Resource Roundup: Everything from 2023 in one place
And here's to an impactful 2024!
We would like to thank each one of you — you inspired us to keep growing this newsletter and IAA as an organisation.🙏❤️️
It’s hard to believe that this time last year we were just 350 subscribers, and now we are nearly 1000 more, at 1250! 😱 What’s more, this newsletter has been viewed over 20,000 times in 2023!
Our Slack space, which we started in February this year, now has over 1700 members and some consider it to be one of the most helpful and active spaces for farmed animal advocates. Thank you so much for making it happen!😊
Our Wiki collections have over 2000 views and are growing every month!
We have some very exciting plans for 2024 and we hope that you join us to make more impact for animals next year!
As our end-of-year gift to you🎁, here is our curated newsletter with all the best evergreen resources for farmed animal advocates.
Sofia and Constance, IAA Co-founders😊
Skip to different Resource Roundup sections:
Themes
🏗️ Movement infrastructure
📏 Refining how we measure and compare across species
Updates we found helpful
🧐 Looking back at 2023
🧠 Some lessons learned
Resources
🌱 Getting started
📣 Advocacy resources
📚 Research resources
💼 Continuing education
🤖 AI+Animals resources
🎧 Media resources
Themes
Over the past 12 months of curating IAA newsletters, we’ve noticed several trends. Here are two that are prominent in our collection of 2023 resources:
🏗️ Movement infrastructure
In the animal advocacy movement’s growth this year, we’ve seen an increase in services provided directly to animal advocates or organizations. There has been so many new initiatives that we developed a Meta resources wiki to keep track of them all! This expansion reflects a recognition of the diverse needs within the community and how projects can benefit from support and area specialization. Here are a few categories of increased infrastructure:
New meta organizations (The Mission Motor, NFPs.AI, us!)
Advocate training courses (See section below)
Supporting groups in developing countries (Animal Advocacy Africa, Good Growth, Thrive)
📏 Refining how we measure and compare across species
Given the large number of possible ways to help animals, selecting the most impactful approach can be challenging. This year, we've witnessed a increase in research accessibility and applicability for advocates. This is not just about providing information — it's about helping us integrate this knowledge into practical strategies. As a result, advocates may be better equipped to make informed decisions on where to focus their efforts across different species and geographic regions. Here are a few projects we’ve seen trying to answer key questions:
How one might compare welfare across species (Moral Weight Project sequence)
How much pain do different species endure (Welfare Footprint Project) - watch the recording of the workshop we hosted for them here
How bad is brief, severe pains versus chronic, milder pains (Dimensions of Pain)
How many animals are impacted, and where (Our World in Data)
Updates we found helpful
So much has happened this year. Here are a few articles to catch you up 👇
🧐 Looking back at 2023
The Year in Review: 2023, Sentient Media
Top animal policy stories of 2023, Sentient Media
A year of wins for farmed animals, Lewis Bollard
Top 20 Alt-Protein Stories of the Year, Green Queen
2023 Future Perfect 50 recognizes 9 animal advocate changemakers
🧠 Some lessons learned
Running Cage-Free Projects in Africa: Case Studies of Three African Animal Advocacy Organisations
2 Years of Shrimp Welfare Project: Insights and Impact from our Explore Phase
Animal Rising's Grand National protest: Public opinion impacts
Fish Welfare Initiative’s continued work in India and pausing work in China
Resources
🌱 Getting started
New animal subgroups resources:
Faunalytics Fundamentals: a series of topic overviews and resources, such as on farmed animals, wildlife, invertebrates, etc
Wild Animals Wiki and a review of contraception methods for wild mammals
Shrimp Welfare Sequence, Rethink Priorities
Find a job:
Get funding: Fundraising for Animal Advocacy Wiki
Attend an event or conference
Organize or build a community: Community Building Wiki
Other information databases:
Our World in Data’s Animal Welfare page, data explorer, research, and interactive charts
📣 Advocacy resources
For org leaders:
An Impact Roadmap, Aaron Boddy shares a comprehensive writeup about program development methodologies
Leadership Tools, Scarlet Spark
Founders and leaders resources, IAA (us!)
For communicators & journalists:
Narrative research, Animal Think Tank
Food & Farming Media Network, Sentient Media
Brand design challenges in animal advocacy, Vegan Hacktivists
Animal Charity Evaluators updates:
New Vegan Hacktivist projects:
Today for Animals, a web app that encourages small, daily actions
Granti, a comprehensive tool designed to streamline the grant management process for both grantees and funders
📚 Research resources
Connect with a research community:
Join our IAA Slack channel #research
Subscribe to learn more: The ACE Monthly Research Newsletter
Some of our favorite work from Rethink Priorities:
Some of our favorite work from Faunalytics:
Tech & Data: A Snapshot of the Animal Protection Movement in the Digital Era, Vegan Hacktivists & Animetrics
Meat consumption and production in developing countries, an agenda for animal advocacy researchers
Questions to Use in Survey Research and Experiments, Faunalytics
💼 Continuing education
This year, several new courses for animal advocates came out!
Animal Justice Academy, free online advocacy training program and community has released many new & helpful videos, resources
List of 9 free courses for animal advocates, compiled by ACE, including:
Public speaking and Introduction to plant-based campaigns, Anima International
The Science of Effective Vegan Advocacy online course, Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy / Beyond Carnism
Introduction to Animal Advocacy course, Animal Advocacy Careers
New university programs launched:
🤖 AI+Animals resources
Artificial intelligence is an upcoming transformative technology that will (and is currently) impacting animals.
Learn about the intersection of AI and animals:
How to use generative AI in your advocacy:
Stay updated & engaged: Join the IAA Slack #aidiscussion and #aitools channels
More resources:
AI for Animals: new website featuring related projects, news, orgs, events, and more
🎧 Media resources
Conference recordings
We (IAA) attended several conferences this year and found them very valuable! It’s why we created a Conferences Database and have shared session recordings:
EA Global conferences. Not all talks are relevant to animal advocacy, but here are some of our favorites:
Podcast roundup (a → z)
In each newsletter, we share newly released podcast episodes. Here are the podcast channels themselves — feel free to subscribe, listen, and maybe even write a review if you’ve enjoyed their content.
Documentaries and films
Ending Real Fur: Fighting the Canadian fur industry
Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food: Foodborne illness in the U.S.
Punk Rock Vegan Movie: Moby-led film about the punk vegan scene
The Smell of Money: Human Impact of North Carolina pig farms
Why Did Six Million Brits Sign Up To Veganuary? The Veganuary origin story
Books:
Peter Singer releases
The Buddhist and the Ethicist, co-authored by Professor Peter Singer and Venerable Shih Chao-Hwei, a female Buddhist monastic living in Taiwan
Animal Liberation Now (and a review of Animal Liberation Now)
Essential Guide for Animal Advocacy, Animal Advocacy Careers’ free e-book
🚀 Impactful Animal Advocacy (IAA) updates!
⭐️ Did you know we have monthly digests with the best Slack conversations and resources? Check it out if you don’t have time to check Slack. Not yet in the Slack? Sign up to join the community.
IAA participated in the EA Forum’s Marginal Funding Week to share our strategy, updates on projects, and how we would use additional funding. We even shared stories of impact from our community members, like you.😊
Here is a beautiful graph of how our active members on Slack grew this year:
During the whole year on Slack, we collectively send over 34,000 messages!
🩷With end of year approaching, we hope that you consider supporting our work. We have several services that we think are worthwhile to expand, but that is dependent on funding. Any donations we receive will determine what we focus on in 2024.
📝 Send me your news, research, resources, and jobs.
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