Push through elections
10
Pro-Animal Future
Project summary
Pro-Animal Future is developing a scalable model for inexpensive citizen ballot initiatives targeting factory farming.
What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?
We aim to enable a wave of citizen initiatives nationwide that propose popular, common-sense limitations on how poorly animals can be treated in factory farms, for instance by requiring that animals have meaningful access to pasture. Our goal is to qualify several statewide measures by 2030. We expect that in states where such a requirement passes, the volume of factory farming would decrease sharply. While on their own these measures would only lead to a relocation of farms to states with different political leanings, they would be complementary with other efforts (e.g. alternative protein technologies) in leading to a nationwide shift away from factory farming.
How will this funding be used?
Funding will be used on campaign materials for a pilot campaign on the 2024 general election ballot in Denver, CO (e.g. digital ads targeting voters)
Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?
Pro-Animal Future was incubated (and is currently staffed) by Pax Fauna, a strategy research organization that has gained a reputation in the animal welfare sector based on several consequential reports.
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?
In the short-term, our pilot campaign in Denver failing to pass does not necessarily spell failure for the project– we expect our biggest impact can come from pursuing initiatives that do not have a 100% win rate, but are more disruptive to the industry when they do pass. True failure would look like an inability to scale our model campaign in a cost-effective way.
What other funding are you or your project getting?
Pro-Animal Future is currently funded by Animal Charity Evaluators' Movement Grants and other animal welfare-focused funders including the Phauna and Craigslist foundations.
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Michael St. Jules
3 months ago
Are you coordinating with other effective animal advocacy organizations, e.g. HSUS and other supporters of California Prop 12? A failed ballot initiative could be worse than not doing it, in case it undermines corporate work or makes future ballot initiatives harder.
donated $600
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Michael St. Jules
3 months ago
>While on their own these measures would only lead to a relocation of farms to states with different political leanings
You should make sure the restrictions apply to both production and sale, so that products not meeting the restrictions can't be imported.
donated $100
Melina Tan
4 months ago
As pioneers in using democratic processes to advance animal welfare and promote sustainable diets, Sentience Politics is excited to see the growing momentum for ballot initiatives in the USA.
We wish Pro Animal great success, not only at the ballot box but also in setting the agenda for farm animals.
donated $30
Steven Rouk
4 months ago
Pro-Animal Future seems to be experimenting with growing the people power of the animal advocacy movement in a way that is rather different from what any other organization is doing. I like that they are research-based, that they have many years of combined advocacy experience, that they are very effective and efficient with the funds they have, and that they seem to be running a smart and impactful multi-year initiative very well. I think the work that Pro-Animal Future does over the next 2-5 years will be extremely informative for the rest of the movement, regardless of the outcomes.
Marvin A
4 months ago
Pro-Animal Future is a fantastic organization. I admire their vision, their level of organization, and their inspiring community and I am grateful to be a part of the movement (as web and app developer as well as occasional volunteer). Forward together 💪
Austin Chen
4 months ago
Hey Aidan! Thanks for this proposal and congrats on the traction; it seems like many folks are excited to support your work. Manifund is happy to support donations to this project as part of our animal welfare portfolio.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like a good fit for EA Community Choice, as it's not aimed at helping members in the EA community; I've removed it from consideration for the the quadratic funding match. (People are still welcome to donate their funds to Pro-Animal Future, there just won't be a matching component)
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Lily Chamberlain
4 months ago
Upvoted because I'm super excited about this - not just the potential wins this November, but what this team can achieve over the longer term. They're doing really great work.
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Sofia Balderson
4 months ago
I'm quite excited about the potential impact of ballot initiatives. Thank you for your work!
Jason
4 months ago
How much do you estimate it costs to run one ballot initiative in a medium-size state (or whatever metric makes sense?)
I ask because Big Ag is well funded, which makes me worry that you'd need lots of money to actually get something passed. That doesn't mean you shouldn't proceed! But there are some ideas that are good if and only if they can achieve a fairly high level of funding, and don't scale well at lower funding levels. It seems plausible that this might be one of them.
Aidan Kankyoku
4 months ago
@Jason Great question. Our baseline budget per campaign for a mid-sized city or county (100k-1M) is $300,000 over two years. We expect a statewide campaign in a state like Colorado or Oregon would ideally want at least $1.5M over two years. However, that varies depending on the pre-campaign support for the policy. A proposal that has very high support to start with would cost less as you'd only need to defend your lead. We've done some survey testing recently for a few policies that would be very disruptive to the industry and are showing upwards of 70% support in blue states. There's an argument to just get a measure like that on the ballot (which we could do for $100,000 or so) even if you don't have much budget for a campaign. We got our measure on the ballot in Denver using entirely volunteer circulators, with one staff organizer who cost about $30k for 6 months. Most of the budget above is communications during election season.
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Alaina Sigler
4 months ago
Let's ban slaughterhouses and fur products in Denver and mimic it across the state and nation!
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Anna Libey
4 months ago
Banning fur and slaughterhouses will make a substantial impact in factory farmed animals lives
donated $200
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Lauren Uram
4 months ago
We are so close to banning fur sales and slaughterhouses in Denver this November, and planting the seeds for even bigger wins in the future!
donated $200
Monica Chen
4 months ago
@laurenuram Agreed! Grateful for the opportunity to support this important work.