Overview
Campaigning plays a crucial role in advancing the cause of animal advocacy. Well-executed campaigns can raise awareness, change attitudes and behaviours, and ultimately lead to meaningful improvements for animals. For those passionate about making a difference for animals, a career in campaigning can be a high-impact and fulfilling path.
Animal advocacy organisations rely on skilled campaigners to develop strategies, mobilise supporters, and apply pressure on decision-makers to achieve their goals. Campaigners are at the forefront of the movement, driving change through a variety of tactics including public outreach, grassroots organising, investigations, digital actions and protests.
Through our latest research, which surveyed over 90 organisations, they listed campaign roles as one of the hardest to fill. Therefore, if this is a possible area in which you have a good skills match or could excel, this could be one of the best ways that you can help animals with your career.
In this career path guide, you’ll learn about the importance and main aspects of campaigning roles in the animal advocacy movement. We will also share insights from experiences of some of the movement’s campaigners via interviews with four of them.
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What is campaigning?
Campaigning as a career path in the animal advocacy nonprofit movement is a dynamic, challenging, and high-impact way to drive systemic change for animals. Campaigners work to pressure corporations, governments, or the public to adopt more animal-friendly policies and practices. When working with corporations, this work is also sometimes called corporate campaigns or corporate engagement.
Campaigners might assert pressure through protests, petitions, or digital activism. Their work often combines strategic planning, communications, grassroots organising, negotiations, and public mobilisation.
In the animal advocacy movement, campaigning has proven to be one of the most cost-effective and rapid pathways to major change, for example, securing corporate commitments that improve the lives of millions of animals. It tends to suit people who are goal-driven, adaptable, and comfortable striking a balance between assertiveness and diplomacy.
However, it can also be emotionally and mentally demanding. Campaigners often face resistance, setbacks, and slow progress, and need to manage frustration while maintaining professionalism and focus. Wins are sometimes incremental but can lead to transformative outcomes over time.
Cage-free campaigns
One of the most significant corporate reform movements in animal advocacy in recent years has been the global shift toward cage-free egg production. As of April 2025, over 100 companies have pledged to eliminate the use of caged eggs not just in select markets, but across their entire global operations. This milestone marks the result of years of determined advocacy by groups such as the Open Wing Alliance, which have together convinced over 2,100 companies to stop caging laying hens. According to their 2024 Cage-Free Fulfilment Report, as of April 2024, 89% of cage-free egg commitments with deadlines of 2023 or earlier have been fulfilled, leading to hundreds of millions of hens being spared from cages.
Mercy For Animals employed a bold accountability strategy in 2023 when it called out Kroger for backtracking on its commitment to end the sale of eggs from caged hens by 2025. By placing full-page advertisements in the Wall Street Journal and Cincinnati Enquirer with the headline “Kroger Can’t Be Trusted,” the organisation applied public pressure on the retail giant to honour its animal welfare commitments. This approach highlights how animal advocacy organisations are increasingly willing to directly challenge powerful corporate interests when they fail to follow through on their promises.
Why are campaigning roles so important?
There are limits to what can be achieved through constructive dialogue and outreach efforts alone. While building relationships and educating stakeholders is valuable, change is unlikely to occur without targeted campaigns that exert pressure and make specific demands.
Many individuals and institutions resist change, especially when it comes to entrenched practices like factory farming or animal experimentation. Polite requests and moral arguments, however well-reasoned, are often insufficient to overcome this inertia. Several of our interviewees expressed deep pessimism about corporations taking positive steps without any external pressure. Campaigning provides the necessary force to disrupt the status quo and compel reform.
Campaigns are also a great way to raise awareness and put animal issues on the public agenda. By shining a spotlight on problems and rallying support, campaigns can shift the Overton window – expanding the range of ideas and policies considered acceptable to discuss. Greater awareness is often a necessary precursor to changes in individual behavior, corporate policies, and legislation.
