For 25 years, Faunalytics’ mission has been to empower animal advocates with access to research, analysis, strategies, and messages to maximize their effectiveness in reducing animal suffering.
Faunalytics, known initially as The Humane Research Council (HRC), was founded in 2000. This was a time when grassroots organizations diligently worked for animals, yet were limited by a lack of vital research to inform their strategy. Faunalytics catalyzed the movement towards evidence-based advocacy by connecting animal protection organizations with the high-quality research they had been seeking.
Today, we are a trusted partner that is the animal advocacy movement’s go-to source for impactful research with actionable insights. We are proud to equip advocates with thousands of data-driven resources and expand their research capacity as they conquer meaningful milestones for animals.
Going forward, we remain committed to continued impact by delivering the data, research, and expertise advocates need to create meaningful change for animals.
Our Founding
In 2000, Che Green was a marketing Research Manager for Microsoft by day and an advocate for the Northwest Animal Rights Network by night. He envisioned creating highly effective advocacy materials that any animal group could use and customize. Unfortunately, he was unable to do this when he was met with a lack of research around what actually worked within the animal protection movement.
Driven by a vision to fill this research gap and amplify the impact of groups nationwide, Che joined forces with Joe Haptas, a past director of the Northwest Animal Rights Network, and Anthony Bellotti (who would later launch the White Coat Waste Project). Together, they formed the Humane Research Council, which we now fondly call Faunalytics.
Early Contributions
Faunalytics started by offering custom research services to help animal protection organizations determine what messages and strategies were effective and what wasn’t. In a movement with limited resources, it’s vital to get the details right.
Faunalytics first worked with The Fund For Animals, now a part of The Humane Society of The United States, to understand what would persuade fur-wearers to avoid cruel coats. They found that while chinchillas and rabbits were cute, these animals did not appeal to women considering fur. Surprisingly, bobcats and coyotes were more persuasive, given their resemblance to companion animals. They also found that “Do you need her fur more than she does?” was good, but changing it to “She needs her fur more than you do” was better. The Fund For Animals used these research findings to improve the effectiveness of their campaign efforts.
Since then, Faunalytics has conducted custom studies with dozens of partners, including the ASPCA, Born Free USA, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Cats and Dogs International, United Poultry Concerns, Veganuary, and more.
Evolution & Growth
Over the years, Faunalytics has grown significantly, expanding to a team of experts in animal research, social science, policy, and communication. We’ve continuously evolved our offerings based on the movement’s needs, growing beyond custom research for specific organizations, to support the movement more holistically; We began collecting and summarizing external studies in our Research Library in 2004, conducting independent Original Research in 2004-2005, and most recently expanding our Research Support services with the launch of our Office Hours in 2019 and our symposium and Research Ambassador Outreach in 2022.
Throughout The Years
We’ve helped advocates apply messaging that works.
Our Original Research studies have resulted in key findings that increase the effectiveness of advocacy efforts. Some actionable contributions include that effectiveness is improved when materials are created at a 7th or 8th-grade reading level, that meat purchases are reduced when advocating for meat reduction rather than elimination, that video outreach is an effective advocacy tool, and that public opinion of advocates and companies after campaigns towards cage-free eggs are positive.We’ve uncovered key insights on the state of the sector.
Some of our most popular works include our annual visualization of FAO data, Global Animal Slaughter Statistics and Charts, our landmark study, Study of Current and Former Vegetarians and Vegans, and Faunalytics’ Animal Tracker, a 12-year longitudinal survey that provides an overview of opinions and behavior relating to animals and identifies allies and adversaries of animal protection. These projects have become essential resources for advocates to understand and navigate the sector landscape.We’ve made existing research actionable.
Animal research is often scattered across academic journals, behind paywalls, and written in complex language. Faunalytics curates, simplifies, and freely offers research summaries to advocates so research can be easily adopted. Summaries include blogs, translations for impactful regions, and visualizations such as infographics and videos. A key resource is our Faunalytics Fundamentals series, which provides the latest and best data on important animal issues and topics. In addition, we provide pro-bono support for advocates, ensuring that research can be easily understood and insights can be applied.We’ve expanded movement capacity.
In a movement with such limited funding, animal protection organizations have to be extremely resourceful to make strides for animals. For this reason, our work often helps organizations with capacity building. Our fundraising research has provided advocates with details on who supporters are, how to identify them, and how to engage them. Our studies on retention, and salary benchmarking support human resource functions, and our Office Hours and Research Advice Hub support advocates in building research capacity.We’ve become an established and trusted partner for animal advocacy.
2015 was a milestone year marking our contributions to the sector. We rebranded from The Humane Research Council (HRC), often confused for the Human Rights Campaign or an anti-vivisection organization, to Faunalytics. “Faunalytics” uniquely and accurately reflected our reputation as the leading organization providing insight and analysis to reveal better strategies and improve the world for animals. This same year was the first time that we were evaluated and selected as a Recommended Charity by Animal Charity Evaluators, an organization that extensively reviews charities for maximum impact on animals. Shortly after, in 2017, we also achieved the Platinum Transparency Seal from Guidestar. As a trusted partner, we’ve continued to earn both statuses ever since, demonstrating our commitment to cost-effectiveness, transparency, and most importantly, impact.
Faunalytics Today
Today, we have an international reach of nearly 700,000 advocates. Due to decades of devotion to sector needs, we can proudly say that we’ve:
- closed key knowledge gaps in animal advocacy by conducting and freely sharing 50+ Original Research studies that have been selected based on what would have the strongest impact for animals;
- created the world’s largest online collection on animal issues, our free Research Library, which hosts 6,000+ research summaries; and,
- empowered 2,000+ advocates with direct support through Office Hours, Research Ambassador workshops, and our annual research symposium Fauna Connections.
As a result, our work has influenced major policy decisions, nonprofit strategies, and public awareness campaigns to effectively help animals. Check out Our Impact page to dive into more detail on our contributions to date.
Looking Forward
As Faunalytics embarks on our third decade, serving animal advocates as a capacity-building organization, we remain steadfast in our mission while flexible in our approach. We will continue to conduct Original Research, add high-impact summaries to our Research Library, provide Direct Support to advocates, and dynamically evolve to meet the changing needs of the sector. As an example, we are already incorporating learnings from our recent work Research and Data As Tools In Advocates’ Decision-Making to accelerate our content, improve our strategy, and expand our reach. Alongside our dedicated community, we will continue advancing animal protection and supporting data-driven organizations and advocates, amplifying their effectiveness until all animals are liberated from suffering.
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