The Humane League Uk

What The Humane League Uk does

The Humane League UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1177926) that campaigns to end the abuse of animals raised for food, operating as the UK affiliate of the US-founded parent The Humane League. Headquartered in Brighton with an affiliated US address in Rockville, Maryland, THL UK runs three flagship campaigns — Chickens Deserve Better (targeting fast-growing 'Frankenchickens' and the Better Chicken Commitment), Cage-Free (targeting caged egg-laying hens), and Forgotten Fish (targeting farmed fish welfare) — alongside a corporate engagement programme that has engaged over 200 leading UK food companies, including Nestlé, M&S, Nando's, KFC, Starbucks, Wagamama, Subway, Burger King, Greggs, Itsu, Compass Group, Lidl, and Co-op.

The organisation's underlying technology stack is a non-proprietary charity platform: a CRM and bulk-email system used to operate the Fast Action Network supporter list, donation processing via the ActNow hosted giving pages, a website CMS for campaigns and research reports, Google Analytics and MS Clarity for marketing attribution, and selective, explicitly-labelled use of generative AI for concept art and copy assistance. Grassroots distribution is delivered through a volunteer-led network of meet-ups and protests across at least 10 UK cities, with policy pressure exerted directly on Defra, the Scottish Government, and the High Court. THL UK is part of the Open Wing Alliance international coalition and works jointly with Animal Equality, Open Cages, the RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming, and the Soil Association.

THL UK's revenue model is donation-driven, anchored by recurring monthly giving supplemented by one-off donations, Gift Aid reclaims (25p per £1 at no extra donor cost), Gifts in Wills, workplace giving via Benevity and CAF payroll platforms, restricted and unrestricted grants, and branded merchandise sold through a third-party Teemill storefront. The charity is accredited by the Fundraising Regulator and has been an Animal Charity Evaluators Recommended Charity every year since 2012, reporting outcomes including 25 million+ UK hens cage-free annually, 28% of UK chicken supply committed to BCC by 2026, and government statistics showing 86% of UK egg production cage-free as of April 2026.

Name

The Humane League Uk

Legal name

The Humane League UK

Website

https://thehumaneleague.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Humane League UK is a registered charity campaigning to end the abuse of animals raised for food, engaging over 200 UK food companies on Cage-Free and Better Chicken Commitment policies and building a volunteer-led grassroots movement across 10 UK cities. It is funded by individual donations, legacies, workplace giving, and grants as the UK arm of the US-founded Humane League.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Animal Welfare Advocacy and Campaigning

akta.pro primary industry

Rescue, Transport & Emergency Animal Response (BPAGAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Animal Cruelty Prevention, Investigation & Humane Law Enforcement (BPAGAIAG)

Keywords

• Animal welfare advocacy
• Corporate campaigning services
• Charitable fundraising programmes
• Lobbying policy reform
• Volunteer movement building

Headquarters

HQ city

Brighton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices13 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual donations (one-off and monthly): Direct donations via the THL UK website; one-off gifts and regular monthly direct debits, with 100% of funds received going to THL UK when donated directly or via Facebook. Recurring monthly donations are particularly emphasised because they provide predictable income that supports campaign planning and reduces fundraising overhead.
2. Gifts in Wills (legacies): Charitable bequests left in supporters' Wills; promoted via a dedicated 'Gifts in Wills' programme and PDF guide, with supporter queries handled by Gavin Chappell-Bates, Head of Development.
3. Workplace giving and employer-matched donations: Payroll giving via Benevity (including Charitable Giving) and CAF; some employers match employee donations. Charity also references EasyFundraising, DontSendMeACard, The Giving Lottery, MygivingCircle, Facebook fundraising, JustGiving and Twitch fundraising channels.
4. Unrestricted and restricted grants / major gifts: Charity prefers unrestricted funding for flexibility, but accepts restricted funding tied to specific projects/campaigns with a percentage allocated to core operating costs. Gift Aid (UK government scheme) is claimed on eligible donations to recover 25p of basic-rate tax per £1 donated.
5. Charity retail / merchandise: Branded merchandise sold through a third-party Teemill storefront (thehumaneleagueuk.teemill.com), with separate returns & exchanges policy linked from the site footer.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Humane League UK is a registered charity that runs a coordinated portfolio of animal-welfare campaigns, corporate engagement programmes and supporter mobilisation services aimed at ending the abuse of animals raised for food. Its core deliverables are the Chickens Deserve Better, Cage-Free and Forgotten Fish campaigns; a corporate engagement programme that secures Better Chicken Commitment and Cage-Free policies from food companies; a Grassroots Organiser volunteer network across 10 UK cities; and donation, legacy and research products that fund and amplify the work.

