The Farm Animal Welfare Grantee Experience

In pursuit of doing the most good for animals with the resources available to us, we fund tractable and cost-effective work in important and neglected sub-strategies. The FAW page provides a deeper explanation of what we do and what we consider some significant wins to date. For the most granular understanding, visit the grants page and filter by farm animal welfare to see past grants we’ve made. 

We generally don’t fund unsolicited proposals unless they are closely aligned with our strategic priorities. Organizations that feel their projects may be a good fit can send a pitch email to info@openphilanthropy.org. We know preparing proposals can take a lot of time and feel like a guessing game. If it can be avoided, we don’t want organizations to spend their time that way, and strongly prefer that prospective applicants first email us to gauge interest before preparing a formal proposal.

After a preliminary assessment, we may invite organizations to formally apply for a grant by sharing the following with us:

• A budget outlining how the organization would spend the funds over the next two years. 
• A list of the organization’s primary achievements to date. 
• A list of goals for the next two years and key results to measure progress toward those goals.
• Note that our standard and preferred grant duration is two years, but prospective grantees are welcome to apply for a shorter or longer period if the project proposal requires it.

We’ll share a sample budget and goals for applicants to reference. We will also follow up to ask applicants for additional information as needed, including modified goals or an alternate budget. 

We accept new grant applications on a rolling basis. After receiving a full application, it can take us up to three months to make a final decision (see sections 1 and 2 here and section 3 here).  

Once our team makes a final decision, the grant will still need to be formally approved (e.g., our grants team will need to conduct due diligence). You can read more about the due diligence process, including its typical timeline, here.

Grantees can raise questions about their grants during scheduled periodic check-ins (more on these below), or at any time via email.

Frequency: We aim to check in with grantees every six months to receive progress updates via call, online form, or email. 

Structure: We don’t ask grantees to prepare anything formal (e.g., presentations, reports, etc.). However, we may specify some discussion topics when we reach out to schedule the check-ins. Generally speaking, this is how structure check-ins for 2-year grants:

• 6-month check-in: Macro-level discussion, e.g., what’s going well, unexpected hurdles, strategy shifts, etc.
• 1-year check-in: Specific questions that revolve around the goals of the grant.
• 18-month check-in: Specific questions that revolve around the goals of the grant, and teeing up the renewal process (if applicable). 

By default, we do not have any formal written reporting requirements for grantees. However, there are occasions when we or our funding partners are legally required to collect short narratives and/or financial reports. When this is required, it will be stated in the grant agreement, and our grants team will highlight the requirement via email.

These reports are legal compliance requirements meant to ensure a grantee’s work is charitable and in furtherance of their grant purpose. The reports are not inputs into evaluation or renewal considerations, so we deliberately aim to keep them as simple and straightforward as possible. We encourage grantees to spend only the time necessary to respond directly to the questions asked.

We require most grantees to have sexual harassment policies that, at a minimum:

• Comply with all local, state, and national legal requirements.
• Forbid all sexual harassment.
• Provide clear reporting and complaint mechanisms for victims.
• Include clear adjudication procedures that are consistently enforced.
• Mandate that victims are not retaliated against for reporting.
• Provide information or training to all employees to ensure they’re aware of these policies.
• Require the use of outside counsel to investigate any complaints against leadership or where leadership can’t be expected to fairly investigate the claim due to a conflict of interest.
• Prohibit non-disclosure agreements covering sexual harassment claims (NDAs covering other topics are fine).

Groups don’t need to be compliant upon application so long as they’re willing to adopt these requirements if we fund them. During a grantee’s first check-in, we will ask about the organization’s policies and implementation. If legal support would be helpful, we’re open to discussing covering a grantee’s legal fees. 

Nothing: If a grant is non-renewable, it will end, and the grantee won’t need to do anything else. One-off project-based grants are usually non-renewable. 

Exit grant: If a grant is renewable and we choose not to renew, we often provide the grantee with one year of funding at the same annual level to support a transition. However, this is not guaranteed, and we will make a determination at our sole discretion.

Apply for a renewal: If a grant is renewable, we will aim to start the formal renewal grant investigation at least three months before the grant close date. Standard renewal application requirements are very similar to the application requirements for new grant proposals:

• A budget outlining how the organization would spend the funds over the next two years.  
  • Grantees can share a lower and a higher budget if they’d like. One of the budgets must be no larger than the current budget from their most recent grant.
• A list of the organization’s top accomplishments from the current grant period, including evidence of progress made toward the grant goals. 
• A list of goals for the next two years and key results to measure progress toward those goals.

After submitting a written renewal application, grantees can expect a grant investigator to reach out to schedule a meeting and ask follow-up questions.