Applications open for Fueling Advocates Initiative Grants Program

Deadline: 2-Jul-25

The Tiny Beam Fund is accepting applications for its Fueling Advocates Initiative Grants Program.

Scope and Purpose

• FAI grants are aimed at enabling non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charitable organizations to use academic research and experts to fuel and bolster their work by providing them with:
  • in-depth knowledge and understanding of the complexities in industrial animal agriculture – particularly with regard to LMICs;
  • high quality evidence, sound concepts, reliable information.
• All aspects and issues associated with industrial food animal production fall within the scope of FAI grants. For 2025, priority is given to grant applications that focus on using academic research/researchers to:
  • Understand and address:
    • These key drivers: Financing; government support; trade and
    • import/export.
    • Power and influence (who wields the most, how to challenge it, etc.)
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of specific programs and strategies as independent third party.
  • Resist industrialization of animal agriculture in Asia.

Pillars

• Industrial food animal production
  • Focus on industrial production systems of animal-sourced foods and their associated value chains. These systems are characterized by features such as low genetic diversity, confined housing, controlled feed and diet, high stocking density, high throughput, vertical integration, corporate consolidation, products geared toward non-local trade and commercial purposes. (Note: Sometimes – not always – the term “industrial” is interchangeable with “large-scale” or “intensive”.)
  • Tiny Beam Fund is interested in the production of terrestrial and aquatic animals, and in all serious downside of industrial production, from concentration of corporate power, to public health risks and environmental problems. Its attention is on production and supply rather than consumption and demand. It is not interested in the consumption of animal-sourced foods and diet change per se.
• Low and middle-income countries
  • Focus on low- and middle-income countries (according to the latest World Bank classification).
  • Nevertheless, Tiny Beam Fund recognizes that the world’s top corporations engaging in industrial food animal production, processing, and marketing have global reach no matter where their headquarters are located. And trade policies as well as bodies such as the WTO that play critical roles in LMICs’ increasing involvement with industrial animal agriculture are global by nature. Tiny Beam Fund is eager to support work that deal with power and influence these international actors have on LMICs.
• Academic research
  • Focus on supporting academic researchers, experts, and institutions because of the significant and unique role they can play in:
    • Generating high-quality, contextual, independent information and analyses.
    • Serving as a voice that is generally trusted and respected by governments, civil society, and certain segments of industry.
  • Three further reasons:
    • Academic research is underutilized by those tackling this issue.
    • Most funders of this issue have little interest in supporting academic research.
    • Tiny Beam Fund’s familiarity and experience with the academic field and community – how it operates, what it likes and dislikes, its strengths and weaknesses.

Funding Information

• Grant amount: An applicant can request a grant USD6,000 – 24,000
• The award period is nine months.

Eligibility Criteria

• FAI grants are offered to organizations (not individuals). Organizations eligible to apply for and receive FAI grants need not be located in the U.S., but they must be registered charities /groups in their own countries and equivalent to U.S. not-for-profit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations. (Tiny Beam Fund reserves the right to withdraw a grant offer if, upon further inquiry, the organization cannot be determined as one to which Tiny Beam Fund can support as per U.S. government rules and regulations.)
• Grantees choose their own grant start date. That date should be within three months after accepting the grant offer (unless delayed by pre-grant inquiries).
• An organization offered a FAI grant must:
  • cooperate with Tiny Beam Fund if pre-grant inquiries are needed;
  • sign a legal contract /Letter of Agreement;
  • accept the grant in USD.

For more information, visit Tiny Beam Fund.