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Largest donation in Mercy For Animals’ 23-year history will be allocated to corporate engagement and DEIJ to further animal protection work
SAN FRANCISCO (June 1, 2023) — Mercy For Animals, an international farmed animal protection organization, announced a new award of over $12 million from Open Philanthropy, the grantmaking organization co-founded by husband and wife altruists Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna. Moskovitz is also a co-founder of Facebook and Asana. This grant is the largest single gift in Mercy For Animals’ 23-year history and will fully fund one of Mercy For Animals’ five key program areas: campaigns calling on major food-industry corporations to implement animal welfare policies, challenge inhumane practices, and encourage adoption of more ethical and sustainable supply chain solutions.
“We’re excited about Mercy For Animals’ track record in securing policies from the world’s largest food companies to treat animals in their supply chains better and in holding companies accountable for those policies,” said Lewis Bollard, Open Philanthropy’s senior program officer for farm animal welfare.
The $12.47 million will support Mercy For Animals’ animal welfare work around the world to reduce suffering for farmed animals trapped in our broken food system—a system that also violates workers’ rights and damages the environment and public health. This grant will specifically fund corporate campaigns involving chickens raised for meat and eggs in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
“This gift is a transformative investment and statement of confidence in some of our most impactful programs,” said Leah Garcés, Mercy For Animals’ CEO and president. “The grant will fuel our work to influence how corporate institutions treat farmed animals in their supply chains. One way we do this is through our undercover investigations. Corporate campaigning is a proven area of our work that has seen great success in reducing suffering. With the support of Open Philanthropy, we could impact hundreds of millions more animals. Since its inception, Mercy For Animals has influenced over 500 corporate policies, which we expect to reduce suffering for over 1 billion animals per year. We look forward to helping many more.”
Of the Open Philanthropy grant, $330,000 will support The People’s Fund, Mercy For Animals’ groundbreaking DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice) endeavor to address racial inequity in funding and inequitable access to resources for mission-aligned advocates and organizations.
Notes to Editors
For more information or to schedule an interview with Leah Garcés, contact Robin Goist at [email protected].
Mercy For Animals is a leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system. Active in Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, and the United States, the organization has conducted more than 100 investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, influenced more than 500 corporate policies, and helped pass historic legislation to ban cages for farmed animals. Join us at MercyForAnimals.org