About AAC
AAC’s primary focus is to strengthen the animal advocacy movement by attracting and directing more talented, mission-aligned people into key positions in our movement! Thus enabling organisations to scale more effectively with access to the talent they need to achieve their goals, or have allies in impactful positions outside of the movement and ultimately have more impact on animals.
Since AAC has started we have tracked 90 people who have changed their careers with help from AAC and 44 more have started new volunteering and internship roles. [1] ]Additionally, we estimate AAC has added over $2 million worth of talent & funding [2] into the movement that was unlikely to be here without us, with a budget of $774,000.
Mission
Our mission is to direct animal advocates to opportunities to achieve the highest impact possible through their careers.
Vision
AAC’s vision is to speed up the end of animal suffering by creating an animal advocacy movement of international talent density. [3]
Visionary State of the movement by 2027
● Animal advocacy is seen as a more viable, desirable, and rewarding career path for mission-aligned and highly experienced or talented individuals in all the countries we operate in.
● Animal advocacy organisations are powered by talent to accelerate faster towards their visions. As a result of this animals suffer less all across the world.
Who we are by 2027:
● AAC is an internationally recognised highly valuable resource for animal advocacy organisations and job seekers.
● AAC is proud to have some of the most talented, motivated and professional employees. AAC consistently ranks high for employee engagement; staff report feeling deeply satisfied with their work and have a tangible sense of making a difference in the essential work that we are doing.
What we do by 2027:
● We are playing an essential role in anticipating and meeting the demand for talent for the growing effective animal advocacy movement.
● We provide high-quality career support on impactful ways to get involved in animal advocacy for a large and growing number of some of the most promising people around the world.
● We know that we are filling a gap in the movement and have data to show that our work supports and strengthens organisations working in the animal advocacy space.
Executive Summary for 2023
In 2023 our primary focus was to increase the number of people who landed roles that help animals as a result of AAC.
Throughout 2023, we conducted 85 individual career advising sessions, 1500+ people took our online course, we doubled our LinkedIn followers to 12,000, listed over 700 roles on our job board with over 105,000 page views, and had 29,000 website visitors. Through this, in 2023 alone, AAC has placed 20 people in positions in the animal advocacy movement that were unlikely to have been here without us, with another 7 pending interviews. [4]
Some of these roles include
Fundraiser- Animal Think Tank
Animal Welfare Scientist- Four Paws
Head of Programmes- Shrimp Welfare Initiative
Web Designer- Pro Veg International
People Operations Coordinator- Wild Animal Initiative
Leadership Giving Officer- Good Food Institute
Advocacy & Communications Office- Animal Law Foundation
Leadership Program Manager- New Roots Institute
Institutional Outreach Coordinator- Humane Society International India
We estimate adding a total of $408,516 of value in 2023 with these 20 roles but we are projecting by the end of 2024 that we will have tracked adding $703,000 from career changes from programmes in 2023.
Company goals for 2023:
In addition to our primary objective our other key objectives for 2024 were to build a longer-term talent pipeline, maintain & diversify AAC’s funding & to support the team in achieving their goals. In total for 2023 we hit 91% of our company OKR’s.
Some significant milestones for those OKRS over the past year, include:
The successful renewal of all major donors and foundations,
Establishing a transparent compensation policy,
Completing financial audits,
Achieving 4.5/5 on our engagement survey
Refining our career advising 1:1 programme to reduce the amount of time spent on the programme and make it more cost-effective
Successfully piloting a new programme aimed at improving hiring inefficiencies in the movement (TCD).
