Faunalytics’ 2023 Community Survey Results
For many people, Faunalytics is synonymous with animal advocacy data. From the surveys we conduct as part of our Original Research program to the external studies we summarize and share in our Research Library, we use data to understand and shape the animal protection movement.
We also use data to understand and shape our own work. Our annual Community Survey asks our audience to weigh in on important questions, such as how they’re using our resources, whether we’re helping them make a difference for animals, and what we can do to better support the movement. Plus, the responses tell us more about the advocates who rely on our work.
In this blog, we dive into the findings from our latest Community Survey. Read on to explore the quantitative and qualitative results and how we plan to make use of them this year and beyond.
Survey Overview
The 2023 Faunalytics Community Survey ran for the last two weeks of May and received 479 valid responses with 394 complete surveys (82%). This is a notable increase over last year — thank you again for your feedback!
While each response is invaluable to us, it’s important to remember that from a research standpoint, this sample size is on the smaller side. If we were to conduct a representative survey of this size, the margin of error would be ± 4.5%. In other words, it’s best to focus on general trends in the data as opposed to specific differences from one year to the next.
Quantitative Results
There’s no two ways about it: Overall, our audience is satisfied with our work! 97% of respondents agreed that our work is high-quality while 82% said our work is either extremely or very valuable to improving animal advocacy, on par with last year’s results. What’s more, 94% said they would probably or definitely recommend us to others. As always, this means a lot to us as we rely on our audience to get the word out about Faunalytics. (As a side note, you can help us by telling others to sign up for our email alerts!)
We’re also pleased to share that our work continues to make an impact for animals and advocates. 79% said that our work has improved their own or their organization’s advocacy efforts, a slight increase from last year. Meanwhile, 76% agreed that Faunalytics’ work has helped guide their advocacy decisions. We’re always looking for ways to make advocacy easier, so this type of feedback is especially encouraging.
Our goal is to help all animal advocates, and it seems we’re getting it right. Overall, 86% of wild animal advocates, 82% of farmed animal advocates, 81% of companion animal advocates, and 80% of research animal advocates said that our work is extremely or very valuable to improving animal advocacy. While we’re proud of these findings, it’s important to bear in mind that our sample was overwhelmingly made up of farmed animal advocates.
Most respondents used our Original Research studies (60%), Research Library summaries (58%), and Fundamentals (55%). Use of our Fundamentals has spiked compared to the previous two years, and we look forward to adding more topics to the lineup.
Community Characteristics
Animal advocacy comes in many different forms. A large majority of Faunalytics’ audience is made up of nonprofit employees and volunteers, independent advocates, academics, and students:
As in previous years, the vast majority of our audience is primarily focused on animals used for food (66%). In comparison, 11% are focused primarily on companion animals, 7% on wild animals, 7% on animals used in science, 1% on animals used in entertainment, and 1% on animals used for fashion and textiles. 10% of respondents selected “other,” providing either more general or more specific answers.
We also asked participants about their alignment with the Effective Altruism (EA) movement. The majority (66%) indicated that their work was at least slightly aligned with EA, while 22% didn’t know what EA is and 12% said that their work is not at all aligned with EA. Similar to last year, 12% of respondents described their work as completely aligned with the EA movement.
Finally, this is the third year that we’ve collected demographic data about our audience, which helps us support the needs of marginalized and underrepresented advocates. Specifically, respondents shared the following details:
- 71% women, 27% men, 2% non-binary and other genders
- 16% Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC)
- 19% LGBTQ2IA+
- 11% people with disabilities
The proportions of people who identified as BIPOC, LGBTQ2IA+, and those with a disability were slightly higher than last year. We’ll continue to work hard making sure our resources benefit all advocates.
Key Performance Indicators
With the exception of first-time website visitors and those who responded “no opinion/don’t know,” respondents provided the following feedback:
Value
- 97% of the sample agreed that our work is high-quality.
- 82% said our work is either extremely or very valuable to improving animal advocacy.
- 94% said they would probably or definitely recommend Faunalytics to others.
