affiliations with current or past recommended charities per our Employment/Affiliation Policy, and optionally lists affiliations with other animal charities that team members have chosen to report. It also lists affiliations of staff and Board Members involved in the evaluation process with charities we may review, per our Charity Evaluation and Movement Grants Committees Policies.

Staff & Board Involved in Charity Evaluations and/or Movement Grants Decisions

Leah Edgerton, Executive Director

  • Previously employed at ProVeg International
  • Close family member is on the advisory board at The Good Food Institute (GFI)
  • Maintains close personal relationships with one person working at The Good Food Institute, one at Animal Advocacy Careers, and one at Vegans of Shanghai.

Greg Boese, Co-Director of Research

  • Has volunteered with the Animal Welfare Action Lab (AWAL), and maintains personal friendships with two people at AWAL
  • Volunteering with Winnipeg VegFest (Sept 2019)
  • Volunteered with the Reducetarian Foundation

Jamie Spurgeon, Co-Director of Research

  • Has donated to Albert Schweitzer Foundation (ASF), Animal Equality, Mercy For Animals (MFA), The Humane League (THL), GFI, Vegan Outreach, and Veganuary
  • Maintains personal friendship with one person at Sentience Institute

Maria Salazar, Senior Researcher

  • Volunteered at Sentience Politics and THL
  • Worked at World Animal Protection
  • Worked at Animal Ethics

Marianne van der Werf, Movement Grants Program Officer

  • Conducted assignments at Wild-Animal Suffering Research (now Wild Animal Initiative)
  • Volunteered at Utility Farm (now Wild Animal Initiative)
  • Volunteered at ProVeg Netherlands
  • Volunteered at Animal Ethics
  • Volunteered at Vissenbescherming
  • Maintains friendship with one person at Thrive Baltimore

Erika Alonso, Project Manager

  • Volunteers for Encompass
  • Donated to ASF, Animal Equality, and GFI

Melissa Guzikowski, Managing Editor

  • Interned at THL and Green Mountain Animal Defenders
  • Member of THL’s Fast Action Network
  • Interned for John Oberg when he worked at THL
  • Facilitated in the opening of a chapter of The Save Movement in Tenerife, Spain: participated in several meetings and helped plan the chapter’s first vigil

Cash Callaghan, Researcher

  • Lives with one person at Wild Animal Initiative (WAI)

Allison Smith, Board Chair

  • Married to a member of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE)’s Advisory Board
  • Has donated to DxE, MFA, THL, The Save Movement, and Vegan Outreach

Kieran Greig, Board Treasurer

  • Maintains personal relationships with the staff at Rethink Charity and Animal Ethics

Zach Freitas-Groff, Board Member

  • Worked at and was on the Steering Committee for Direct Action Everywhere; had fellowship from The Save Movement
  • Has donated to MFA, THL, DxE, Wild Animal Initiative, Sentience Institute, and Chilis on Wheels, Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations, and Sociedade Vegetariana Brasileira
  • Volunteers with THL
  • Has volunteered with The Save Movement, Sentience Institute, and MFA
  • Has discussed research collaboration with WAI
  • Married to board member at MFA’s One to Change the World
  • Close relationships with someone at Factory Farming Awareness Coalition and someone at Modern Agriculture Foundation

Jonas Müller, Board Member

  • Served as project leader for a Swiss veg ads project done by Vegan Society Switzerland and Sentience Politics, which received advice from Nick Cooney and footage from Farm Sanctuary
  • Was responsible for creating a Swiss version of a brochure from ASF
  • Leafleted for ASF and THL
  • Earning-to-give for THL
  • Donated to ACE’s recommended charities

Jeff Sebo, Board Member

  • Contributed to writing projects in support of the Nonhuman Rights Project
  • Donated to THL, Animal Equality, GFI, and MFA

Manja Gärtner (Senior Researcher) does not have any affiliations to report.

Other Staff & Board Members

Gina Stuessy, Director of Operations

  • Has volunteered with THL, MFA, VO, Animal Equality, DxE, Save, and Anonymous for the Voiceless, and continues to volunteer with some of these organizations on occasion
  • Received funding from VegFund for many outreach events
  • Served as a vegan mentor with VO’s mentor program
  • Has donated to ACE-recommended and other animal protection charities
  • Mentored an employee of We Animals Media through WANBAM

Heather Herrell, Director of Philanthropy

  • Worked at In Defense of Animals
  • Donates to ACE’s recommended charities

Samantha Berscht, Research Fund Program Officer

  • Served as a member of the Education Committee on the Alberta Spay and Neuter Task Force
  • Served as Fund Development Coordinator and Board Member at Fur-Ever Homes Rescue
  • Serves as Board Member at Animals in Science Policy Institute
  • Volunteered at Little Mutts, Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society, The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, and Canadians for Ethical Treatment of Farmed Animals
  • Has donated to MFA, FARM, World Animal Protection Canada, and The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals

Becca Imrich, Visual Communications Manager

  • Completed a small graphic design project for a ProVeg study

Siobhan Ballan, Research Fellow

  • Current volunteer at Faunalytics

Ellen Pelos, Research Fellow

  • Current volunteer at THL
  • Former volunteer at Faunalytics

Sarah Pickering, Board Member

  • Prior employment at Animal Equality and World Animal Protection
  • Prior consultancy for Compassion in World Farming
  • Has volunteered with THL
  • Has donated to ACE-recommended and other animal protection charities
  • Friendships with employees, board members, or founders of Strategies for Ethical and Environmental Development (SEED), MFA, Animal Equality, Veganuary, Barn Sanctuary, Voters for Animal Rights, Farm Forward & Better Food Foundation, and International Fund for Animal Welfare

Sydne Daniels (Director of Communications), Elizabeth Álvarez (Philanthropy Officer), Eric Herboso (Board Secretary), and Galina Hale (board member) do not have any affiliations to report.

This page lists affiliations that ACE has to organizations eligible for a recommendation, as per our Conflict of Interest Policy.

Compassionate Action for Animals

Ethical Choices Program

Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (FFAC)

Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM)

  • ACE staff have spoken at the annual Animal Rights National Conference, hosted by FARM, each year from 2014–2018.

Faunalytics

  • ACE worked with Faunalytics to produce a survey guidelines project in 2014. In both 2015 and 2016, ACE worked with them to update this project.
  • ACE consulted with Faunalytics when creating several studies in 2013.

Mercy For Animals (MFA)

  • ACE former board member Peter Hurford ran an online ads study in 2014–2016 that involved working with Mercy For Animals to gather data.
  • Assisted ACE with a 2013 leafleting study by handing out booklets.

ProVeg International

  • Former ProVeg International Strategy and Internationalization Manager Leah Edgerton is now the Executive Director of ACE.

Sentience Institute

  • Former ACE Researcher Jacy Reese co-founded and now works for Sentience Institute.

Sentience Politics (SP)1

  • ACE accepts donations from two international countries through the Effective Altruism Foundation, SP’s parent organization.
  • In 2015, ACE was recommended to a donor by Raising for Effective Giving (REG), a sister organization of SP. REG staff tell us that ACE is still on the list of charities they would recommend based on donor interest.
  • Two ACE staff spoke at the Sentience Conference in 2016.
  • ACE consulted with Sentience Politics in 2016 about overlap between our respective research on animal sentience and welfare. We shared documentation to reduce duplication of effort.

The Humane League (THL)

Vegan Outreach

Viva!

  • Former ACE Media Relations Manager now works at Viva!

  1. ACE will not evaluate Sentience Politics again until the first two conflicts in this list have been resolved.