Year after year, Giving U.S.A. reports that animal and environmental nonprofits receive only about 3% of all charitable giving. That’s not a big piece of the overall pie — what does this slim figure actually look like for individual organizations? According to data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are around 15,000 registered and reporting 501(c)(3) public charities in the United States working on animal and/or environmental causes. If the total reported revenues of these cause areas were divided up equally, it would provide about $1.3 million for each animal/environmental charity. 

But we know that revenues are not split evenly across each cause area, nor among the groups within each cause area. Indeed, even just among the organizations listed on Charity Navigator (which until recently only rated charities with revenues over $1 million for at least two consecutive years), there are over 100 animal organizations with expenses over $3.5 million and 30 with expenses over $13.5 million, most of which are humane societies and SPCAs that focus primarily or entirely on companion animal issues. By contrast, a 2016 Animal Charity Evaluators report found that ten major U.S. farmed animal organizations combined controlled less than $20 million.

We know that charitable giving isn’t distributed equally, and I’m not even advocating that it should be (though it sure would be great if animal advocacy got a bit more love). Organizations are unique, with varied needs that may demand more or less funding and resources to achieve their missions. However, funding isn’t just unequally distributed, it’s inequitably distributed.