Well-designed campaigns frame issues in ways that resonate with target audiences and spur them to action. They tap into people’s values, tell compelling stories, and offer concrete ways for supporters to get involved. Campaigns also tend to attract media attention more readily than other advocacy tactics. Protests, petitions, investigations and other campaign actions make for compelling stories. Media coverage extends a campaign’s reach, influences public opinion, and puts decision makers on notice that they’re being scrutinized. Smart campaigning turns up the heat and creates a sense of urgency around addressing animal welfare concerns.
What to look for in campaigning roles for high impact?
Campaigning is a broad field, so it’s important to assess opportunities carefully. Some campaigners succeed in achieving milestone wins in their career while others cannot. Here are some things to consider.
Goals that can deliver high impact
If a campaign is narrowly targeted at an issue that only affects a small number of animals, then its impact will be limited even if it achieves its goal. To do the most good, campaign goals should be able to benefit a high number of animals, as well as providing meaningful improvements.
Solid theory of change
A credible explanation of how campaign activities will lead to desired outcomes is a good metric to look for. The most effective campaigns base their strategies on a clear-eyed assessment of who has the power to deliver the change they seek and what levers exist to influence those decision makers. Vague plans to “raise awareness” in hopes that change will somehow follow aren’t enough.
Balancing ambition with realism
An impactful campaign needs to aim for meaningful change, but overly idealistic objectives can lead to wasted effort. A campaign to ban all animal agriculture in five years, while exciting, is extremely unlikely to succeed. A push to get a major fast food chain to adopt welfare reforms like cage-free or better chicken commitment policies is more achievable, given the track record of these examples.
Being mindful about not doing harm while aiming to do good
Good campaigns carefully consider potential unintended consequences and backlash risks. Hasty or aggressive campaigns can sometimes provoke a counter-productive response that entrenches opposition to animal advocacy. Pressuring a local government to ban a traditional bull running event could invite a culture war backlash that damages the wider movement. The most effective campaigns pursue important goals, but do so thoughtfully and strategically.
What does a campaigner’s work look like?
All of our interviewees mentioned a large variety of tasks that involve wearing multiple hats rather than assuming and focusing on single individual tasks. It would be a mistake to perceive that campaigners’ primary and exclusive role is to stage protest only. Rather, campaigners typically do a lot of research on campaign targets, designing campaign actions, writing and communicating campaign messages, prompting volunteers to take action, and doing extensive planning in order to coordinate all these efforts.
It is also important to note here that most campaigns heavily rest on digital actions, which also require working on social media communication and digital advertisements. On the other hand, the importance of on-the-ground protests should not be underestimated.
Interviewees commonly indicated that a big part of their work revolves around working with people. These involve meetings with teammates, face-to-face interactions and digital communication with volunteers.
You can also explore campaigning and corporate engagement roles on our job board to better understand what the roles involve, including the responsibilities, skills, and experience organisations typically seek.
Is it a good fit for you?
On one hand, campaigning is very stimulating and rewarding. All of our interviewees mentioned that winning a campaign feels great, especially since these wins are against a much bigger opponent. Although all achievements are valuable and fulfilling, it is plausible to say that campaigners have it best when they enjoy a victory.
On the other hand, campaigners don’t always win easily. Our interviewees also experience long and draining campaigns. At those times, a lot of things are uncertain and unknown. Chosen campaign actions may be ineffective. Campaign targets may remain unresponsive and unmoved. As a result, all efforts may be in vain. Group morale can deteriorate and conflicts may arise under stress and frustration.
When asked about essential skills in campaigning roles, here are the answers that our interviewees pointed out repeatedly:
Patience and relentlessness
Campaigners need to be patient about seeing results, given that many campaigns can be grueling. Campaigners need to be able to stick with an issue for the long haul, often in the face of discouraging setbacks. One interviewee also pointed out that campaigners need to be alert to and to some level cool with legal risks as well since some campaign actions may trigger libel or defamation lawsuits. In such situations, campaigners need to persevere and continue figuring out other ways of putting effective pressure.
