Kalista Barter
THL has been named a 2019 Top Charity by Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) for yet another year. Here is how we plan to use donor funding in the coming year.
The Humane League (THL) is incredibly honored to have been named a 2019 Top Charity by Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) for the sixth year in a row—the only charity to have received this distinction.
We view THL as a leader in the animal advocacy movement, and a good model for many other organizations…. Their success in their corporate campaigns, and the publication of their research through The Humane League Labs, has shifted the outlook and programming of several other advocacy organizations toward finding the best ways to advocate for animals. (Animal Charity Evaluators, 2019)
We are proud to have developed ambitious, research-backed programs that end the abuse of animals raised for food and are grateful for this recognition once again.
Of course, all of these achievements are because of generous supporters like you. Every year, together, our impact for the animals has grown. And yet, our resources pale in comparison to the size and scale of the problem we are up against. After all, the factory farming industry has trillions of dollars to spend. Tyson Foods, one of the largest meat companies in the world, spent $243M on advertising last year. Our entire budget is less than 4% of what that one company spends on advertising alone. But we will use every penny of that 4% to break down the walls of factory farms.
That’s why we feel that we can effectively use additional funding of 3.5 to 4 million dollars in 2020. With this funding, we would invest in growing our staff, scaling our most effective programs, explore emerging tactics, and strengthen operational support to build up our national and international teams—our number one asset, and the critical factor in our ability to reach our ambitious goals.
How The Humane League will use additional funding
In 2020, we will focus on expanding our cage-free work globally, while holding companies who previously made these commitments accountable. We will apply the success of our cage-free strategy to the broiler chicken industry, securing Better Chicken Commitments that will improve the lives of millions of chickens. Through it all, we will inspire more people to leave animals off their plates. While there are strategies in place to actualize these goals with our minimum budget, with additional funding, we could scale this work and implement more comprehensive strategies that could ultimately impact the lives of hundreds of millions of chickens and other animals raised for food.
We will hold companies accountable to their cage-free commitments
328 million hens are kept in tiny, barren battery cages in the U.S. every single year. Each animal endures extreme cruelty. THL, in partnership with other animal protection groups, has pressured nearly every major food company in the U.S.to phase out intensive confinement by 2026.
Additional funding will enable us to ensure companies keep their commitments through our corporate outreach, pressure campaigns, and public education campaigns. These funds will also help activate our growing volunteer base and allow us to support legislation to ensure companies comply with their commitments to egg-laying hens, as well as mother pigs and veal calves.
We will work to end intensive confinement for egg-laying hens around the world
The Open Wing Alliance (OWA) is a global coalition of more than 70 member organizations united in a common goal: to end the abuse of chickens worldwide. By providing training, support, and grants in under-resourced but high-impact areas of the world, the OWA has driven transformative progress for egg-laying hens, replicating the success of U.S. cage-free campaigns all around the world and igniting the global movement for animals. The OWA is primed to effectively expand its capacity to provide the support, resources, and training needed to ensure that our grants to other organizations succeed.
This year, THL Mexico received its official registration as a charitable organization. While awaiting its registration, our team in Mexico has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to build its network of activists, gain insider intel on the egg industry, and build a strategic and aligned coalition of organizations in the region. They are ready to hire several new team members in the next year in order to increase their impact, which includes a plan to create and leverage a chicken welfare awareness campaign to a broader audience.
With just two staff, THL Japan has secured dozens of cage-free commitments across the country through their thoughtful corporate relations work over the past two years. They are ready to expand their team to highlight the plight of animals raised for food and create institutional change in a country that is one of the largest consumers of eggs in the world.
We will fight to gain basic welfare standards for chickens raised and killed for meat
Chickens raised for meat represent the greatest number of land animals raised and killed for food. Their lives—and deaths—are full of horrific suffering. That is why THL UK is pressuring companies across Europe to sign on to the European Chicken Commitment, a comprehensive welfare policy that addresses the worst forms of suffering these animals face. Already, companies like Chipotle and KFC have signed on to the European Chicken Commitment. However, as THL UK scales its work and supports the growing number of OWA member groups around the world, and as cage-free accountability becomes a competing priority on the continent, additional staff are needed to accelerate this progress.
In the United States, more than 9 billion chickens are raised and killed for meat each year, and these animals have no meaningful legal protections. THL U.S. has established a new, organization-wide strategy to make significant progress in the campaign to improve the lives of these so called ‘broiler chickens’. This will include increasing our corporate relations work to negotiate with companies behind the scenes, running more public pressure campaigns against companies resistant to change, and promoting the Better Chicken Commitment to gain momentum in the public sphere.
We will scale our core teams to support our growing international campaigns
Several of our US-based teams are crucial to the success of our operations around the world. Our Communications, Legal, Tech, Operations, and Development teams have been operating at a deficit as we have focused our growth on programs and international development. As we expand our global reach, we must develop our essential teams to accommodate the growing number of both national and international campaigns to end the abuse of animals raised for food.
Thank you for supporting The Humane League
Thank you to each and every one of you who has partnered with us this year to hold 16 companies accountable to their cage-free egg commitments, to win 33 new international cage-free egg commitments, and to secure 49 new welfare commitments for broiler chickens—all impacting the lives and wellbeing of hundreds of millions of animals. We would not be here today without you, and we hope that you’ll continue to stand alongside us as we strive to make 2020 the most impactful year ever for the animals.
