The Mission Motor

AI for animal welfare is taking center stage this weekend at an innovative conference where hundreds of advocates will gather, including our MEL expert, Jamie Spurgeon. While we've been exploring how AI can enhance our monitoring and evaluation work (see yesterday’s post), this conference impressively aims to build a multidisciplinary field around how technology can positively impact animals. If you have insights into using AI to advance monitoring and evaluation or are interested in support for your organization's M&E, please connect with Jamie during the event. ?? Special thanks to the AI for Animals organizers, particularly Constance Li, for providing this valuable chance to connect and advance our shared mission.

??This favourite tool for monitoring and evaluation might surprise you: the use of AI. In this video, Jamie explains why. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude can be useful in many different ways. When we fed a Theory of Change graph into AI, it drafted pretty good initial indicators. Of course, requiring our MEL expertise for refinement, but saving significant time with the right prompts. We think AI can be an accelerator and a helpful team member providing a fresh perspective on our work. Over the coming months, we'll continue exploring how these tools can make our MEL processes more efficient, and share our findings with you. Are you interested in free support with setting up monitoring and evaluation tools for your animal or vegan advocacy organization? Please reach out through our website.

Last week I co-organised a pro-animal networking event with Ruben van den Bulck and Koen van Pelt at the Effectief Altru?sme Nederland office in Amsterdam. It was so much fun! ?? We had three lightning talks and the one from Nicoll Peracha?? made me reflect on the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) efforts the movement is doing. Nicoll said that she started The Mission Motor because she didn't want advocates to look back at the life's work and feel that they could have made more impact with a different intervention. That's why her organisation is now helping other animal charities to measure their impact. When I first came up with an idea for Hive, I had no idea how to measure the impact of a meta charity. I was convinced it was immeasurable, or it wasn't worth my time to do it. Thankfully after running Hive for a while, my co-founders and I have noticed a way to measure our impact - through community activity and meaningful changes in our community members' behavior (e.g. new jobs, volunteering, projects, funding). Thanks to The Mission Motor, my team has developed an initial MEL plan which we have since built upon. It helps us to decide which programs are worth doing and what we should stop. What's quite funny is despite me initially thinking that our work is immeasurable, we are more thorough with our impact evaluation than what most of our funders expect of us. But we don't just do MEL for the funders - our primary goal with MEL is to 1). Help us ensure we are impactful enough to be worth the effort and the resources we are spending 2). Help us understand what we can do better, what to lean into to increase our impact, and what to stop. MEL can seem like a dry chore, but here are two things that we do at Hive that makes MEL a fun habit ? : 1. We have a "wins and appreciations" channel where all the team drops all the new impact they've learned about through interactions. It gives everyone a positivity boost and keeps track of such impact in one place. 2. We have also really leaned into collecting testimonials. We now use a custom testimonial tool, but before that we used a free tool called Social Juice which worked well enough. Every time someone tells us about the impact we had on their work, we habitually ask "Would you leave us a short testimonial?" Now I am a big believer that you can measure anything. Although we can never precisely measure Hive's work by the number of animal lives saved—and any such metric will always be somewhat imprecise—it doesn't mean we can't evaluate its impact in a meaningful and consequential way. I'm curious to hear your thoughts: have you ever had a project that you struggled to evaluate? What MEL challenges have you come across in your work? P.S. Do reach out to Nicoll's team if you need help with your MEL efforts - they provide their help pro-bono (link in bio)! ??

?? Are you campaigning against animal abuse but uncertain if your target audience is changing their behaviour? At The Mission Motor, we're passionate about uncovering if and why interventions work, and ready to help you. We offer free support to animal advocacy organisations, using powerful tools such as: ?? Theory of Change mapping to detail and check your reasoning ?? Output monitoring to track implementation ?? Data collection to measure campaign outcomes ?? Reviews to discover what the data you collected is telling you, and how you can optimize your intervention. Our support ranges from providing quick feedback and resources, to longer engagements where we help you design (parts) of a monitoring and evaluation system. What evidence-based improvements did we help organizations make? ?? Refocusing on more receptive target audiences. ?? Switching communication channels after discovering the target group wasn’t reached. ?? Eliminating unsuccessful activities based on an evidence review. Just to name a few :-) So: are you an animal advocacy organization working on factory farming and would you like support discovering if and why your intervention works? Just reach out to check if we can help you: [email protected]

?? Which data collection method is right if you want to know more about your intervention? We recently hosted a webinar exploring different approaches to data collection. Here's a quick breakdown of some key methods you could consider: ?? Surveys - Perfect for large sample sizes and quantitative data - Limited ability to explore the "why" behind responses ?? Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) - Rich interaction data and resource-efficient - Requires strong facilitation skills to manage group dynamics ?? Observation - Captures real-world behavior with minimal participant burden - Without context, data can be shallow ??Case Studies - Provides deep, rich descriptions of change - Resource-intensive and it's harder to generalize findings ??? Semi-Structured Interviews - High depth of insights - Time-intensive and limited sample size Are you an animal welfare or vegan advocacy organization wanting to learn more about these methods? Then check out the resources in the comments, or contact us for support through [email protected]

?? Connecting volunteers, board, and staff. Why? Because together we're stronger. And it's fun too! It's amazing to see how much we have developed since the start of our international work in 2023. We've got a more diverse team and expanded our knowledge. Are we truly ready for 2025? There are still many things to develop, but we'll get there. Above all, we look forward to supporting animal organizations with all their monitoring and evaluation questions!

