AGI and animals, free AI courses, and funding the next generation of advocates
Your farmed animal advocacy update for late March 2026
Hi there! 👋 It’s hard to believe we’re already wrapping up the first quarter of 2026—where did the time go? We hope 2026 has been off to a strong start for you and your work for animals. This edition is full of momentum: big wins, and a wide range of opportunities—from fellowships and courses to funding and support. Happy reading!
The most popular link from Hive Highlights early March 2026 was the application for the Strategic Animal Funding Circle. (While the deadline for this round has passed, you can stay updated on the EA Forum or subscribe for future opportunities.)
To kick off today’s Hive Highlights, here are our 3 top picks from across the movement:
From Movement news
🐖 Animal Welfare: An EA Forum thread invites discussion on the statement, “If AGI goes well for humans, it’ll go well for animals”—read the post and engage with the community’s insights.
From Jobs & Opportunities
🔥 Opportunities: AI Impact Hub offers free AI courses and resources for nonprofit professionals, covering prompting frameworks, custom GPTs, visual campaigns, and more.
💰 Funding: The Navigation Fund, Coefficient Giving, and Mobius seek proposals to design and lead a program seeding and supporting farm animal advocacy student groups at key US universities, with funding up to $250,000/year. Apply by 22 April.
Every issue, every advocate, every connection adds up. Thank you for being part of this community. Until next time!
Warmly,
Sofia, Chelsea, and the Hive team
How to navigate Hive Highlights
Every two weeks, Hive sends you the latest updates (click to jump):
Movement news: Covering 🐖 Animal Welfare, 🥗 Plant-Based Food & Alternative Protein, ⚖️ Policy, Legislation, and Law, 💪🏾 Animal Advocacy Org Updates, and 🎲 Other
Jobs & Opportunities: Covering 💼 Jobs, 💡 Skilled volunteering, 🔥 Opportunities, 💰 Funding, and 🤝 Upcoming External Events
Resources: Covering 📚 Research, 🎙️ Podcasts, 📙 Books, and 🎥 Videos
Hive updates: Covering the latest from our team!
Other ways to read this newsletter: Extensions Jetwriter AI (to summarize posts) or Read Aloud.
🐖 Animal Welfare
Brazilian company Empório Varanda completes its transition to 100% cage-free eggs and expands its animal welfare commitments with a new pledge to go crate-free for mother pigs by 2031.
Compassion in World Farming publishes its 2025 European ChickenTrack report, assessing how Better Chicken Commitment signatories are progressing toward adopting science-based welfare criteria.
Lidl GB eliminates eyestalk ablation from its shrimp range and commits to electrical stunning by the end of 2026, making it the tenth of eleven major UK supermarkets to set time-bound prawn welfare commitments in just over two years.
🥗 Plant-Based Food & Alternative Protein
The Good Food Institute (GFI) seeks feedback from alt protein researchers and industry professionals via a short, anonymous survey to improve its technical resources.
A npj Science of Food scoping review finds that plant-based meats rank highest among alternative proteins across environmental, scalability, consumer, and animal welfare dimensions.
The UK’s Food Standards Agency hopes to complete safety evaluations for cultivated meat by early 2027, potentially making the UK one of the first countries to approve the protein for restaurant menus and supermarket shelves.
⚖️ Policy, Legislation, and Law
A New York state appeals court rules that New York City can move forward with enforcing its 2019 ban on the sale of foie gras.
A Portuguese court holds that the public has a right to information about food origins and animal welfare practices, defending an animal advocacy organization’s right to publish investigative footage.
💪 Animal Advocacy Org Updates
Animal Justice debuts EggSCANada, a new app allowing Canadian shoppers to scan egg barcodes to instantly see whether eggs come from caged hens.
AVA Summit Canada invites organizations to partner or exhibit to connect with the global movement. Register by 15 April.
Fortify Negotiations launches as a new nonprofit offering free negotiation training to animal advocacy organizations worldwide.
The International Centre for Animal Rights & Ethics (ICARE) hosts its first Spanish-language lecture with Dr. Silvina Pezzetta on 16 April, exploring how AI impacts animals and why they belong in legal and ethical debates.
LatinGroup for Animals hosts a workshop on 7 April exploring the implications of the EU-Mercosur Agreement for animals in Latin America.
Scarlet Spark and Faunalytics release the Animal Advocacy Movement Engagement Benchmark Report, offering key insights on engagement, leadership, workload, and organizational health across the animal advocacy movement.
Veganuary reports a record-breaking 30 million people worldwide tried vegan in January 2026 as part of its annual campaign.
