Faunalytics’ 2023 Mid-Year Report
There is a a lot of momentum in animal advocacy, and the whole Faunalytics team feels it. We’ve been hard at work releasing original research, infographics, study summaries, and so much more — and seeing how energized the animal advocacy community is around our resources inspires us so much. If you’re a fan of Faunalytics, 2023 has been a busy year so far. Join us in looking back at the past six months below.
January
New Research: A Guide for Advocates Reforming Animal Agriculture Subsidies
Worldwide, governments provide over $500 billion USD annually in direct subsidies to agriculture, and most of these payments go to Big Ag. In our first study of the year, we set out to understand the successes and challenges advocacy organizations have faced in their efforts to shift, reduce, or eliminate animal agriculture subsidies. We found that indirect subsidies are particularly important (because they’re less obvious), and that to be successful, reforming subsidies will likely require collaboration between animal advocates, environmental advocates, and farmed animal producers. Check out the full report below or video Q&A to learn more.
New Analysis: The Animal Agriculture Industry’s Perspective On Advocates & Cage-Free Reforms
As a companion to our subsidy report, we reviewed animal ag trade publications to reveal how they react and respond to animal advocacy. The animal agriculture industry paints itself as pro-science and animal advocates as manipulative, portraying their interactions with advocates as a “high-stakes battle.” The industry relies on a narrative of farmer and consumer choice to support their inhumane practices, and uses a variety of strategies to challenge or reverse the progress of cage-free reforms. Check out the complete analysis for our list of recommendations for advocates.
Major Milestone: Faunalytics’ Research Library reaches 5,000 Entries
Since the early 2000s Faunalytics’ Research Library has grown to become the largest free online collection of research summaries related to animal topics, including farmed animals, wild animals, companion animals, animals used in research, and more. We’re thrilled to share that this important resource has reached a major milestone: our 5,000th entry! Our blog celebrating the occasion highlights some of the most popular – and overlooked – articles in our collection.
February
Mini Meta-Analysis: Bringing Back Former Vegans And Vegetarians
With many organizations in our movement focused on vegan outreach, we wanted to equip them with the best insights they need to help people go and stay vegan. So we looked at data from two of our former studies, focusing on what obstacles cause people to give up their veg diet and what it would take for them to win them back. We outlined several important recommendations to help people go and stay veg, making this report a must-read for advocates working on individual outreach. Check out the full report, video Q&A, or our podcast interview with Veg Out to learn more.
Planning Ahead: Our New Strategic Plan
Faunalytics published our 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, in which we outline four core areas where we’ll focus our efforts over the next three years. Our goals include strengthening our relationships with animal advocacy, improving our external communications to increase awareness of our work, building out our organizational capacity, and maximizing the impact of our research programs.
Spreading Awareness: A Faunalytics Feature
Our work was spotlighted by the Reducetarian Foundation, where our Research Director shared what projects we have in store and what advice she’d give to animal advocates. When asked what gives her hope for the future, Jo shared: “I also have a sense that there are more coordinated efforts among animal advocacy groups, and between animal advocacy groups and other movements, like the climate movement — all of which is key to creating a major shift over time.”
March
New Research: Support For Farmed Animal Welfare Legislation In Ten Key U.S. States
We polled the public to gauge support for different pieces of legislation, from factory farm bans to environmental regulations to alternative protein development, in ten U.S. states where legal animal advocacy exists or is under consideration. We also examined whether the level of support varies by demographic characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, income, age, political affiliation, and congressional district. Advocates working in these states can use these findings to choose appropriate issues to target or to present to lawmakers as evidence of support. Learn more or request the full results here.
Guest Post: Encouraging Data Literacy in the Movement
In a guest post for Stray Dog Institute, our Content Director examined how data and knowledge are mobilized within animal advocacy, and how improving our data literacy as advocates can improve our trust and effectiveness. karol highlights practices that can strengthen the reliability of the data advocates use, and cautions against data communication practices that weaken the animal protection movement.
April
New Research: Comparing U.S. Groups’ Openness to Pro-Animal Actions
We surveyed thousands of people across the United States and asked how likely they would be to try a number of pro-animal actions, such as voting for a ballot measure, going vegan, buying cruelty-free products, and more. The results will enable animal advocates to be more effective by focusing on the most promising strategies or tailoring specific “asks” for the most receptive groups. We’ve also created an interactive graphing tool to let you easily view specific results of interest. Check out the report, graphing tool, or data demo video!
Updated Resource: Animal Product Impact Scales
Institutions like universities and hospitals purchase and sell a massive amount of animal products every year. Advocates have been finding success approaching these institutions about reducing their impact on the environment and animals, but institutions need to be able to track their impact so they can see the difference they’re making. That’s where this update to our Animal Product Impact Scales comes in, with per-pound and per-kilogram estimates of impact that can be used for retail purchase—to help advocates bring more institutions on board with large-scale meat reduction.