This is the third post in our CART principles series for MEL, where we explore what it means to be responsible in your data collection efforts. (If you missed our earlier posts on Credibility and Actionability, be sure to check them out for more insights! ????) When it comes to being responsible in MEL, two key questions guide us: ? Costs for the organization: Does collecting this data require reasonable investments in survey design, equipment, personnel, and analysis, compared to the value it delivers? ? Burden on beneficiaries: Does collecting this data demand too much time or effort from those it’s meant to help? For example: Imagine your goal is to ensure fishers are not using bottom trawling. ??A poor indicator would require daily checks of their nets; too costly and burdensome. ??A good indicator could be the percentage of fishing boats found with bottom trawling nets during random checks every six months. By balancing cost and effort with the value of insights gained, we ensure MEL practices remain effective, efficient, and fair. ?? How do you approach responsibility in your MEL efforts?

Ever wondered what happens when you approach us for support? We aim to make it easy to get in touch and to keep the journey until the start of our support short and light. Usually, requests come in via email, although we'll add a short intake form to our website soon. We will then reach out for a first chat with some clarifying questions. If your request matches what The Mission Motor can provide, one of our MEL associates like Jamie Spurgeon in this video, will follow up with more in-depth questions. This process is aimed at getting a clear picture of your work and existing monitoring and evaluation activities. This will help us advise you on the best approach and ensure that we add value to your work. If all goes well, we will define a clear outline of the planned scope of support: ?? what are we going to work on and how ?? how much time will you need to invest ?? what will we deliver If you agree with this scope of support, the only thing left to do is decide on a start date and enjoy the process ?? ?? If you are an animal or vegan advocacy organization with questions about topics like a Theory of Change, gathering data, or designing an evaluation, please don't hesitate to reach out for free support through [email protected]

?? Where do you begin when deciding how to collect data on your work? While surveys are a popular choice for data collection, they are just one of many available tools. Join us on Tuesday 21 January, when Jamie Spurgeon will introduce a range of data collection methods that go beyond surveys and can provide rich insights into the effectiveness of your work. You'll learn how and when to use tools like ?? focus group discussions, ??semi-structured interviews, ??observational methods, and ??case studies. We'll also look at some examples of these methods in action, discuss their strengths and limitations, and how to choose the right method for your needs. Whether you're working on welfare improvements, dietary change, or policy, you'll leave with concrete knowledge of how to expand your data collection toolkit beyond surveys. Please register for this free webinar through this link: https://lu.ma/n0xwl3n4 #data collection #monitoring #evaluation #learning

?? Exactly 2 years ago at 12:15 AM, while watching over our rabbits as fireworks lit up the sky, my life changed: I received the message I had been accepted into Charity Entrepreneurship/AIM Incubation Program. The months that followed were intense. I learned the ropes of starting an impactful charity, made amazing friends, and by mid-2023, wound down my job to launch an international charity. Diving into the unknown was scary and exhilarating at the same time. Would I find the right co-founder? Could supporting animal welfare organizations to monitor and evaluate their effectiveness actually lead to change? Was this truly the most impactful way to use my skills and experience? Luckily, I found an incredible co-founder in Blake Hannagan, with whom I pioneered The Mission Motor's program. Together we’ve worked with organizations across the globe - all eager to measure and improve their effectiveness. One big question stayed on our minds: would organizations be willing to pivot if their interventions weren’t working properly? The answer so far is yes! One organization e.g. paused a cage-free egg campaign after realizing there was no system for consumers to distinguish egg types, while others shifted target audiences or tactics. Also my own learning curve has been steep. I’ve worn many hats, worked long hours, and traveled extensively. Balancing this with personal life was tough: over the past two years, I lost my father and three beloved pets, cared for critically ill family members, worried about some of my friends, and moved to a fixer-upper house across the country. What kept me going? ??Accepting that “good enough” often is good enough, but most of all: ??Reaching out to friends for advice and encouragement, among which I count my supportive board members! Meeting like-minded people at conferences has been another huge source of inspiration. Special thanks to Tania Luna for sharing her expertise generously and for introducing me to fellow capacity builders Stacye Thrasher Brim, PMP, LSSGB and Liana Paris. I remember our vibrant dinner well ?? ?? Our team and work also developed. Building on past experiences, Jamie Spurgeon, Koushik Raghavan, Thomas Billington, Sophie Gulliver and I recently redesigned our support to better meet organizations’ needs.? Despite the challenges, I’ve loved this rollercoaster ride and can’t wait for the year ahead. I’m eager to see the effect of our work, connect with friends at conferences, and, maybe, find a better balance between work and life. So, am I doing the most impactful work I can? I’m not certain, but the signs so far are encouraging. For now, wishing you an amazing and impactful 2025! Looking forward to seeing you soon??