2025 ASPCA Fund to End Factory Farming

About the Grant

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ® (ASPCA ®) is offering support for local, regional, and state campaigns working to keep factory farms at bay, tell the stories of those impacted first-hand by industrial animal agriculture, and restore a more humane, healthy, and sustainable approach to farming. Specifically, this year’s eligible projects will support local, regional, and state to (1) keep factory farms out of their communities, and/or (2) track and address industrial agriculture’s harmful local impacts. Learn more about our work to promote more humane agriculture.

The vast majority of the 10 billion chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows raised in the U.S. for meat, eggs, and dairy each year are forced to live in “factory farms” (i.e., concentrated animal feeding operations (“CAFO”s)) amid overcrowding, filth and squalor. These facilities are also inhumane to the people who live and work among them: factory farms threaten the health and welfare of farmers and other laborers, jeopardize public wellbeing, and decimate rural communities.

All projects should include a public dissemination component to inform and educate about project impact. This could be in written form (e.g., policy reports, whitepapers, articles), digital content (e.g., social media, campaign websites), or audio/visual (e.g., videos, photos, webinars, podcasts, infographics).

This year we are thrilled to have Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (SRAP) as trusted partners for this RFP. Through education, advocacy, and organizing, SRAP collaborates with communities to protect public health, environmental quality, and local economies from the damaging impacts of industrial livestock production and to advocate for a socially responsible food future. SRAP brings a wealth of expertise supporting farmers, residents, and communities fighting industrial farming’s presence and impacts in their lives. SRAP will be supporting the ASPCA’s review and consideration of our RFP applications, but all final decisions rest with the ASPCA.  

Grant Amounts

There is up to $100,000 in total funding available for this grant opportunity. Grants typically range from $5,000 - $20,000, with a maximum grant award of $30,000.  

Eligibility 

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ® (ASPCA®) was founded on the belief that animals are entitled to kind and respectful treatment by humans. We invite all voices to join us in working together to improve the lives of animals in need.

Eligible Entities:

• This RFP is open to any U.S. nonprofit, for-profit, or public entity engaged in local, regional, or state-based efforts against local factory farming . Our focus this year is on groups operating locally or deploying to local efforts, rather than those solely operating at a national level. 

  • Groups or campaigns that are not an existing 501(c)(3), fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3), nor established as a nonprofit or for-profit legal entity (e.g., LLC) may still be considered for funding, provided they are demonstrably established with:
    • A history of efforts undertaken to destabilize factory farming in their region;
    • The budget and planning flexibility to not learn their grant status until late in 2025 and, if selected, to not receive funds until the end of the year; and
    • The willingness and ability to form a legal entity prior to receiving funds 

Eligible Costs:

• Staff and contractors, provided there are existing funds or a reasonable, sustainable plan to continue their employment after the grant term ends, if necessary

• Internal resources and capacity-building 

• Promotion and community engagement 

• Organizer training and support

• Research and data analysis

• Media engagement

• Legislative and regulatory strategy engagement 

Applicants must meet ASPCA Grantee Organizational Standards:

• If a past ASPCA grant recipient, must be current on all reporting requirements
• If a nonprofit organization:
  
  • Must be an incorporated or organized legal entity in good standing with the Secretary of State in the state where the organization is incorporated or organized
  • Charitable registration must be current/active in the state of the Grantee’s primary location (for grants >=$25,000)
  • Must have a board of at least 4 members with a majority of independent members with neither board chair nor treasurer receiving compensation from the organization

Ineligible: 

• Individuals or teams not associated with an eligible entity listed above
• Entities not based in the U.S.
• Projects that do not contribute to a U.S. transition away from factory farming 

The ASPCA and SRAP will offer an information session on the RFP, including time for questions, on Thursday, April 24 at 1pm ET open to all prospective applicants. Please see our FAQs for a registration link and a post-event recording.

Review the full requirements[PDF]

FAQs and Requirements

For more information about eligibility and the application process, please download our frequently asked questions and complete requirements (PDF).

Funding Restrictions and Parameters

All project applications must address how they will include a public-facing component, to ensure learnings or outcomes benefit others. 

For any potential public-facing materials resulting from a project funded under this opportunity, including, but not limited to, peer-reviewed manuscripts or conference materials, the grantee shall submit a draft of any such materials to the ASPCA at least twenty-one (21) days in advance of their submission or use in any public or professional forum. 

Applications may seek to establish proof-of-concept for further funding. Applicant organizations may be supported by a fiscal sponsor.

Proposals Should

• Seek funding to protect communities facing particular disadvantage due to a long history of suffering from the presence of CAFOs and their harmful impacts
• Apply a strategy that includes efforts to conserve or rebuild alternative farming infrastructure and supply chains
• Build connections between, or public awareness of, the various harms of industrial agriculture - animal, human, farmer, environmental, worker, rural communities.
• Articulate a theory of change
  
  • What needs to change and by whom
  • How and why a desired change is expected to happen as a result of this project
  • What data will be collected to measure the performance of the project
• Demonstrate how at least some project outcomes will be made usable for the public or other stakeholders—whether that includes publishing primary project materials, or disseminating related learnings
• If the proposal includes funding for salary for a position extending beyond the grant term, please tell us your plan for funding that position when the grant term ends

Past Grantees

• Clean Water For North Carolina (2022): Gathering evidence of how North Carolina factory farms are polluting the air, surface water, and ground water, and impacting neighboring communities.

• Socially Responsible Agriculture Project(2022): Supporting contract growers hoping to leave the industrial agriculture system and providing resources to prevent others from becoming trapped in the industrial ag model.

• Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (2023): Collecting and sharing impact stories from community members about how massive, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) harm people, animals, and the environment.
• State Innovation Exchange (Six) (2023): Developing a toolkit and training module for state legislators to work in partnership with advocates and rural community members to prevent the expansion of factory farms and reform the ways that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are regulated at the state level.
• Nebraska Communities United (2024): To develop a strategy to protect Nebraska’s farms, residents and environment from the impacts of factory farms
• Friends Of Family Farmers (2024): To build leadership and showcase stories of Oregon farmers pushing for a community-driven food system and industrial agriculture reforms through the Stand Up To Factory Farms Coalition

Timeline

• RFP will open on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 9 a.m. ET.
• RFP will close on Friday, May 30, 2025, at 5 p.m. ET.
• Finalists will be notified via email on or around Monday, August 18, 2025, and invited to complete a formal application in our grant management system.
• Funding decisions are expected around October 2, 2025.

How to Apply

Please submit an application by completing this form. 

Please note that Airtable will not allow you to save your work and return later to complete your application. We recommend you prepare in advance the information listed in the companion guide to allow you to complete the form in one session. Please be sure all requested information is included in your responses. Applications cannot be revised after submission. You will receive an email confirming receipt of your application from noreply+automations@airtableemail.com. Please check your spam folder if you don’t see it in your inbox.

Contact and Support

• For program-related inquiries, please contact suzanne.mcmillan@aspca.org, using subject line [RFP_Question]
• For application submission inquiries/technical difficulties, please contact grants@aspca.org