- 50% said they often or always turn to Faunalytics first for help finding or conducting animal advocacy-related research.
Impact
- 76% of the sample agreed that Faunalytics’ work has helped guide their advocacy decisions.
- 79% said that Faunalytics’ work has improved their own or their organization’s advocacy efforts.
- 58% agreed that Faunalytics’ work has helped them or their organization reduce suffering and save animal lives. 32% responded “neither agree nor disagree,” and 10% disagreed. Although this figure is lower than our other KPIs, it is important to note that this is a higher bar for us to meet, given that our work is indirect.
KPIs Over Time
The graph below shows the percentage of positive values (e.g., very/extremely valuable, probably/definitely yes) for all KPIs from 2020-2023. Most have remained fairly similar over the past three years.
Specific Resources
Use Of Resources
This year, the percentages of people who indicated using each of our main resources are as follows:
- Original Research: 60%
- Library Summaries: 58%
- Fundamentals: 55%
- Research Advice Section Of Website: 14%
- Video Summaries Of Research: 13%
- Pro-Bono Support: 11%
Use Of Resources Over Time
Below, you’ll find a year-over-year comparison for use of our resources.
As you can see, the most notable change is the use of our Fundamentals, which has gone up substantially over the past two years. So far in 2023 we’ve released our Invertebrate Fundamentals, and we look forward to announcing future editions soon.
Awareness Of Resources
This year, the percentages of people who were aware of our main resources are as follows:
- Original Research: 76%
- Library Summaries: 69%
- Fundamentals: 71%
- Research Advice Section Of Website: 41%
- Video Summaries Of Research: 29%
- Pro-Bono Support: 37%
Awareness Of Resources Over Time
The figure below reveals how our audience’s awareness of our main resources has changed over the past three years.
As you can see, awareness of our pro-bono support and Fundamentals have shown a steady climb in recent years as these resources remain important aspects of our work. While awareness of our library summaries and Original Research appear to have dropped since 2021, note that actual use of these resources has remained consistent over time.
How Are Our Resources Used?
Since 2021, we’ve asked respondents how they’ve used our resources. Overall, 88% said they’ve put our resources to concrete use.
People said they’ve used our resources in many different ways, including the following:
- To stay up-to-date on the latest relevant research: 70%
- To improve advocacy materials (e.g., by adding facts): 39%
- To improve advocacy techniques (e.g., outreach method): 32%
- To help choose an advocacy strategy: 30%
- To learn about why research and data are important: 22%
- To help progress in an animal advocacy career or volunteerism: 18%
- To help design their own research or impact evaluation: 16%
- To help obtain funding or increase donations: 6%
- Other ways: 5%
- To improve internal practices at their organization: 4%
Ways Of Using Our Resources Over Time
The figure above provides a year-on-year comparison of how people use our resources. As noted above, we’ve only been asking this question since 2021 (and one response was added to the lineup last year). We look forward to tracking this topic more closely in the coming years.
First-Time Website Visitors
Visitors who reached the Community Survey via our website were asked whether or not it was their first time visiting the site. 33 first-time visitors responded, with around half (52%) having found us through a Google search. Word-of-mouth was the second most common avenue at 12%.
Other notable findings from first-time visitors are as follows:
- 58% of first-time visitors said Faunalytics is a good fit for their needs (completely or very much), while most of the rest (30%) said it was too soon to say.
- 40% were visiting to look for research on a specific issue. Another 21% said they had come to read a specific article or blog post, and 18% to browse the site.
- 96% said they would probably or definitely visit the site again in the future.
- 95% said they easily found everything they were looking for.
Qualitative Highlights
The numbers above paint a helpful picture about how Faunalytics’ audience thinks about and uses our work. However, to get the full story, we always include qualitative data in our assessment.
The final part of our Community Survey asks respondents to share feedback about how they’ve benefitted from our resources and what we can do to make our work more useful to them. In addition to getting a better understanding of our survey findings, we use these responses to inform our strategy decisions.