Informative Infocomic: Local Action For Animals As A Stepping Stone To State Protections
Last year we conducted a study investigating whether local laws have laid the groundwork for laws at the state level of government, and whether this is a viable avenue for creating meaningful change for animals. In an effort to create new resources in a variety of formats, we teamed up with our Board President to create a new infocomic for advocates, outlining the major findings from our study.
May
Research Collaboration: Animal Agriculture Is The Missing Piece In Climate Change Media Coverage
In partnership with Sentient Media, our latest research study found that animal agriculture is mentioned in only 7% of U.S. news stories about climate change. Even when animal ag is mentioned, its connection to climate change is often lacking. Read the full report or tune into our video overview to find out what that coverage generally looks like and what you can do to help improve coverage of animal agriculture in climate news.
Faunalytics Fundamentals: The World of Invertebrates
The category of invertebrates is almost uncomfortably huge — encompassing species from bumblebees and fruit flies to lobsters and octopi. Our latest Fundamental tries to encapsulate the vast world of invertebrates through six data-packed infographics. Inside, you’ll learn about the particulars of pollinators, the push to produce insects for food, the use of invertebrates in scientific research, and much more. Check out this unique visual resource, as well as our video highlighting 5 of its most actionable data points.
June
1:1 Office Hours
So far this year, nearly 50 advocates and organizations received one-on-one support from Faunalytics’ experienced team through our free Office Hours program. Whether it’s finding and interpreting data, helping with scoping problems, or aiding in research design, we’re excited to provide direct support to the advocacy community.
Spreading Awareness and Effective Communicating Data: A Chat with Faunalytics
Our work was featured on the new podcast How I Learned to Love Shrimp, where our Content Director highlighted past research, current studies, and projects on deck.
Animal advocates are already up against societal expectations, and so much pressure, and prejudice against the issue we’re trying to bring forward, and we do ourselves a disservice when we use bad information and data. We make it so much easier for others to say we’re wrong, and to be discredited. We talk a lot about tactics in the movement — sharing of information is a tactic, and sharing bad information is a bad tactic. It doesn’t help us in the long term and it certainly doesn’t help animals.
Fauna Fellow: Empowering the Next Generation of Advocates
Faunalytics is a proud partner organization with the Reducetarian Foundation’s fellowship program, and we’re thrilled to welcome Chris Chang as our summer fellow! Chris is a student at City College of New York, and works as a science educator at the New York Hall of Science, where he engages youth and families with STEM content and activities. Previously, he worked at Rockefeller University as a research assistant, studying the effects of tick-borne diseases on industrial cattle farms. This summer he’ll support Faunalytics’ programs while honing his skills in research analysis, writing, and data visualization.
Coming Soon
Upcoming Symposium: Connecting Researchers & Advocates
Our virtual research event Fauna Connections is scheduled for September 14th, and we’ve made exciting progress in our planning. We’re thrilled to share that Elijah Brice-Middleton, Executive Director of the Animals & Society Institute, will be this year’s keynote speaker! Additionally, we’ve just opened our call for presentation proposals. Academics from the social and behavioral sciences are invited to submit presentations of original research that offers real-life implications and recommendations for animal advocates. We hope to see you there!
New Research: Several Studies to Inform Your Advocacy
2023 is on track to be a record year for Faunalytics in terms of our original research outputs. We’re doing more for advocates than ever before, and we’re not slowing down! In the months ahead stay tuned for several upcoming studies on topics including the social spread of advocacy, collaborative opportunities with environmental organizations, factors affecting the cost of production for chicken, fish, and eggs, and much more.
New Website: A New and Improved Faunalytics.org
All of Faunalytics’ research and resources for animal advocates live on our website, and so it’s vital that faunalytics.org remains user-friendly and up to date. We’re thrilled to share that later this year, we’ll launch a new and improved version of the classic Faunalytics website you know and love!
1 Year Later: Research Ambassador Project Impact Report
Last year Faunalytics launched a brand new initiative designed to help bring research to the broader animal protection community. The goal of our Ambassador Project was twofold: to support and mentor new talent in the movement, and to empower more advocates around the world with research to inform their efforts. Our Ambassadors have been hard at work for over a year now, and next month we’re excited to share an overview of this project’s impact.
Our Impact
Did you know that Faunalytics’ research and resources are viewed by over 400,000 people each year? In addition to serving this wide audience, each year we strive to better understand how our work supports the animal advocacy community. We recently conducted our annual Community Survey to learn just how our work is being used by advocates, and how we can improve to better support the movement. Key highlights include:
- 97% of the sample agreed that our work is high-quality.
- 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.
To learn more about Faunalytics’ impact, check out our Impact Center!
Support Animal Advocacy Research
Faunalytics’ research and resources are made possible and freely available to animal advocates thanks to our generous donors. Help Faunalytics continue to empower our movement with the information they need to be as effective as possible.
We’ve had an exciting first half of the year, and we need your support to keep the momentum going. Help Faunalytics continue to empower our movement with research and resources to inform animal advocacy. Get involved today!
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