Product overview

The Humane League UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1177926) that operates a campaign-and-advocacy portfolio rather than a single unified software product. Its offering is structured as a platform of interconnected programmes and services built around three flagship animal-welfare campaigns — Chickens Deserve Better, the Cage-free campaign, and the Forgotten Fish campaign — supported by a corporate engagement programme (Better Chicken Commitment and Cage-Free corporate policies), a research publications library, a volunteer/Grassroots Organiser programme, a Supporter newsletter and Fast Action Network sign-up, an events programme, a donation platform hosted on actnow.thehumaneleague.org.uk, and a Gifts in Wills programme. These are coordinated through the website thehumaneleague.org.uk and linked donation/petition forms, with merchandise fulfilment provided via a third-party Teemill storefront.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Chickens Deserve Better campaign A flagship campaign programme to end the use of fast-growing 'Frankenchickens' (chickens bred to reach slaughter weight in ~35 days) in the UK, combining an online petition, corporate Better Chicken Commitment advocacy and a judicial review challenging the legality of using Frankenchickens.
• Cage-free campaign Campaign to ban cages for egg-laying hens through corporate Cage-Free commitments and UK legislation, including the 'Help Beatrice. End Cages.' sub-campaign, with petitions, protest actions and coordination via the Open Wing Alliance.
• Forgotten Fish campaign Campaign lobbying the UK and Scottish Governments to extend animal-welfare-at-slaughter protections to fishes, who currently lack the same legal protections as other farmed animals; includes a petition and an artist-led travelling mural installation.
• Better Chicken Commitment corporate engagement programme Corporate engagement programme that helps food companies adopt the Better Chicken Commitment, providing sign-up guides, reporting guides, animal welfare policy templates and partner resources that have contributed to over 300 BCCs secured globally.
• Cage-Free corporate engagement programme Corporate engagement programme helping food companies adopt Cage-Free egg policies for egg-laying hens; linked to reported outcomes of 82%+ UK egg production meeting Cage-Free standards and 25 million+ UK hens cage-free each year.
• Supporter newsletter / Fast Action Network sign-up Email-list community of 'changemakers' who receive campaign updates, action alerts, petitions to sign and tools to email MPs, powering the Fast Action Network and online activism component of every campaign.
• Volunteer programme (Grassroots Organisers) Onboarded volunteer community of activists who make phone calls, write emails to target companies, organise events, leaflet-drop and pressure food companies as part of THL UK's campaigns; includes a Grassroots Organiser track with meet-ups across 10 UK cities.
• Events programme Public in-person and volunteer-led events programme designed to connect supporters and develop activism skills, delivered via Grassroots Organiser hubs across the UK.
• Research publications library Library of research outputs including 'The welfare of broilers in the EU' white paper, 'The case for cage-free legislation', annual Open Wing Alliance cage-free reports, the State of the Chicken Industry 2022 report and the March 2026 Sustainable Chicken Forum report.
• Donation platform (ActNow giving pages) Hosted donation experience with one-off and recurring (monthly) giving, Gift Aid reclaim, payroll giving via Benevity (including Charitable Giving) and CAF, and Tribute/In Memory gifts.
• Gifts in Wills (Legacies) programme Programme and downloadable PDF guide for supporters leaving a gift to The Humane League UK in their Will, with a dedicated Head of Development contact and step-by-step Will-writing guidance.
• Charity merchandise shop (Teemill storefront) THL UK-branded merchandise storefront operated via third-party Teemill print-on-demand platform, with linked returns & exchanges policy.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 leading food companies engaged, with 2,000+ Cage-Free policies and 300+ Better Chicken Commitments secured via the Open Wing Alliance.
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

22 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship / core coalition, major uk ngo collaborator, secondary ngo collaborator, primary photographer partner, supporting photographer partner, payroll giving platform partner, fundraising platform partner, microgiving platform partner, community-fundraising channel and parent / sister entity.

