As part of the EA Forum's 2025 Marginal Funding Week, we’d like to share with you Wild Animal Initiative's needs for additional funding, what we would do with it, and how you can help us build a scientific field dedicated to understanding wild animal welfare.

Summary

Wild Animal Initiative's mission is to accelerate science that helps wild animals — a vast and neglected moral priority. Our strategy focuses on field-building: generating new welfare-relevant knowledge, growing the global community of researchers, and directing more resources toward wild animal welfare science.

But the funding landscape for our work has an uncertain future. With Open Philanthropy exiting this cause area and other large funders shifting priorities, individual donors now play an unusually pivotal role in sustaining progress and preventing the field from losing momentum.

Our 2026 target budget is $4.1 million, supporting our core programs in research, grants, academic outreach, and community infrastructure — plus hiring two new staff to strengthen researcher support and diversify funding. With an additional $3.1 million beyond our target budget, we could achieve our “aspirational” budget, enabling high-leverage projects such as accelerating rodent contraception R&D and establishing research hubs at major universities.

Your support helps boost the [...]

---

Outline:

(00:36 ) Summary

(02:03 ) Why give to Wild Animal Initiative?

(03:40 ) Our field-building strategy is no longer just hypothetical: It's working.

(04:45 ) We've experienced variability with the biggest funders in the movement, so funders like you have a real opportunity to make a difference.

(05:57 ) Animal Charity Evaluators has recommended Wild Animal Initiative every year since 2020.

(06:18 ) Room for Funding

(07:09 ) How we would use extra funding

(07:13 ) Target budget

(07:28 ) 1. Maintain our usual field-building programs at full capacity.

(10:15 ) 2. Hire a new member of our Services Team to sustain and strengthen the infrastructure for our scientific community.

(10:51 ) 3. Hire a Foundations Relations Manager to expand our fundraising capacity and diversify our funding.

(12:30 ) Aspirational budget

(12:37 ) 1. Accelerating rodent contraception research and development.

(16:06 ) 2. Institutionalizing wild animal welfare at universities.

(18:18 ) We value transparency and we welcome you to contact us if you have any questions. Donate here to support our work and make the world a better place for wild animals.

---

First published:

November 18th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wJnEm7hbKBvDaAa6p/funding-priorities-for-wild-animal-initiative-in-2026-1

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---