We have a new name—Humane World Action Fund—and an ambitious agenda, grounded in the mission we’ve pursued for several decades: to deliver positive and permanent policy outcomes for animals. We are as committed as ever to bringing laws into greater alignment with humane values—the values of kindness, compassion and fairness to all creatures. These are values we share with tens of millions of people not simply within the United States but throughout the world.
Our change is part of the larger evolution of the Humane World for Animals family, and as we amplify our advocacy, we'll be an even stronger force. Across a host of concerns—extreme confinement of animals raised for food or fur, the ownership of captive wild animals or the cruelty of mass-production puppy mills, for example—the same premise holds true. To forge the kind of world we seek, we must target the fundamental drivers of animal cruelty to prevent its spread, and we must use the levers of government to do so.
For many years, our major campaigns—on factory farming, puppy mills and animal overpopulation, fur fashion, trophy hunting and animal testing—have had positive impacts for animals in dozens of nations. Our supporters care about stopping cruelty no matter where it occurs, and now more than ever, our legislative and regulatory work in the United States has implications across the globe.
It might involve, for example, government decisions on the import or export of trophy-hunted animals and animal parts, or the international regulation of cosmetics testing, or the killing of sharks for shark fin soup or elephants for their ivory. It might include a focus on tightening restrictions on the importation of seal skins from Canada, or the export of American horses for slaughter, or the financing of factory farming operations in other countries. It might entail centering animals within discussions of global environmental threats and habitat destruction, or international trade agreements that jeopardize animal welfare. It could require that we address the challenges posed by offshoring of cruelty, such as when factory farmers move their operations to nations with fewer or no animal welfare regulations, or American animal fighters try to sell animals to buyers abroad.
In the end, every gain we make, in every nation, or within a particular international body or treaty organization, brings us closer to our goal—a better world for all animals.
We created a short video that brings Humane World Action Fund and Humane World for Animals’ mission to life.
Humane World Action Fund will continue to endorse humane-minded candidates for elected office at the federal, state and local levels in the U.S., and work for the defeat of officials who stand in the way of advances that benefit animals. In the 2024 election cycle, we supported 775 candidates up and down the ballot, and a substantial number of them—736, or 95%—won their races. There is no other animal organization whose endorsement record comes anywhere close to ours in scope and impact. In every election cycle, we do all we can to make sure that legislators understand: People who care about animals vote.
We’ll also extend our efforts to train the coming generations of animal advocates. Our grassroots commitments are deep, and citizen lobbyists are essential. Most recently, we’ve seen their impact in ongoing campaigns to stop a disingenuous attempt by several agribusiness trade associations to overturn state public health and animal welfare laws supported by millions of Americans.
For more than 20 years we have worked on a nonpartisan basis to prevent cruelty and to promote compassionate treatment of animals, and throughout that time, elected officials from across the political continuum have trusted us and stood with us. In the most important animal protection fights, they’ve been the standard-bearers who move our legislative and regulatory agenda forward, extending their counsel, energy and influence. They understand and appreciate the justness of our cause, and they share our view that there is a strong social, cultural and political consensus around discouraging and stopping cruelty—wherever it thrives.
In recent years, with such allies, we have worked to get vital laws onto the books, laws like the Pet Evacuation and Transportation Safety Act (2006), the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (2016), the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (2019), and the Big Cat Public Safety Act and the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (both in 2022).
We’ve also leveraged the congressional appropriations and budgeting process to secure transformational gains for domestic animals, wildlife and animals in laboratories. Those gains include the defense of funding for programs that benefit animals and the defunding of programs harmful to them.
Humane World Action Fund is a new name, but our goals remain the same. We’ll pursue the kind of change we have always sought for animals—change that is lasting, change at scale, and change with compassion. To bring about that kind of change, we need you, and we need your help.