• Open Wing Allianceflagship / core coalitionStrategic or Co-development PartnerTHL UK is part of the international Open Wing Alliance, alongside sister organisations globally. The coalition has collectively secured more than 2,000 Cage-Free policies and more than 300 Better Chicken Commitments. Joint actions include a 2022 campaign that secured a global cage-free commitment from Toridoll in Japan via mobilisation against Wok to Walk restaurants in the UK.
• Animal Equalitymajor uk ngo collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed by THL UK as a UK NGO collaborator whose collective work contributed to 28% of UK chicken supply being committed to meeting the higher welfare criteria of the Better Chicken Commitment by 2026, affecting around 300 million birds.
• Open Cagesmajor uk ngo collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-signed the January 2026 joint open letter to Farmfoods' Managing Director George Herd (alongside THL UK, Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA). Also provides key factory-farm photography through partner photographer Andrew Skowron.
• RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)major uk ngo collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-signed the January 2026 joint letter to Farmfoods urging the retailer to end cage use. Listed as a UK NGO collaborator on THL UK's BCC work.
• Compassion in World Farmingmajor uk ngo collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-signed the January 2026 joint letter to Farmfoods. Polling cited in THL UK's Farmfoods campaign (67% of Britons willing to pay more for cage-free eggs) originates from Compassion in World Farming.
• Soil Associationsecondary ngo collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a UK NGO collaborator contributing to the collective 28% UK chicken supply commitment to BCC criteria by 2026.
• Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animalsprimary photographer partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerJo-Anne McArthur and the We Animals project are listed as photographers documenting animals and the reality of factory farming. McArthur is credited for the homepage hero cow image and other visual content across the site.
• Andrew Skowron / Open Cagesprimary photographer partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerAndrew Skowron and Open Cages are listed as photography partners. Skowron provides key factory-farm imagery (e.g. broiler chicken, day-old chick, factory-farm scenes) used across THL UK's campaigns and articles.
• Tamara Kenneallysupporting photographer partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerListed as one of THL UK's partner photographers documenting animals and the reality of factory farming.
• Michelle McSwainsupporting photographer partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerListed as one of THL UK's partner photographers documenting animals and the reality of factory farming.
• Adam Pedittosupporting photographer partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerCredited for the Our Mission page hero image of a chicken at a sanctuary and a brown chicken in a field image used across the site.
• Selene Magnoliasupporting photographer partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerCredited for the Our Mission page image of a Britannia demonstration.
• Benevity (including Charitable Giving)payroll giving platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed by THL UK as a workplace-giving platform for monthly payroll giving; enables employers to support staff donations, sometimes with employer matching.
• CAF (Charities Aid Foundation)payroll giving platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed by THL UK as a payroll-giving partner for monthly workplace giving.
• JustGivingfundraising platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed as a personal-fundraising platform for supporters; charges a small third-party fee on donations.
• EasyFundraisingmicrogiving platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed as a microgiving partner at easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/thluk/ that enables supporters to donate via retail rewards.
• DontSendMeACardmicrogiving platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed as a microgiving partner for supporters wanting to send ecards in lieu of cards for donations to THL UK.
• The Giving Lotterymicrogiving platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed as a microgiving partner for supporters to direct lottery proceeds to THL UK.
• MygivingCirclemicrogiving platform partnerTechnology or IntegrationListed as a microgiving platform where supporters can vote for THL UK to receive a grant.
• Twitch (fundraising)community-fundraising channelTechnology or IntegrationListed by THL UK as a platform where supporters can host personal fundraisers for the charity.
• Facebook (fundraising)community-fundraising channelTechnology or IntegrationTHL UK is on Facebook fundraisers; 100% of donations given via Facebook go directly to the charity.
• The Humane League (USA parent entity)parent / sister entityStrategic or Co-development PartnerTHL UK shares personal data with the US-based parent 'The Humane League' only in specific, necessary situations under its Privacy Policy; the US entity also handles copyright complaints on behalf of the organisation at P.O. Box 10476, Rockville, MD 20849 USA.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals): Largest UK animal-welfare charity and co-signatory with THL UK on the Farmfoods letter. Comparable as a peer because it campaigns on farm-animal welfare and welfare standards, but it operates a much broader portfolio (pet welfare, enforcement, sanctuaries) rather than specialising in the farm-animal corporate-campaign niche THL UK owns.
• Soil Association: UK charity promoting organic food and farming, listed by THL UK as a collaborator on the BCC 28%-by-2026 commitment. Comparable on the policy/corporate-engagement axis for higher-welfare sourcing (e.g. organic poultry standards), but with a much broader sustainable-food remit that spans crop and livestock certification.
• World Animal Protection: Global animal-welfare NGO with a UK presence, working on farm-animal welfare among other issues. Comparable because it engages corporates and governments on animal welfare in food systems, but its remit is far wider (wildlife, companion animals, disasters) than THL UK's focused farm-animal corporate-campaign model.

