The Greatest Need Fund is a multi-purpose fund that serves the dynamic needs of animals in a shifting philanthropic landscape. It disburses funds across the Recommended Charity Fund, Movement Grants, and our own operating costs (up to a maximum of 10% of each distribution).

As opportunities and challenges evolve across the animal advocacy movement, this fund lets ACE pivot quickly, ensuring your support always flows where it does the most good.

Why Share This Information About the Greatest Need Fund?

We built this fund on transparency. Transparency helps donors give with confidence by making clear. exactly how our decisions are made, the reasoning behind them, and how our methodology evolves with each distribution.

Read on to learn how we made this decision and where your donations are making the most impact for animals.

The Decision on the Greatest Need Fund

Our decision committee — the Movement Grants Manager, Charity Evaluations Manager, Development Director, and Executive Director — held its first meeting in May 2026.

We first determined ACE’s allocation (up to 10% of the fund balance), then split the remaining balance between the Recommended Charity Fund and our Movement Grants program.

ACE (Operations)

  • $3,573: 1% of the fund balance
  • This allocation supports a specific sponsorship opportunity that we believe will drive more donations to the Greatest Need Fund.
  • Learn more about ACE.

Movement Grants

  • $110,000: 31% of the fund balance
  • This allocation supports four additional grants that met our bar for funding, but that we otherwise would not have funded in the current round.
  • Learn about our Movement Grants program and our latest grant recipients.

Recommended Charity Fund

  • $243,681: 68% of the fund balance
  • Since our Recommended Charities still have significant room for more funding in 2026, we directed the remaining balance to the Recommended Charity Fund.
  • Learn about our Recommended Charity Fund and our latest distribution.

Our Reasoning

We weighed five criteria when deciding how to disburse the fund:

  1. Marginal cost-effectiveness
  2. Room for more funding
  3. Counterfactual impact
  4. Organizational health
  5. Pipeline considerations

Read the full article about the Greatest Need Fund by Emma Cameron at Animal Charity Evaluators.