Introducing: Cultivating Impact
From: Zoë Sigle, Farmed Animal Funders
To: Interested donors, animal allies, and climate champions
Re: 91 Billion Reasons to Reimagine Our Food System: The Case for Ending Factory Farming
Date: November 20, 2024
Introducing Cultivating Impact, a thought article series spotlighting transformative giving opportunities to protect animals and reshape our broken food system.
There’s nothing quite like the uncontainable joy of a dog greeting you at the door—eyes sparkling, tail wagging, zoomies in full force, proudly clutching a beloved plush toy. Whether you’ve been gone 20 minutes or 20 days, their boundless enthusiasm can dissolve the weight of the world, even if just for a moment.
Because we share our homes and hearts with animals like dogs and cats, it’s easy to empathize with them. Many of us are moved to donate to animal rescues and shelters. Yet, there’s a startling imbalance in where our compassion for animals—and philanthropic dollars—are directed.
Did you know that dogs and cats tragically facing euthanasia in shelters account for just 0.007% of domesticated and captive animal deaths in the U.S.? Meanwhile, 99.132% of these deaths come from farmed animals—cows, pigs, chickens, and fish—raised in conditions so cruel they’re hard to imagine. And yet, farmed animals receive a mere 3.5% of animal-related charitable funding. To put that in perspective, this is roughly equivalent to the annual revenue of the NYC Metropolitan Opera.
The Silent Suffering of Billions
While it’s painfully difficult to imagine the suffering of even one piglet castrated without painkillers, or one hen living her entire life stuffed in a cage so small she can’t spread her wings, or one cow who moos for her calf separated from her shortly after birth, it can be unfathomable to truly understand the suffering inflicted on the 91 billion land animals and 124 billion finfishes farmed for food globally. The vast majority of these animals are raised in factory farms.
“Animals are the main victims of history, and the treatment of domesticated animals in industrial farms is perhaps the most destructive crime in history.”
Factory farming, the industrial-scale abuse of animals for food, is not just arguably the greatest moral atrocity of our time; it is also a driving force behind some of the gravest crises facing our planet:
Climate Change: Animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, rivaling emissions from the entire transportation sector.
Environmental Devastation: It’s the leading cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss, wiping out ecosystems from the Amazon to Southeast Asian mangroves.
Human Health Risks: Factory farming fuels antibiotic resistance, spreads zoonotic diseases, contributes to chronic illnesses, and endangers communities via air pollution.
Worker Exploitation: Many laborers in this industry endure hazardous conditions, and some experience forced labor.
Reshaping Our Broken Food System
It’s no secret that the factory farming lobby is powerful. But, factory farming was only developed in the last 75 years. In the grand scheme of human history, it’s a new development, and it’s still changeable. If we care about a livable planet, we have no choice but to end our dependence on factory farms.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ranks dietary shifts among the most effective solutions for mitigating climate change, estimating these changes could cut up to 8.0 gigatons of CO2 equivalents per year by 2050. As a climate solution, funding dietary shift work has the second-highest ROI on climate change mitigation potential, only after improving cement production.
Researchers at the University of Oxford project that moving away from animal-based foods could save 8.1 million lives annually and reduce healthcare costs by $1.07 trillion, or 3% of global GDP, by 2050.
The scale of the issue, combined with its neglectedness and tractability, led 80,000 Hours to recently update factory farming as amongst the top problems in the world.
Philanthropy Leading the Way
On a global budget of just $300 million, the movement to reform and replace factory farming has achieved transformative progress:
Securing corporate commitments from the largest global food companies and legislation from governments to eliminate some of the cruelest practices, like caging hens and confining pregnant sows.
Convincing schools, hospitals, and businesses to embrace plant-based options and cut meat consumption.
Advancing alternative protein innovation to build a better future for food.
Training advocates around the world to challenge factory farming systems in their communities, no matter their country.
These breakthroughs are impressive, but this movement has only begun to scratch the surface of its potential. This movement’s outsized impact (relative to funding) has tremendous room for growth with more funding. Additional foundations and individual donors joining the cause will make a true impact when deploying philanthropy strategically.
Moving forward, the Cultivating Impact series will spotlight solutions to reform and replace factory farming. It aims to connect philanthropic readers with high-impact funding opportunities, where each dollar goes tremendously far to reduce animal suffering and co-benefit the climate, environment, and people.
Bespoke Philanthropic Advising
Farmed Animal Funders provides pro bono bespoke advising to qualified philanthropists seeking to make a difference in this cause area. Whether you’re just beginning to explore or prepared to deploy funds, we offer tailored guidance.
If you are new to considering this cause area and are most interested in learning, contact Zoë for a menu of learning opportunities we provide.
For gifts with the potential to cumulatively exceed $250,000 annually, contact Zoë for bespoke recommendations that align with your values and goals. This November and December, we’re particularly eager to provide customized end-of-year giving recommendations!Your philanthropy has the power to shape a better future—for animals, the planet, and all who call it home.
Cultivating Impact is written by Zoë Sigle, the Director of Programs and Philanthropic Advisor for Farmed Animal Funders, a community of 45+ foundations and individuals donating $250,000+ annually to reform and replace factory farming. Additionally, Zoë serves as a Fund Manager with the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund. With a decade of experience spanning corporate engagement, grantmaking, advocacy, and grassroots organizing, Zoë combines rigorous research with deep movement knowledge to craft effective philanthropic strategies. For bespoke philanthropic advising on gifts cumulatively exceeding $250,000, contact Zoë.