2025 Motion Grants AMA Highlights

Response: Sure, in some instances, we’ll fund working prices like salaries, relying on the sort and power of the appliance and the working finances of the group the place the worker works. —Elisabeth

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We’ll fund tasks from U.S. residents who need to do outreach work in different nations; nonetheless, we take critically the significance of our grantees understanding the cultural context of their work, so we’d have to see within the utility some form of proof of the “proper match” for the particular person doing the work. For normal outreach work, we’d additionally have to see proof of a strategically developed method that has the capability to achieve folks at scale and observe related outcomes. —Elisabeth

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We don’t have predetermined standards for which poll measures we’d or wouldn’t fund, and proposals are assessed on a case-by-case foundation. That stated, three out of the 4 U.S. measures run in 2024 had been unsuccessful, together with the Denver fur ban, which we anticipated to carry out higher. On condition that, we’re extra pessimistic that extra radical measures may be achieved via poll initiatives. We supported ProAnimal Future and Sentient Politics partly to seize insights from these campaigns, which can inform our future grantmaking. Past the ask, we additionally consider the opposition to the measure, the political and media setting, and present public sentiment. —Holly and Eleanor

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Maybe it goes with out saying that our splendid proposal is a marketing campaign with an affordable chance of success and a measure that may create a significant constructive influence for animals. We additionally think about broader movement-building results, resembling participating and coaching new advocates or shifting public attitudes towards animals. We might count on candidates to suggest probably the most related influence metrics, significantly in the event that they imagine success must be measured past a marketing campaign win. —Holly and Eleanor

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Whereas we prioritize selling the work of our really useful charities and grantees, we’re open to listening to from different organizations which can be doing high-impact work and/or have fascinating learnings that might assist others for our visitor weblog. For instance, you possibly can submit a visitor weblog proposal for writing about movement-level methods, doubtlessly impactful interventions, and discussions of interventions or methods between consultants from completely different angles. You possibly can learn extra about what we publish on this web page underneath “weblog submission.” —Holly and Eleanor

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We don’t fund educational analysis except there’s a clear dissemination plan that extends past publishing the work in educational journals. We need to perceive the way you’ll create data worth that may be utilized by animal advocates and translate right into a constructive influence for animals. Subsequently, with out such a plan in place, we’d be very reluctant to award funding. Moreover, educational analysis typically has various sources of funding (e.g., authorities grants or different educational funders), so we prioritize supporting work that’s unlikely to be funded by different means. —Elisabeth

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Sure, we’re open to tasks centered on a specific demographic inside a wider inhabitants, such because the Mexican-American neighborhood. In your utility, we have to see how you intend to strategically goal this inhabitants in order that you’ll be able to have an effect at scale. —Eleanor

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We might be open to receiving an Expression of Curiosity for such an initiative. Analysis on the influence of documentaries is blended. Whereas some movies have had outsized results, reported influence varies considerably by nation and context. Due to this, our group is considerably unsure about documentaries as an intervention total. A robust utility would wish to obviously display how the movie and its distribution would result in significant outcomes for animals.

We’d be significantly occupied with how such a challenge would transcend elevating consciousness to create measurable outcomes, whether or not via coverage change, movement-building, or direct enhancements for animals. In the event you determine to use, outlining a transparent concept of change and offering examples of how related initiatives have led to measurable outcomes would strengthen your utility. —Eleanor

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Sure, capacity-building work is inside the scope of this system. You’ll find the total Motion Grants eligibility standards right here on our web site underneath the FAQs: What are we occupied with funding? What are we not occupied with funding? —Eleanor

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We would wish to grasp how the occasion would meaningfully change the lives of many animals. Particularly, we’d be occupied with whether or not the occasion targets influential people inside the motion, the way it differs from or enhances current initiatives, and what concrete outcomes it goals to attain.

In the event you determine to submit an expression of curiosity, offering particular examples of anticipated outcomes would strengthen your proposal. —Eleanor

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Federal laws, company coverage change, and governmental coverage change all have the potential to have a big impact primarily based on the change that’s being known as for and the chance of success. For every avenue, we wish to hear what your anticipated outcomes are, the way you’re monitoring them, and the way you count on these outcomes to have downstream impacts for animals. We’re at the moment extremely unsure in regards to the influence of digital campaigns, however we discover that they are often impactful as a part of a wider marketing campaign using a number of ways. —Elisabeth

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ACE doesn’t at the moment prioritize organizations and tasks working in direct animal care (rescue and rehabilitation) as we give attention to larger-scale advocacy work. For instance, see our latest grant recipients. Nevertheless, we’d be open to listening to extra about your schooling work (whether it is directed towards a lot of folks) or your work advocating for coverage change. We ideally need to see work that’s scalable and has the potential to have an effect on a lot of animals. —Holly

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One thrilling pattern is the rise in local weather funders supporting a discount in animal agriculture via dietary change and various proteins as local weather mitigation. Simply final week, the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein opened at Imperial School London with $30M in funding. This shift might open up lots of funding alternatives for organizations which can be at the moment solely reliant on funding from funders involved with animal welfare. —Eleanor

