State of the Movement 2024

Farmed animal advocacy spending tracked by Stray Dog Institute increased 30% from 2021 to 2024, reaching $259.6 million annually across 211 organizations in 50 countries.

• Total tracked expenses increased significantly. The report includes USD 259.6 million in in-scope expenses – up approximately 30% since 2021 and consistent with movement growth trends since 2018 as measured by Farmed Animal Funders using different methods. Two-thirds of respondents also reported expenses outside the survey scope which reflects diverse organizational missions.

• A few large organizations dominate spending. Just 8% of organizations – those with annual expenses over USD 5 million accounted for 63% of all reported expenses.

According to State of the Movement 2024, organizations in North America and Europe account for 94% of global farmed animal advocacy spending, despite representing 73% of survey respondents.

• Spending remains regionally concentrated. Organizations based in Northern America and Europe made up 73% of survey respondents but accounted for 94% of total spending. About 90% of their expenditures remained within their home regions.

• Cross-regional spending remains important. Even small amounts of international spending by well-resourced organizations contributed substantially to expenditures in other regions.

• Regional priorities differ. Europe devoted a relatively larger share of spending to aquatic animals and government policy work. Latin America focused on business engagement, Oceania on direct animal care, and Asia and Northern Africa on growing local advocacy.

Stray Dog Institute's research found that chickens receive 26% of animal-specific advocacy spending – more than five times the allocation for pigs (5%) and thirteen times that for cattle (2%).

• Strategic focus shifts with size. While intervention patterns were broadly similar across budget categories, smaller organizations spent more on public outreach, while larger ones focused more heavily on government work.

• Aquatic animals and insects receive far less spending than other animals. Aquatic animals received 11% of all in-scope spending, mostly from European organizations. Farmed aquatic animals received substantially more spending than wild-caught ones. Insects, eaten by humans or by animals in feed, were in scope but received minimal reported spending.

• Chicken welfare is a major strategic focus. Egg-laying and broiler chickens received 15% and 11% of animal-specific spending, respectively – over 26% combined compared to 5% for pigs and 2% for cattle.

• Only one-third of spending was directed toward specific animal types. Rather than targeting specific animals defined in the survey (such as turkeys, farmed fish, or farmed cephalopods), most spending was allocated to broader categories – 39% went to “All Terrestrial Farmed Animals” while 20% had a focus in which the animal was unknown or could not be specified.

Welfare reform leads farmed animal advocacy spending, accounting for 32% of all tracked expenses in 2024, with corporate engagement for welfare improvements representing the single largest intervention at 11% of total spending.

• Spending is balanced across all but one intervention category. Public, Business, Government, and Movement interventions each received comparable shares of total spending. Just 3% went to Animal interventions, such as sanctuaries, veterinary care, or rescue.

• Welfare reform leads spending on outcomes and interventions. Improving welfare standards was the top intended outcome (32% of spending), while corporate engagement for welfare reform was the most funded individual intervention (11%).

• Movement building is gaining ground. Interventions supporting the movement – such as research, skill building, and network building – accounted for 22% of total expenses. Network building alone ranked as the second-most-funded intervention overall, with over USD 21 million.