In general, it appears that many users see Faunalytics as occupying an important role in the animal advocacy movement. As one advocate put it:
“Faunalytics is a fantastic organization that occupies a unique, much-needed, and too-often-overlooked niche in the animal protection field, and I am so grateful that it exists! The breadth and quality of the research and other resources it makes freely available are outstanding.”
Other respondents said they rely on our work to inform their organization’s programs, strategies, and other important decisions. For example, Ging Geronimo of Animal Empathy Philippines said:
“Faunalytics provides animal advocates like me with the latest insights and research on animal issues and advocacy. We use their open access resources as references in our discussions, learning sessions, fellowships, and in the IEC materials that we share on our online platforms.”
As part of our mission, we aim to make research more accessible to animal advocates. In line with this, many referred to Faunalytics as the go-to place for research, helping them save time and money. One advocate from FIAPO said:
“Faunalytics is hands down the first place I go to when I need data to support FIAPO’s work in pitches, proposals, or strategy papers.”
Accessibility is important when it comes to reaching diverse audiences. In addition to the rigor and comprehensiveness of Faunalytics’ research, users also appreciated how we communicate data to a lay audience. As one advocate explained:
“The articles published by Faunalytics are presented in a very easy to understand manner, making it an important resource for those who are new to the movement to easily understand various issues. We share a number of articles as resources to the fellows of our fellowship programme.”
While some people use Faunalytics to inform a specific research topic, others said they turn to our work for more general overviews about animal protection issues. For example, Katie Nolan of In Defense of Animals said:
“Faunalytics provides relevant and recent research and provides insight into trending animal welfare topics.”
Finally, users were grateful for the suite of support services we provide beyond our written materials. These include our office hours and personalized support. As James of Social Change Lab put it:
“I’ve found the research advice on the website, as well as office hours and personal support (e.g. via email or a phone call) extremely useful for us to design our own research! I’ve also found some of the original research (e.g. impact of certain animal advocacy tactics and support for [farmed animal welfare] legislation in key states) to be very interesting and informed my high-level understanding of the animal advocacy movement.”
And Manisha Singh of Samayu said:
“In addition to the latest resources on animal advocacy, the pro bono support helped us devise evaluation strategies for our outreach. The staff were very approachable, knowledgeable and helpful.”
Incorporating Your 2022 Suggestions
Before we dive into opportunities for improvement identified this year, we want to report back on what we’ve done with your 2022 feedback.
Last year, our audience made three general suggestions: do more outreach/promotions of our work; connect more with advocacy groups and academics; and continue to expand our research focus globally.
Outreach / Promotions
As a small organization with a limited budget, it can be challenging to advertise our work. However, our team has been working hard to find new and creative ways to promote our resources. For example, we’ve added new infographics and Faunalytics Explains videos to our site, as well as social media content via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to reach people beyond our library summaries. We’ve also presented at major international conferences, hosted a symposium, and conducted 1:1 outreach with advocates throughout the year (more on that below).
It seems our efforts in this area are paying off, as we earned over 480,000 library pageviews, 25,700 Original Research pageviews, and 5,200 Faunalytics Explains views in 2022. Since our last Community Survey, we also earned new coverage in Vox, New York Daily News, Lady Freethinker, VegWorld Magazine, Unchained TV, and more.
Connecting With Advocates And Academics
Last year, respondents suggested that we make more of an effort to provide support to animal advocacy organizations and connect with scholars in the animal protection space. Since then, we’ve accomplished the following:
- We supported 111 advocates and organizations via our office hours program.
- Our Research Ambassador project provided research and resources to over 80 organizations in 18 different countries.
- Over 760 advocates from 42 countries attended our inaugural Fauna Connections, a remote research symposium designed to connect academics and advocates working on animal issues. (Note: We’re currently accepting research proposals for the 2023 edition of Fauna Connections!)
- We presented at the Animal and Vegan Advocacy summit, Aquatic Life Conference, Canadian Animal Law Conference, and more, reaching 1,320 attendees.
- We proactively connect with scholars whose studies are published in our Research Library.