💼 Jobs
Corporate Campaigns Coordinator, Animal Justice. Remote, Canada (Hybrid, Toronto preferred). Apply by 31 March.
Global Digital Mobilization Lead, The Humane League. Remote, global (select countries). Apply by 3 April.
Growth Hacker, Head of Communications & Partnerships, Operations Management, Philanthropy Department, Mieux Donner. Remote (UTC+0 to UTC+3). Apply by 3 April.
People & Culture Lead, GFI APAC. Singapore. Apply by 5 April.
Policy Specialist, South Korea, GFI Korea. Remote, South Korea. Apply by 12 April.
Senior Corporate Campaigns Lead, Animal Welfare League. Remote, global (overlap with Central European Time Zone). Apply by 13 April.
Director, Effective Altruism Germany, EA Germany. Remote, Germany (Berlin preferred). Apply by 19 April.
Managing Director, The Humane League UK. Remote, UK. Apply by 19 April.
Student Editorial Fellow, Sentient. Remote, global. Apply by 29 May.
Campaigns Lead, Brazil, Sinergia Animal. São Paulo, Brazil.
European Campaigns Communications Manager, Animal Equality. Remote, France, Italy, or Belgium.
Executive Administrative Partner, Mercy for Animals. Remote, USA, Canada, or Mexico (East Coast preferred).
Impact Tracking & Systems Contractor (Part-Time), Sentient. Remote, global (Eastern Time Zone preferred).
Software engineer, Formical. Hybrid, Netherlands.
Job search tip: Browse Hive’s Jobs and Careers Resources and follow our Slack’s job feed in the #job-posting channel for new positions daily! You can also view the Animal Advocacy Careers, AltProtein.Jobs, Food Impact Careers, and Probably Good job boards.
💡 Job hunting? Also consider skilled volunteering
Volunteering helps you build skills, connections, context, and credentials, all while creating change for farmed animals. For many people, volunteering is a key step towards working professionally in the movement. For others, volunteering is one of several impactful ways to contribute.
Three places to find volunteering opportunities helping farmed animals:
The Hive Slack Community (that’s us!)
🔥 Opportunities
Electric Sheep opens applications for the Futurekind Fellowship, a 12-week program exploring AI and animal protection across factory farming, advocacy, and policy. Apply by 25 March.
The Conference on Animal Rights in Europe 2026 opens speaker applications, seeking presentations connected to effective animal advocacy and building strong organizations. Apply by 31 March.
Strategic Planning for Animal Advocacy accepts applications for a free 12-part program helping animal advocacy organizations build strategic plans and strengthen their impact, culminating in a pitch to funders. Cohort begins 14 April.
Pro-Animaux opens applications for the French-speaking Animalist Impact Program, a free, six-week online program helping French-speaking animal advocates align their skills with high-impact action. Apply by 20 April.
Good Growth invites monthly contributors across Asia for its Field Notes From Asia platform, sharing brief observations on plant-based food trends and consumer behavior.
Rendered launches a platform connecting animal advocacy nonprofits with vetted freelance professionals in strategy, tech, design, and marketing.
StudioV offers free professional production services to animal advocacy organizations and activists in the Global South, covering podcasts, video, and social media content.
The Vegan & Animal Welfare Career Day seeks organizers for its second edition in Utrecht this September; a low-commitment opportunity to help inspire students and professionals to pursue high-impact careers for animals.
The Centre for Effective Altruism hosts a free, 4-day online bootcamp for professionals to pivot into high-impact careers, with dedicated tracks for general professionals (apply by 31 March) and operations/leadership roles (apply by 21 April).
💰 Funding
Benefact Group Movement for Good opens nominations for its £1,000 draws, giving UK and Ireland charities, CICs, and nonprofits the chance to win one of 100 awards of £1,000. Nominate by 27 March.
Alliance for Human Animal Coexistence opens grant applications for innovative initiatives promoting human-animal coexistence in Africa, offering grants of $1,000–$10,000. Apply by 1 April.
ASPCA Fund to End Factory Farming opens grant applications for US and Canadian nonprofits, farms, food companies, and academic institutions working to challenge factory farming. Apply by 22 April.
Cold Noses Foundation opens grant applications for animal-focused organizations in Central and South America for projects in humane treatment, veterinary care, and humane education. Apply by 30 April.
Fundraising tip: Hive’s Fundraising Guide includes a database of current opportunities and key resources on how to fundraise.
🤝 Upcoming External Events
2026 Mind, Ethics, and Policy Summit, 10–11 April. New York City.
Food 4 Thought Conference, 17–18 April. Stanford.
