The most effective places to give

THL runs negotiated and pressure campaigns that move major food companies to drop battery cages and adopt higher-welfare broiler standards. Independent estimates put the impact at hundreds of millions of farmed animals affected per year — making it one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce animal suffering at scale.

Wild animals vastly outnumber farmed and companion animals, but almost no organization funds research into their welfare. WAI funds the foundational science needed before any large-scale wild-animal welfare program is even possible. It is severely under-funded relative to the scope of the problem — a top recommendation for donors who want to fund a neglected, tractable, high-leverage cause.

Rainforest Trust partners with local NGOs to purchase or establish protected reserves in biodiversity hotspots. Cost per acre of permanent protection is unusually low because they work where land is cheap and threats are highest. For donors focused on habitat — and on species whose survival depends on uncut forest — this is one of the few groups with a defensible cost-per-acre-protected metric.