Ashley Chang
For the eleventh year in a row, Animal Charity Evaluators has recognized The Humane League as a recommended charity.
Thanks to the unwavering support of our incredible community of changemakers—people like you—we are making a lasting difference in the lives of millions of animals. For the past eleven years, The Humane League has been recognized by Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) as one of the most effective animal protection organizations. We're proud to be the only charity to have earned this distinction every year since ACE’s evaluations began, a testament to our collective impact.
In a world rife with the suffering of billions of animals, it’s not always easy to know which action will make the biggest impact, or where your dollar will stretch the farthest.
For anyone looking to make the greatest impact for animals, Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) is an invaluable guide. They care deeply about finding “the organizations that will likely make the most significant difference for animals.” Since 2012, ACE’s rigorous research and analysis has identified these groups, connecting caring individuals with meaningful opportunities to drive transformative change.
That’s why we’re so proud that ACE has consistently recognized The Humane League as a Recommended Charity since 2014. This sustained recognition is a testament to our unwavering commitment to creating measurable progress for animals by fighting for institutional change: influencing global food corporations, fighting for policies at the state and federal levels, and building powerful coalitions to keep fueling this movement. And the impact is enormous. In 2023, we held 62 companies accountable to commitments to spare an estimated 41 million hens from extreme confinement.
As we look to the year ahead, we remain laser-focused on building upon this momentum and driving even greater change for the animals who need it most.
What is Animal Charity Evaluators? What do they do?
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) is an organization dedicated to helping people make the greatest impact for animals. Their mission is to use “evidence and reason to serve people who want to help animals.” Through rigorous research, careful analysis, and data-driven evaluations, ACE identifies and highlights the most effective animal advocacy groups around the world, guiding donors and advocates toward organizations that are delivering the most substantial improvements in the lives of animals.
Since its founding in 2012, ACE has reviewed hundreds of charities and influenced the allocation of more than $68 million toward high-impact animal welfare work. By conducting thorough evaluations of each charity’s strategies and outcomes, ACE helps ensure that supporters can be confident in their decisions to contribute time, money, and effort toward initiatives that truly make a difference.
Why The Humane League is a recommended animal welfare charity
In 2024, The Humane League fought hard in the fight for animals. We’re a key driver of the movement to end cages, securing cage-free commitments from food companies, protecting laws against extreme confinement, and uniting organizations worldwide to end the most extreme forms of animal cruelty. We’ve already seen significant progress, and the impact of our work is felt around the globe.
- Cage-Free Milestone. For the first time in history, over 40% of egg-laying hens in the US are out of cages—nearly 125 million hens. This marks a monumental shift in the egg industry, where just 15 years ago, fewer than 4% of hens had any freedom from cages. Thanks to relentless advocacy and your support, now nearly half of the hens in the US egg system are now spared from battery cages.
- Corporate Progress. In the first three quarters of 2024, we helped secure 26 new corporate cage-free commitments through the Open Wing Alliance (OWA), meaning millions more hens stand to be spared from confinement. This includes some major breakthroughs with large restaurant chains and hospitality giants, such as Hilton, which publicly reported its progress towards ending its use of caged eggs.
- Grassroots Power. Our movement’s strength comes from people like you. Over 2,000 grassroots actions have been taken this year alone, sending more than 213,000 messages to decision-makers demanding an end to the abuse of animals raised for food. Every letter, petition, and protest is helping build the public pressure needed to bring about lasting change.
- Global Reach. Our international work continues to expand, with the Open Wing Alliance reporting that 89% of corporate cage-free commitments due in 2023 have already been fulfilled worldwide. We've also seen landmark progress in Asia, where a major player like Kewpie—a leading Japanese mayonnaise producer—recently pledged to eliminate eggs from caged hens in its Asian supply chains—impacting millions of hens across the region.
Our approach combines multiple, intersecting strategies, from corporate campaigns to digital activism, from policy change to grassroots turnout. But at the heart of our work is a deep belief that change happens when we work together—across countries, industries, and communities—to hold institutions accountable and demand that they respect the lives of animals.
With the goal of promoting the animal protection organizations that are making the greatest difference for the most animals, ACE recommended The Humane League for a tenth time in 2023. We’re proud that The Humane League has been honored with a renewed recognition once again in 2024.
As ACE reflected in their evaluation: “We proudly recommend The Humane League (THL) as an excellent giving opportunity. Their corporate outreach work for welfare improvements to help farmed chickens in the United States and their skill- and network-building efforts to help farmed animals in the United States show a particularly high impact potential. We assess THL’s recent work as highly cost-effective, and they performed very strongly on our evaluation criteria compared to other charities we evaluated. We believe they are in a strong position to use additional funding in ways that are likely to create the most positive change for farmed animals.”
A movement that can’t be stopped
The Humane League has always believed that a factory-farming-free world is possible—and in 2024, we’re closer than ever to making that vision a reality. But we still have a long road ahead. While we’ve made huge strides, 2025 is a pivotal year for animal advocacy. The cage-free movement is reaching its tipping point, but there are still millions of animals suffering behind bars. With your help, we can eliminate these cages for good and end the factory farming system that holds them captive.
When the next generation looks back, they’ll know that together, we were the ones who made battery cages a thing of the past. Thanks to you, our shared vision of a cruelty-free world for farmed animals is becoming a reality—and we won’t stop until every last cage is gone.