Direct peers

• Animal Equality: International farm-animal protection NGO listed by THL UK as a UK NGO collaborator whose joint work contributed to the 28% UK chicken supply committed to BCC by 2026. Directly comparable: shared corporate-campaign methodology, Open Wing Alliance membership, and overlapping target list of food companies on cage-free and broiler welfare.
• Open Cages: UK-focused farm-animal welfare charity co-signatory with THL UK on the January 2026 Farmfoods open letter and provider of factory-farm photography to THL UK campaigns. Closely comparable: similar UK legislative and corporate-outreach approach, same target companies on cage-free eggs, and overlapping grassroots supporter base.
• Compassion in World Farming: Major UK farm-animal welfare charity and a named THL UK collaborator on the Farmfoods cage-free letter and BCC supply-share work. Directly comparable because it pursues the same corporate Cage-Free and Better Chicken Commitment outcomes for UK food companies, runs policy advocacy in Westminster, and supplies the public polling THL UK cites (e.g. 67% willing to pay more for cage-free eggs).
• Animal Aid: UK animal-rights charity running investigations, campaigns and corporate outreach on farm-animal issues, including broiler chicken welfare. Directly comparable as a UK-based, donation-funded advocacy charity that targets the same food-industry supply-chain problems as THL UK, though with a more vegan-promotion and investigation-led style.
• PETA UK: UK operation of PETA, running corporate-facing and public-facing campaigns against factory farming and for animal welfare in food supply chains. Comparable because it is a UK-registered animal-welfare charity targeting the same major food retailers and restaurant chains on chicken, egg and fish welfare, with a more confrontational and vegan-promotion positioning.
• Viva!: UK vegan campaigning charity that targets factory farming, including broiler welfare and fish, with a focus on consumer behaviour change. Comparable as a UK farm-animal charity running corporate and public-facing campaigns, though with a stronger vegan-promotion angle than THL UK's welfare-policy framing.

Emerging players

• The Humane Society International (UK): UK arm of the global Humane Society International, working on farm-animal welfare, wildlife and corporate policy. Comparable as a UK farm-animal advocacy presence engaging food businesses, but with a different parent brand and a broader global portfolio than THL UK's narrower broiler/egg/fish focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/humaneleagueuk
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCcz-e2blL6lgSMPsTgaEdjQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/humaneleagueuk
• Instagraminstagram.com/humaneleagueuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-humane-league-uk

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Humane League Uk