Exceeding all primary marketing targets (email subscribers, website users)
Marketing goals 2023
Metric | 2022 total | 2023 goal | 2023 total | Growth compared to 2022 |
Total email subscribers (cumulative) | 2,996 | 5,000 | 5,571 | 85.95% |
New email subscribers | 1,574 | 2,004 | 2,575 | 63.60% |
Website number of users | 16,385 | 20,000 | 29,941 | 82.73% |
New website users | N/A | ND | 13,556 | N/A |
Website number of page views | 87,609 | ND | 150,940 | 72.29% |
Website number of sessions | 42,037 | 80,000 | 92,268 | 119.49% |
Engagement hours on our website | 2,129 | ND | 4,016 | 88.60% |
LinkedIn followers (cumulative) | 6,817 | 13,500 | 12,038 | 76.59% |
New LinkedIn followers | 4,123 | 6,683 | 5,221 | 26.63% |
Instagram followers (cumulative) | 1,627 | 5,000 | 3,402 | 109.10% |
New Instagram followers | 1,627 | 3,373 | 1,775 | 9.10% |
ND= Not defined
Lead indicators for core programmes
Job board | 2022 | 2023 | Growth |
Page views (main job board page) | 21,953 | 56593 | 157% |
Page views (all job board pages) | N/A | 104879 | |
Users (all job board pages) | 6,302 | 23400 | 271% |
"Apply now" clicks (to external org) | 7872 | 13567 | 72% |
"View job details" clicks (to internal job description page) | NA | 27328 | |
Career advising | 2022 | 2023 | Growth |
Number of 1:1 calls | 74 | 85 | 14% |
Group coaching | 69 | discontinued | |
Online course | 2022 | 2023 | Growth |
Sign ups | 1066 | 1546 | 80% |
Enrollments | 876 | 1213 | 38% |
Completed more than 50% | 327 | 705 | 115% |
Scored 20+ on test | 244 | 178 | -20% |
Other new programmes we trialled in 2023
It’s a bit harder to demonstrate impact with these programmes as they are newer but both exceeded their cut-off goals & I’ve included some feedback from organisations to get a flavour of how they feel.
Programme | Target | Result |
Top Candidate Database | 15 organisations, 100 candidates | 32 organisations, 180 candidates |
Inclusive Hiring Series | 20 organisations attending | 38 organisations attended |
Inclusive Hiring Series- 38 organisations attended this 3-part workshop in collaboration with Scarlett Spark. 100% of attendees completed & filled out at least 2 action points they wanted to change & improve as a result of the series and the feedback was extremely positive. The result we are hoping that best comes out of this is that the hiring experience is better for candidates so more apply and don’t get put off by bad hiring experiences.
Feedback from the Top Candidate Database-
The Top Candidate Database is an excellent tool for finding qualified and motivated animal advocates. The candidates are diverse and high-quality, and the database is easy to use. It made our hiring process easier and faster. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for top talent in this field.
Feedback from the hiring workshops-
Since the session, I've implemented having salary provided before the test task was sent out, so potential candidates could decide if they wanted to continue or not. I also let candidates know how many are in the running at the test task stage now.
We incorporated parts of your interview framing into our script (very useful).
Reviewed past scoring to eliminate questions where everyone scored well.
Updated emails to say that the process will be standardized to eliminate biases wherever possible and that all candidates have the same experience.
Reviewed job posting to ensure we aren't using non-inclusive language.
Now compensating for test assignments - yay!
Have not included weeknight/weekend times for interviews but offered scheduling flexibility if they need it.
Giving for animals
One additional programme that we have already trialled is our Giving for Animals programme. The cut-off goal for this programme was 10 pledges by the end of February. This was achieved.
This programme was developed under the idea that not everyone who wants to help animals is willing to immediately change careers or is able to do so, but they can still make a significant contribution to the animal advocacy movement. As of the end of February AAC has recorded 10 people who have taken the pledge worth approximately $290,000. Additionally, GWWC has recorded an increase in animal welfare-specific pledges from 7% of total new pledges in 2022 to 20% in 2023 worth an estimated $2 million. [5]
What programmes will AAC do in 2024?
Our next programme evaluation point will be in August 2024. We will separately assess the performance of each programme vs. the target for 2023 and which programmes we feel we should continue to run for 2024 and in 2025.
