Deadline: 30-Jun-23

Applications are now open for the Voiceless Grants Program to support impactful initiatives in line with the vision to create a just, equitable world where animals can flourish.

The Voiceless Grants Program focuses exclusively on the root causes of animal exploitation and works to shift the anti-animal values, beliefs and assumptions that shape their political, social, legal and economic systems. Rather than working under existing attitudes, they support transformative, disruptive stances, visionary projects, partners and ideas, that will challenge the status-quo, ensure animals have fair and effective legal rights and realise their vision for a just and equitable where animals can flourish.

They invest in people and projects to foster pro-animal values and create lasting systemic change by disrupting the status quo and reforming their social, political, legal and institutional systems.

Focus Areas

• Animal protection issues that are small or localised – in order to see maximum impact for animals, they want to focus on large institutionalised, industrialised, national or international issues.
• Animal welfare: minimising suffering for animals in captivity, minimising suffering for animals that will be used by humans in some way
• Projects that use animal products (animal-based food, leather, etc.)
• Projects or organisations that benefit, support, or are impartial to animal agriculture or other exploitation of animals
• Anything where the ultimate focus is human well-being versus animal flourishing.

Categories

They are looking to invest in the following categories:

• Education: humane and animal protection education
• Law and Policy: legislative reforms and progressive policy/lobbying work
• Social values: Increasing animal-rights values and reducing speciesism, qualitative and quantitative (academic or grassroots) research that contributes to understanding in these fields
• Science and Technology: positive solutions-based alternatives to animal use and cruelty
• Network and coalition building: conferences, symposia, cohort programs, grassroots organizing, organisational alliances, First Nation or faith-based community organising
• Creativity: blue sky thinking, innovative and visionary initiatives, research, organisations, and efforts that go beyond longstanding and traditional animal advocacy work, expanding the thinking.

Funding Information

• All grants are single-year. However, grantees who have demonstrated real impact, may apply again the following year.
• Grant sizes are typically between AUD $10,000 to $30,000, and will be available within their 6 focus categories.

Geographical Location

• While Voiceless is an Australian-based organisation, they are open to expanding their support for people and organisations internationally / wherever they may be located. They are focusing on the outcome for animals and less on the geography of a grant application.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Voiceless Grants Program is open but not limited to animal advocacy organisations and sanctuaries; animal lawyers and law educators; humane educators; animal studies academics and creatives, environmental and wildlife scientists; First Nations groups; and diverse community and religious groups. If you do not fall within these groups, you may still be eligible.
• They are looking for the following qualities in the project:
  • Addressing root causes of exploitative animal-based systems
  • Transformative and disruptive ideas
  • Promotion of animals’ flourishing
  • Out of the box, blue sky, innovative and creative thinking
  • Solutions based ideas
  • Raising human consciousness beyond speciesism and anthropocentrism.
• They are looking for the following qualities in the people:
  • Aligned with Voiceless’s mission and values
  • Passionate about animal protection
  • Committed to the animal protection movement
  • Tenacious in their approach
  • Creative and out-of-box thinking
  • Youthful, in age or spirit.
• Preference will be given to not-for-profit organisations and/or animal advocates. However, Voiceless may be open to opportunities for ‘impact investing’ with small grassroots companies or start-ups with bright, innovative ideas in the vegan space.
• Note: All profits will be returned to the Voiceless Grants Program.

For more information, visit Voiceless.