A Record Year for Impact: Announcing ACE’s 2024–2025 Influenced Giving Reports
As the Executive Director of Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE), I feel fortunate and delighted to share our latest influenced giving reports for our 2024–2025 fiscal year. This is more than an update. This is a moment to reflect, assess our work carefully, and—most importantly—celebrate the good we are doing together for the most neglected and hidden animals.
I joined ACE three years ago to help people help more animals. These reports measure the heart of our mission: how much funding our Recommended Charities and Movement Grantees received specifically because of ACE’s work. This counterfactual analysis is a critical tool for understanding our value and holding ourselves accountable to you and to the animals we serve.
Our Commitment to Accuracy and Rigor
This year, we built upon the analysis we conducted last year, implementing adjustments that sharpen our accuracy. Meaningful impact analysis requires constant refinement, and I applaud the steps our team has taken to improve our methodology.
To help us achieve a more precise counterfactual estimate, our team:
Surveyed donors who give to our Recommended Charities directly, rather than through ACE, to better understand our influence on their decisions.
Contacted grantmakers to ask whether ACE’s recommendations influenced their funding strategies.
Surveyed all past Recommended Charities to better assess any additional financial value they gained from receiving an ACE recommendation.
Furthermore, to broaden our impact assessment and better understand how ACE is perceived, we:
Disseminated a community-wide survey.
Included questions about non-financial value and potential negative impact in our surveys to all evaluated charities and grantees.
Our commitment to thorough, 360-degree feedback is essential if we strive to be as effective as possible.
A New Milestone for Recommended Charities
It is an honor to report that our work, powered by your support, has led to the highest annual counterfactual impact from ACE-influenced funding in our history.
In our 2024–2025 fiscal year, we influenced $6.4 million in donations that would not have been received by our Recommended Charities were it not for ACE’s work.
This is part of at least $12.3 million in total donations we influenced that year. The $6.4 million, a direct consequence of our efforts to identify and promote the most effective ways to help animals, is vital to reduce the suffering of billions of individuals. Together, we help piglets, squabs, chicks, calves, and shrimplets have a chance at a decent life.
For every dollar ACE spent on our charity evaluations and recommendations, we generated $6.05 in donations for effective animal charities that wouldn’t have been donated to otherwise1.
These are our ten current Recommended Charities. Excellent giving opportunities and their work humbles and inspires me.
Looking at our cumulative progress, since January 2019, we have conducted 72 charity evaluations and influenced at least $59 million in total donations for outstanding organizations.
Accelerating Change Through Movement Grants
Our Movement Grants program is designed to identify and support promising, yet underrepresented, approaches to animal advocacy. Here, too, our data shows a powerful return on your philanthropic investment.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, we awarded $1.2 million to 32 promising organizations and projects around the world. Of this, we estimate that $0.84 million was counterfactual funding, meaning these groups would not have received it otherwise.
From the beginning of the Movement Grants program (August 2018) to March 2025, we disbursed $6.3 million across eight rounds of granting. Our best guess is that $3.8 million of this funding would not have otherwise supported the innovative interventions, neglected animal groups, and global advocates we prioritize.
Looking Forward with Gratitude
These numbers are cause for celebration. But even more, they are a guide for our future. We have work to do. We must apply our model of rigorous evaluation, clear recommendations, and strategic grantmaking to create more and measurable impact.
I want to extend my gratitude to Elisabeth Ormandy for her leadership on this analysis and to our entire team for their dedication to helping animals. My thanks also go to the many donors, peers, and charity representatives who took the time to respond to our surveys. Their feedback helps us grow.
But I am most thankful for you, our supporters. You are the engine behind these numbers, these numbers that represent better lives. Thank you for making a record-breaking year of impact—and a more peaceful world—possible.
It moves me to be part of this community of people who amplify their compassion with reason. You use your resources to help those who need you the most—regardless of what you have in common.
With sincere appreciation,
Stien van der Ploeg
While a strong multiplier is encouraging, what ultimately matters for animals is the total amount of additional funding directed to effective work—$6.4 million in counterfactual donations. A hypothetical organization could have a multiplier of 100x but only influence $10,000; we’d rather have a lower multiplier and move millions more dollars to where they’ll help animals most.
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