Almost certainly the focus of our work (75% of our efforts) will be that we will continue with our core programmes career advising, the online course and the job board.
In addition, we have some exciting new additions. We will:
Launch an updated more user-friendly website
Create new detailed resources for career seekers in specific skills e.g. our new law guide.
Continue with Giving for Animals due to the initial promising results
In partnership with another organisation, we will be creating a comprehensive open-access talent database for job seekers and volunteers. Stay tuned :)
AAC’s Programme Metrics
As we see the main impact of AAC as bringing new people into the animal advocacy movement who have significant skills in the hardest-to-hire roles that would benefit the movement. One of the main ways we decide which programmes we want to stop or continue is by measuring & evaluating their current and projected impact in regards to how many of these placements they achieved and then comparing this figure to how much it costs AAC to run, both financially and in terms of full-time staff.
Below you will find our all-time results for all programmes in relation to placements.
Base placement= Number of people who have changed careers and have also used our services.
TCD= Top Candidate Database
FWP= Fundraising Work Placement programme
FTE= Full- time equivalent (40 hours per week)
AA= Animal Advocacy movement
Grey box= Discontinued programmes
Tracked data Total | Recruitment | TCD | Job board | Online course | FWP | Advice calls | Giving for Animals | Other | Total |
Base placements | 3.50 | 2.50 | 17.25 | 36.40 | 5.00 | 22.60 | 0.00 | 3.75 | 90.00 |
Time saved (in $ value) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $17,760 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $17,760 |
$ raised | $0 | $0 | $0 | $20,000 | $270,000 | $0 | $78,000 | $40,000 | $408,000 |
Total $ value to AA | $53,063 | $26,613 | $418,983 | $431,716 | $407,160 | $546,584 | $78,000 | $107,298 | $2,069,418 |
$ spent | $41,422 | $26,646 | $20,209 | $55,317 | $124,987 | $45,427 | $6,164 | $454,629 | $774,801 |
$ multiplier | 1.28 | 1.00 | 20.73 | 7.80 | 3.26 | 12.03 | 12.65 | N/A | 2.67 |
FTE | 0.48 | 0.66 | 0.84 | 0.90 | 0.57 | 1.05 | 0.10 | 7.75 | 12.14 |
Base placements per FTE | 7.26 | 3.79 | 20.58 | 40.63 | 8.80 | 21.61 | 0.00 | N/A | 7.41 |
Volunteers | 33 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 51 |
2023 Tracked data | TCD | Job board | Online course | Advice calls | Giving for Animals | Other | Total |
Base placements 2023 | 0.75 | 7.75 | 6.75 | 5.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 21.00 |
$ raised | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $78,000 | $0 | $78,000 |
Total $ value to AA | $9,035 | $202,313 | $93,949 | $103,219 | $78,000 | $0 | $486,516 |
$ spent total, 2023 | $19,749 | $10,694 | $13,217 | $9,393 | $6,164 | $211,535 | $301,764 |
$ multiplier | 0.46 | 18.92 | 7.11 | 10.99 | 12.65 | 0 | 1.61 |
FTE 2023 | 0.36 | 0.18 | 0.17 | 0.13 | 0.10 | 2.97 | 3.94 |
Base placements per FTE | 2.08 | 43.06 | 39.71 | 44.23 | 0.00 | 0 | 5.33 |
Volunteers N/A not tracked 2023 | 0 | 0 |
2024 STRATEGY
2024 PRIORITIES:What will be our focus? Objective = outcome | Objective 1: Support talented, mission-aligned candidates to maximize the impact of their careers Objective 2: Fully fund the organisation's ambitious budget for 2024. [6] Objective 3: Develop and sustain talent pipelines focused on the key global talent bottlenecks, paving the way for a landscape of international talent density. [7] 💥 stretch target (~50% confidence) 🎯 = target (~80% confidence)
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The current team size to execute the strategy below is 3.2 full-time staff, but it could potentially grow to 4 full-time staff in 2024, pending funding.