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I get pleasure from studying purposes from new organizations probably the most—that’s to not say they’re extra/much less prone to get funding—however it’s such a pleasure to see the dedication and bravado it takes to begin one thing new. Much more so after I see them working in a rustic the place there’s a nascent animal advocacy motion. —Eleanor

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I wish to see some candidates embody a bit extra element on the context by which they’re working, particularly, whether or not there are political, social, or financial elements which may influence their work. Equally, for some area of interest species-specific work, it’s helpful for our grant assessment group when you embody the animal science analysis you’re counting on. —Eleanor

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Response: ACE doesn’t supply matching grants within the sense that we don’t require grantees to safe extra funding as a situation of our grants. Nevertheless, if a company has obtained a grant from one other funder that requires matching funds, an ACE grant can be utilized to satisfy that requirement—except the opposite funder has particular restrictions that forestall this. —Eleanor

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This yr, we can have two funding rounds. The primary spherical of grants will seemingly be disbursed in Could and June, and the second spherical will seemingly be disbursed in December and January. —Eleanor

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In the event you determine to finish an Expression of Curiosity, please give attention to what you propose to make use of the grant funds for. In case you are invited to finish a full utility, there can be a query about your achievements in earlier years the place you possibly can define your latest accomplishments. You can even be taught extra in this video. —Eleanor

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Since our course of is application-based, it’s troublesome to foretell precisely which tasks can be funded—it relies on the proposals we obtain. Our portfolio this spherical is prone to look much like the earlier spherical. There are additionally a number of areas the place we wish to have seen extra purposes final spherical. Particularly, we’d wish to see extra proposals centered on help for egg-laying hens, given the robust observe file of company welfare campaigns in many various nations. We additionally didn’t fund any totally wild animal-focused tasks final spherical, and we’d wish to see extra purposes from Southeast Asia, which stays considerably underfunded. —Eleanor

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EOIs must be brief and to the purpose—they’re much much less detailed than the appliance. A robust EOI clearly describes the deliberate actions, goal teams, animal populations being helped, and the way the intervention creates influence. We must always be capable of rapidly perceive the dimensions of the challenge and its potential results. —Eleanor

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Widespread errors embody:

• Candidates misinterpreting questions or not answering as we’d have anticipated them to. Most questions have an (i) icon subsequent to it with extra steering on what we’re searching for.
• Attaching or linking to further paperwork as a substitute of correctly answering utility questions.
• Inadequate desk analysis; particularly, new organizations typically miss key dangers as a result of they haven’t absolutely explored the context or intervention.
• Improper use of AI; particularly, some candidates generate complete sections with AI with out checking for accuracy or relevance. We discover that AI-generated plans and budgets often don’t make sense, and this resulted in quite a lot of rejected purposes final spherical. —Eleanor

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We assess effectiveness on a case-by-case foundation, relying on the intervention and the stage of the challenge (e.g., pilot, scaling, or full implementation). We begin with what the applicant states they purpose to attain and the way they plan to measure it. Based mostly on this, we establish extra reporting necessities and share them with the grant recipient early on within the grant interval, permitting them to supply suggestions in the event that they imagine different metrics can be extra helpful. We’re within the early phases of implementing our personal Measurement, Analysis, and Studying (MEL) within the Motion Grants program, which can embody what we be taught from our grant reporting to grasp our personal influence. We hope to share how that is going towards the top of the yr. —Eleanor

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We don’t have a strict cap on grant quantities, however we count on funding sizes to be in keeping with earlier rounds. Final yr, the common grant dimension was $37,397 USD, together with a Motion Grant advice that ACE didn’t disburse. —Eleanor

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Presently, we’re not contemplating purposes for regranting, as we’re a regranting group ourselves. Nevertheless, if you recognize of a regranter taking part in an vital function within the motion, we’d be completely satisfied to listen to about them—we might be able to share their data inside our community. —Eleanor

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Sub-Saharan Africa encompasses many nations and contexts, so I’m reluctant to make any sweeping statements about probably the most impactful areas for such a big area. Nevertheless, I’ll attempt to supply some helpful ideas.

There was comparatively little advocacy work within the area. If I had been to advise teams on what they could give attention to, I might begin by what interventions have been probably the most impactful in different elements of the world, and give attention to how one may adapt such approaches to this context. For instance, larger charges of casual markets or completely different communication norms might result in important adjustments in the way you implement an intervention that has been profitable in different elements of the world.

One other method is to look at the interventions which have particularly succeeded in your nation for different (non-animal) points and think about whether or not these interventions may very well be tailored to learn animals.

The present and predicted charges of animal farming and consumption fluctuate drastically between nations inside sub-Saharan Africa, so it’s doable that in case you have the liberty to maneuver and work in several nations (I admire that many don’t have this privilege), chances are you’ll discover you could have a larger influence in your work.

We’re not consultants in advocacy on this area, so I might like to see what others suppose within the replies! —Eleanor

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