Humane Canada’s Summit for Animals, 19–21 April. Whistler.
Grassroots Animal Rights Summit, 15–17 May. Washington D.C.
AVA Summit Canada, 21–24 May. Toronto.
Sentient Futures London, 22–24 May. London.
EA Global: London, 29–31 May. London.
Vegan Creator Con, 13–14 June. Los Angeles.
Events tip: View more on the Connect for Animals (CFA) event list, the Effective Altruism Global event page, and our Conference Database.
📚 Research
Animal Justice releases a report finding that Canada’s live horse export trade to Japan causes a significant number of injuries and deaths during gruelling long-haul flights.
An Animetrics study finds that nearly 70% of Muslim consumers in Türkiye view animal welfare as a requirement for halal status, and nearly two-thirds consider plant-based diets compatible with Islam.
Aquatic Life Institute publishes its annual report, highlighting the most progressive and innovative animal welfare practices for capture fisheries.
The European Food Safety Authority publishes a scientific opinion on turkey welfare in the EU, assessing the welfare consequences of common farming practices.
Faunalytics publishes a data analysis finding that US animal welfare laws, including California’s Prop 12, have not caused the industry disruptions opponents predicted.
Faunalytics finds significant mission overlap between animal protection, environmental, and humanitarian organizations, identifying coalition-building as a key opportunity to amplify collective impact.
A Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute study reveals that aquarium conditions for lobsters held in restaurants and supermarkets fail to meet the animals’ basic needs.
Rethink Priorities determines that electrical stunning does not yet reliably ensure prolonged insensibility in several European farmed fish species, raising concerns ahead of major industry transitions to the method.
Rethink Priorities summarizes a webinar by Dr. Cynthia Schuck-Paim on how barren, intensive environments systematically amplify pain perception in farmed animals, exploring the implications for welfare research and policy.
🎙️ Podcasts
Fork the System:
Kari Snorek, Director of Operations at Shrimp Welfare Project
Future of Foods Interviews:
Putting Meat Alternatives on the Menu - ProVeg International - Jasmijn De Boo
The Pork Sausage of the Future - Cultivated Pork Fat from Mission Barns - Bianca le
How I Learned to Love Shrimp:
Our Hen House:
How to Build Winning Animal Rights Campaigns: Grassroots Strategy with Penny Tehilah & Suzie Stork
Drone Diaries: Mapping the Future of Animal Activism
📙 Books
Animals and the Right to Politics, by Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka
🎥 Videos
ICARE releases Vegan Rights Litigation: Workplaces, Hospitals & Daycare Cases in Denmark and Canada, a seminar examining vegan rights litigation in workplaces and public institutions.
Thomas (Richie) Manandhar-Richardson joins Chris Bryant’s YouTube channel to discuss why advocates should care about AI, address overblown environmental concerns, and demo NotebookLM and Deep Research features
Vakita debuts Ynsect: How the World’s Largest Insect Farm Descended into Chaos, a documentary featuring leaked footage and employee testimonies at France’s largest insect farm.
Last days to join Introductions + Reintroductions Month on Hive Slack!
While you’re always welcome to (re)introduce yourself, share by March 31 for a chance to win a prize from the Hive team! Here are just a few of the Hivers who have joined in so far:
Angelina is building a corporate campaign training initiative for the movement
Damien is an experienced creative director and graphic designer, seeking opportunities
Ibraheem is excited to connect with others focused on policy reform and grassroots mobilization
Romaine is incubating a nonprofit with Charity Entrepreneurship and wants to meet fellow founders (because “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”)
Annika built her own internship with Fish Welfare Initiative and can share tips
Beyond posting your own intro: pop into the channel, share ideas and connections where you think they’ll be helpful, and consider connecting on LinkedIn to grow your network of committed farmed animal advocates.
Thanks to everyone who’s shared so far!
Join in: (re) introduce myself
Not on Hive Slack yet? Learn more here
🌸 Tomorrow: A Space to Reflect and Connect
Looking for a little inspiration in your advocacy? Our monthly Hive Community Conversation returns tomorrow! This is a low-pressure, high-connection virtual meetup designed for farmed animal advocates to explore ideas together. From seasoned activists to those just starting out, everyone is welcome to join the circle. We’ll be looking at what the new season holds for our movement—we’d love to hear your perspective. Join us tomorrow, 26 March.
Thanks for reading our Hive Highlights: late March 2026 edition 🧡 It’s made possible by the incredible work of animal advocates like you.
📰 Submit inclusions for the next edition: deadline is 6 April, 2026.
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