Organisation Objectives & Key results: (these are overarching Key Results, we will set quarterly OKRs and initiatives throughout the year) | Objective 1: Support talented, mission-aligned candidates to maximize the impact of their careers
Baseline: We achieved 11 placement per FTE in 2022, 5.3 per FTE for 2023 so far (but expected to grow beyond 11)
Baseline: 2022 & 2023 there were 0, 2019-2021- 2.
Baseline: 2022 4$:1$ Objective 2: Develop and sustain talent pipelines focused on the key global talent bottlenecks [9], paving the way for a landscape of international talent density.
(measured in email subscribers) Baseline: 1196 Email subscribers in Fundraising, leadership and policy.
(to be measured primarily in email subscribers & website users & secondly in social media which is less robust) Baseline L&UMIC metrics: 3305 (13.49%) website users, 644 (11.88%) email subscribers, 38 (18.72%) Top Candidate Database, 1021 (8%) linkedin, 836 (29.4%) LMIC instagram.
(measured in 1:1 career advising sessions, online course sign-ups, guide downloads, top candidate database support and web engagement on career content) Baseline: 85 1:1 career advising 2023, 1,500 online course sign-ups, 303 guide downloads. Objective 3: Fully fund the organisation's ambitious budget for 2024. [12]
Baseline: 100% renewals for 2023.
Baseline: $11,000 for 2023. |
Unchosen strategies:
B2B support as a primary objective. This is a challenge as organisations hiring well certainly affects our theory of change and there has been a consistent demand for this support throughout the year from organisations we support with the TCD. But we believe the best way we can support organisations is with great candidates and movement-level talent solutions and have discussed with Scarlett Spark about them providing more on this topic area and we can direct people to them.
Team. Last year we achieved 100% of our objectives and key results in this area. We have a 4.5/5 score on almost all areas of our engagement survey. Therefore even though there are areas of supporting the team we want to improve and maintain. These will be part of individual team member’s KPI’s and we didn’t feel like this needs to be a major focus for AAC’s as an organisation this year. Which is a good sign!
REFERENCES
We think this is likely the lower end of our impact as it is really hard to measure this but from what we can measure this is the number. Additionally as of 2022 we have stopped tracking volunteering and internships as we find it very difficult to get good data on this.
This can be seen at the table at the end of the document.
The aim of international talent density is very aligned with AAC’s mission, it’s focus is on paying more attention to hiring the right people (in order to do that they need the right candidates ;-) research shows that organisations with a higher talent density overperform all others and importantly enable organisational leaders to be more hands off and transparent due to trusting staff having the skills & attitudes that they know are acting in the best interests of the organisation. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-talent-density-why-should-companies-practice-hiring-/
There is considerable lag in AAC’s programmes and we believe there are many more career changes to come from people who took our programmes this year. In comparison in 2023 we had only heard of 18 placements at this point in the year and since have heard of 23 more making the total placements for 2023, 41 people.
This is not and should not be seen as all attributal to AAC.
Ambitious budget is a growth budget as opposed to a minimum budget. AAC’s minimum budget is about 300,000 but we always have a growth budget for fundraising- which is almost never hit :)
https://rethinkpriorities.org/publications/animal-advocacy-strategy-forum-2023-summary.
These could be anything like roles in government, media centres with large reach, Earning to Give/ finance, senior purchasing positions in retail arms, legal positions with high leverage. This will also be informed by the results of our talent bottleneck survey.
https://rethinkpriorities.org/publications/animal-advocacy-strategy-forum-2023-summary
We will also redo our talent bottleneck survey in 2024 in order to improve our certainty of where we need to focus getting more talent. This may affect the target e.g. if we find out its no longer policy we would deprioritise community members there.
High income countries as defined by https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/high-income-countries a full list of countries we are focusing on is here
Ambitious budget is a growth budget as opposed to a minimum budget. AAC’s minimum budget is about 300,000 but we always have a growth budget for fundraising- which is almost never hit :)