When People Thrive,
Animals Win

Engagement — how committed and connected people feel to their organization — predicts productivity, retention, and mission impact. Here’s what 202 animal advocates told us, and how you can help shape what comes next.

Engagement Trends in Animal Advocacy Organizations

Our first movement-wide benchmark — what’s working, where orgs are struggling, and opportunities for change.

Read the 2025 report

Participate in the 2026 Movement Engagement Study

Add your voice and help us reach a broader, more representative sample across the movement.

Take the survey

Why engagement matters

Engaged people build stronger movements

Engagement measures how committed and connected people feel to the organization they work or volunteer for. It’s one of the strongest predictors of productivity, retention, and organizational performance. When people are disengaged, missions stall — and in a movement working against time for animals, that’s a cost we can’t afford.

2025 Report

Engagement Trends in Animal Advocacy Organizations

A survey of 202 people across 87 organizations, conducted by Scarlet Spark with analysis by Faunalytics.

✦ What’s working well

91%

feel safe from bullying and harassment

91%

understand how their work contributes to org goals

87%

feel treated fairly and have positive relationships at work

⚠ Where orgs are struggling

35%

say someone could cover for them if they suddenly couldn’t work

63%

say their org invests in their development — with 25% neutral

65%

find their workload manageable — 66 comments flagged burnout risk

The Triangle of Doom

The three lowest-scoring areas feed each other. When workload is too high, there’s no time to develop people or document knowledge. Without succession plans, pressure grows. Without deliberate development, the org can’t grow its way out — limiting resilience and capacity to achieve more for animals.

Triangle of Doom

Read the full report

Drivers of engagement, differences across groups, and movement-wide opportunities to shift to a virtuous cycle.

Read the report

2026 Survey

Improve your own experience. Help the whole movement.

Our questions focus on the predictors of engagement — your eager willingness to contribute — because engagement drives quality, creativity, retention, and resilience. It takes 5–10 minutes and is fully anonymous.

For you

Reflect on how engaged you feel — and get a personalized pro-tip at the end.

For your org

We share group-level scores to spark stronger workplaces — never singling out individuals.

For animals

A bird’s eye view across the movement helps us all build on strengths and fortify weak spots.

Take the 2026 survey

For leaders & managers

Share the survey with your team — and get a custom report

The fastest way to understand how your people are really doing is to ask them. Share this survey and we’ll do the analysis for you.

Work with us

Apply to be a 1-1 client with Scarlet Spark

We work directly with animal advocacy organizations to improve leadership, strategy, and organizational culture. Apply to see if we’re a good fit.

Apply now

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