A strong degree of pragmatism is also necessary when certain tactics clearly don’t seem to be working and new approaches are necessary. Interviewees commonly mention that they try a lot of things before they find “the” thing that works.
People skills
Campaigning involves a lot of relationship building – with supporters, allies, media, politicians, and others. Emotional intelligence, powers of persuasion, and an agreeable manner open doors. Campaigners should be able to build trust, find common ground, and win people over to their cause. Not all people will support the campaign, at least in the way that we want them to. It is important to stay calm and composed in the face of bad attitudes, criticism, and ridicule. Campaigners also need to cheer up their teammates and volunteers, especially when things are not going as planned or expected.
Research skills
All our interviewees mentioned that research is an essential part of a successful campaign. Although this may be different from “academic research”, campaigners need to learn as much as they can about the decision-making processes of campaign targets, as well as points of leverage to achieve their goals.
Creativity
Although many actions are common across campaigns, most require trying new and unexpected approaches in order to trigger change. Our interviewees mentioned that, given the difficulty of influencing institutional decision-making, one needs to be creative in finding new ways of capturing public or corporate attention. These may be a new thematic protest, a new website that shames campaign target executives in person, or a mobile truck that advertises the campaign publicly.
Communication skills
A significant part of campaigning tasks requires communicative acts. To successfully convey the messages, campaigners need to capture imaginations, find clever hooks and angles rather than falling back on generic slogans. Creative flair helps a campaign stand out in a crowded advocacy landscape and spark interest in a cause. An eye for powerful visuals and a strong writing pen are real assets.
Strategic thinking as well as attention to detail
Most of our interviewees mention that having a prioritisation mindset is vital, given that they have limited means and multiple potential targets. Campaigners need to zoom out to grasp the big picture and craft overarching plans, but also zoom in on relatively small (yet important) things like graphic design and wording selection to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Generalist skills
All of our interviewees say that they juggle a wide variety of responsibilities on tight timelines. They all mentioned that they didn’t have all the specialist skills but they learned and adapted as they progressed. Campaigners don’t need to be an expert on digital marketing or a professional writer but they need to learn and do these tasks (and many more) to some level.
How to improve your skills and test your fit for campaigning roles?
If you’re unsure whether you’re cut out for campaigning, get some firsthand experience to help you decide. Volunteer with an animal advocacy group working on campaigns. Almost all of our interviewees had a volunteering history with the organisations they worked for. One interviewee explicitly suggested that volunteering experience was a very strong positive signal when hiring, almost a requirement.
Volunteering is a great way to gain exposure to different tactics and to work closely with experienced campaigners. Be proactive about seeking out opportunities to attend strategy meetings, join protests, draft materials, and pitch in wherever help is needed. Remember that you can provide support in many different ways: attending protests, taking digital campaign actions, organising people, writing content, designing visuals, researching campaign targets, and many more that can help campaigners to achieve their goals.
Reading or listening to campaigner testimonials to better understand what the role entails day to day is also a good way to see if this is a good fit for you. Hearing directly from them can give you a clearer sense of the skills used, challenges faced, and the lifestyle involved. Reach out to campaigners you admire and see if they’re willing to chat about their work – most are happy to advise those considering the path.
None of the interviewees indicated that candidates need to have a certain university degree, possess a certain specialist or technical skill, or have a spectacular experience in campaigning before they choose to seek campaigning roles.
On the other hand, building some specialist skills can be highly beneficial, even if this is not a requirement. One interviewee mentioned digital marketing and graphic design as examples that are rare and technical skills that campaigners frequently need to use.
Here is a list of resources that our interviewees suggested for skilling up for campaigning roles:
- Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism
- The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote
- Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulation
- Building Digital Power
- How to Win Campaigns
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We would like to thank Ellie Ponders from The Humane League, Léo Le Ster from L214, İlkim Özbek from Kafessiz Türkiye, and an anonymous animal advocate for their time and valuable insights they provided in our interviews with them.
