PLATINUM2023

Animal Charity Evaluators

Helping people help animals

aka ACE   |   Covina, CA   |  https://animalcharityevaluators.org

Mission

The mission of Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) is to find and promote the most effective ways to help animals. Our vision is a world in which no individual is given less than full moral consideration on the basis of any morally irrelevant feature of their identity, including species membership.

Ruling year info

2011

Executive Director

Stien van der Ploeg

Main address

440 N Barranca Ave #3480

Covina, CA 91723 USA

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Formerly known as

Justice For Animals

Effective Animal Activism

EIN

36-4684978

NTEE code info

Animal Protection and Welfare (includes Humane Societies and SPCAs) (D20)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2023, 2022 and 2021.
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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Animal suffering in our world is diverse and immense, but the number of animals used and killed for food dwarfs the number of animals used by humans for other purposes. Furthermore, the number of wild animals is several orders of magnitude greater than the number of farmed animals. However, the distribution of resources to help animals is highly inconsistent with these patterns. Although farmed animals represent over 99% of animals used by humans, charities that exclusively advocate for farmed animals receive less than 1% of all donations to animal charities. Similarly, despite the fact that wild animals represent 99.9% of all vertebrates on earth, there are few charities and almost no resources dedicated exclusively to evaluating and improving the welfare of wild animals. In order to have the most impact, Animal Charity Evaluators recommends that donors concentrate their efforts on preventing the suffering of as many farmed animals and wild animals as possible.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Charity Evaluations

ACE conducts annual charity evaluations to identify the most effective animal charities working in high-priority cause areas. Annually, we publish lists of recommended charities to promote organizations that would likely produce the greatest gains for animals with additional donations. We are transparent about our charity evaluation process and make improvements to it each year.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Activists
Researchers

ACE awards grants via our Recommended Charity Fund and Movement Grants program. The Recommended Charity Fund is for anyone who wishes to support ACE’s recommended charities through a single donation. Funds are dispersed twice a year, in January and July, to our Top Charities and Standout Charities working on a diverse range of effective interventions. Each June, we award Movement Grants to organizations and individuals working on various approaches to animal advocacy—especially those that lack funding, target large numbers of animals, or operate in regions with a small animal advocacy movement. This allows us to reach organizations that are too small or novel to be considered in our Charity Evaluations program, ensuring that we can support the growth of a broad range of effective organizations.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Activists
Researchers

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Dollars donated to support advocacy efforts

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Activists, Researchers

Related Program

Grantmaking

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

In 2022, ACE helped to influence an estimated $8.3 million in donations within the animal advocacy movement. Since 2014, the total influenced amount is estimated to be more than $56 million.

Total number of grants awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults, Activists, Researchers

Related Program

Grantmaking

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

ACE awards grants to our Top and Standout Charities via our Recommended Charity Fund and to promising animal advocacy projects in neglected regions around the globe via our Movement Grants program.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) is dedicated to our mission of finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals. We aim to assist compassionate donors, advocates, and volunteers in making informed decisions about how to help animals as effectively as possible. ACE strives to identify ways to alleviate suffering and improve the lives of animals on a wide scale, while continuously updating our recommendations based on new evidence. Our goal is to help people help animals. Ultimately, ACE's vision is a world in which no individual is given less than full moral consideration on the basis of any morally irrelevant feature of their identity, including species membership.

To achieve ACE’s mission of finding and promoting the most effective ways to help animals, we pursue two main programs: Charity Evaluations and Grantmaking.

Charity Evaluations: ACE evaluates animal charities around the globe in order to determine their effectiveness in reducing animal suffering. Our comprehensive Charity Evaluations Program provides an in-depth look at each charity’s Programs, Cost Effectiveness, Room for More Funding, and Leadership and Culture in order to recommend them as either a Top Charity or a Standout Charity. We publish our recommendations to help people help the most animals with their donations.

Grantmaking: ACE awards grants from both our Recommended Charity Fund and Movement Grants program. Our Recommended Charity Fund is distributed biannually to our current effective Top Charities and Standout Charities. Our Movement Grants program aims to build and strengthen the global animal advocacy movement by awarding grants annually to applicants working on approaches that are underfunded, target large numbers of animals, and are in regions with a relatively small advocacy movement. Since 2014, ACE estimates that we have helped to influence over $56 million USD in donations within the animal advocacy movement.

ACE has a talented globally-distributed team that is knowledgeable in research, development, communications, management, and leadership. Our organization welcomes diverse perspectives from both the animal advocacy and effective altruism communities to help inform our decision-making processes about the best ways to help the most animals. Each year, our research team solicits feedback and consults experts in academia as well as in the field on what ACE can do to increase our support of the movement. In our work, we include the ideas of people with expertise and lived experiences in their local areas. Our team solicits input from the animal advocacy movement and listens openly, seeking to understand their point of view. When we encounter new information, we update our thinking. ACE learns from the charities working in the communities they serve so that we can help them operate more effectively to reduce animal suffering.

Since our founding in 2012, ACE has considered thousands of charities for evaluation and recommended 28 charities as impactful giving opportunities to help people make a difference for the most animals with their donations. We have supported our Top Charities and Standout Charities with more than $7.2 million distributed through our Recommended Charity Fund and awarded over $4.5 million to 178 promising animal advocacy projects in 42 countries through our Movement Grants program. Since ACE began tracking this metric in 2014, we estimate that we’ve helped to influence over $56M within the animal advocacy movement.

Select 2022 accomplishments:
–Recommended 4 Top Charities and 11 Standout Charities
–Distributed over $2.6 million in grants from our Recommended Charity Fund to our Top and Standout Charities
–Awarded $910,000 from our Movement Grants program to 35 promising animal advocacy projects
–Helped to influence an estimated $8.3 million within the animal advocacy movement
–Welcomed a new Executive Director

Financials

Animal Charity Evaluators
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Animal Charity Evaluators

Board of directors
as of 09/07/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Verónica Díaz Carrai

Tipping Point Private Foundation

Term: 2021 - 2024

Kieran Greig

Rethink Priorities

Allison Smith

Powerback Rehab/Glen Ridge Nursing Care Center

Zachary Freitas-Groff

Stanford University

Verónica Díaz Carrai

Tipping Point Private Foundation

Andrea Gunn

Sharpen Strategy

Ravi Mulani

Intuit

Thomas Bilello

Pacific Life Insurance Company

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 10/6/2022

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Multi-Racial/Multi-Ethnic (2+ races/ethnicities)
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other sexual orientations in the LGBTQIA+ community
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/30/2021

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.