- We co-facilitated over 10 inter-organizational research meetings to share knowledge and updates within the farmed animal protection research community.
Connecting with the people who need our work is of course an ongoing process, and we look forward to expanding these efforts and finding new ways of reaching advocates and scholars moving forward.
Expanding And Translating Our Resources
As animal protection becomes more popular around the world, so does animal advocacy. As such, we recognize the importance of making evidence-based insights more accessible to advocates working outside of the U.S. and the West.
We continue to translate many of our original studies and library summaries into other languages (you can view a running list here). Since our last Community Survey, we’ve also published a number of globally-focused studies and analyses:
- Attitudes Towards Chickens & Fishes: A Study Of Brazil, Canada, China, & India
- Chinese Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Animal Welfare
- Reforming Animal Agriculture Subsidies: A Guide For Advocates
- Global Animal Slaughter Statistics
We also provide office hours in several different languages, including Spanish, Polish, and French. We wouldn’t be able to produce this content without the support of our translators and global research collaborators, so we want to take this opportunity to thank them for their invaluable support!
Constructive Feedback & Next Steps
Last but certainly not least, we identified several themes in our respondents’ suggestions for improvement. These include the following:
More Diverse, Accessible, And Impactful Content
Some respondents suggested topics to consider for our Original Research program or Research Library, as well as new content ideas to support their work (e.g., “tip sheets” and sample templates for petitions and other resources). A few respondents asked for more global and multilingual resources, while others suggested that we collaborate with academic partners and organizations in low- and middle-income countries.
As discussed above, we’ve been working hard to produce global research and translate content on our site — we’ll also be including a language hub when we update our website later this year. Furthermore, we hope to continue reaching academics and advocates around the world through our multilingual office hours, Research Ambassador project, and frequent presentations about our work. Moving forward, we’ll continue seeking new ways of expanding our international reach with an emphasis on advocates from traditionally underrepresented regions.
Improved Communication And Engagement
Some respondents suggested that we find new and creative ways to raise awareness of our work. For example, they suggested increasing our presence on social media, creating themed newsletters, offering our email alerts at different frequencies, and engaging with users through online courses, expert interviews, and networking events. In addition, many respondents recommended making our website more user-friendly, easy to navigate, and generally more aesthetically pleasing.
We’re excited to share that this is already in the works, as we’ll soon be doing a website redesign. We look forward to incorporating your suggestions, and we can’t wait to update you on our progress!
Impact Assessment And Transparency
Finally, some respondents commented on topics related to our impact and transparency. For example, one person suggested that we provide information on the impact and citations of our work (you can find some of that information here), while others suggested that we avoid ideological bias.
It’s worth noting that a few respondents felt we aren’t abolitionist enough, while others said we are “too” pro-vegan in our approach. This highlights one of the many challenges of serving a wide range of animal advocates — that is, providing helpful research for everyone while also trying to remain as unbiased as possible. Ultimately, our mission is to empower animal advocates with access to research, analysis, strategies, and messages that maximize their effectiveness to reduce animal suffering. We strive to remain true to this mission as we continue informing your advocacy in the years to come.
Looking Forward
Over the coming weeks we’ll be looking closer at these suggestions and identifying more specific ways we can put them into action. We look forward to updating you as we make progress on this front — thank you again for your helpful suggestions!
Whether or not you completed our Community Survey, please know that we value your input. If you have feedback on our work, we encourage you to reach out to us year-round and let us know what you think. You can do this by:
- Sending us a message on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
- Leaving a comment on a blog post or study summary in our Research Library.
- Sharing research suggestions via the form on this webpage.
- Contacting us privately through our website.
- Dropping into our office hours (this is especially helpful if you have questions about what we do or how we do it).
We always do our best to respond to every comment and email, but please be patient with us. Our team is mighty but small — thoughtful and thorough responses can take time.
On behalf of the entire Faunalytics team, thank you for completing our Community Survey and helping us improve our work. If you have questions about the results of our survey or how we’re putting them into action, we hope you’ll get in touch. In the meantime, we look forward to working together to end animal suffering.