47 Reasons to Support We Animals Media on my 47th Birthday!
Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Fundraiser
For my birthday, I'd love your support for We Animals' photojournalism.
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$15,186
Raised
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$4,700
Goal
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76
Supporters
Recent Transactions
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Anonymous
$100.00 / 370 days ago
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Phillip Sanford
$300.00 / 371 days ago
I know of no Canadian who does more to protect our fellow animals than Jo. All who know her admire her.
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Murray Noseworthy
$30.00 / 373 days ago
It’s important to show the world the truth about animal agriculture.
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Elizabeth Abbott
$25.00 / 373 days ago
Witnessing and documenting the realities of animal experiences are crucial steps to ending their abuse.
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Marion Markham
$20.00 / 373 days ago
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Anonymous
$100.00 / 374 days ago
I don't think people realize the toll witnessing the immense suffering of captive and abused animals takes on you Joanne. I'm so grateful you do this job to expose the horrors that animals endure. I hope others will see your heart wrenching photos and contribute to help you continue to educate those who are unaware and expose the perpetrators. I wish you all the best.
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Anonymous
$147.00 / 374 days ago
Thank you so much for all you do to expose the terrible reality of the way so many animals are treated worldwide.
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Ismail Hirji
$50.00 / 374 days ago
Love everything you do! Thanks for always being a voice for animals even in the darkest of times. You are an angel in this world, as is every member of your team. Happy birthday!!!
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Rebeca Medina
$20.00 / 374 days ago
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Cindy De la Garza
$20.00 / 374 days ago
Happy Birthday & Thank You For Everything That You DO For Animals.
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David Hancocks
$50.00 / 374 days ago
Happy Birthday, Jo-Anne. My congratulations and gratitude for all the superb results you are achieving.
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Cindi Saadi
$100.00 / 375 days ago
Happy Birthday, Jo! Congratulations to you and to the whole WAM Team on an amazing year. Your passionate commitment to the animals continues to inspire us all! :-)
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Laila Plavins
$20.00 / 375 days ago
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Greg Taylor
$10.00 / 375 days ago
Jo, you are an icon to the world of animals and you and your team are truly inspirational. So glad to help you continue your life changing work. Best wishes to you this holiday season and a blessed 2024.
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Anonymous
$1,000.00 / 375 days ago
I am so grateful for what you do. The talent, the courage, and the unique space you've filled in this most important mission. Happy birthday!!
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Julie O'Neill
$30.00 / 375 days ago
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Bruce Friedrich
$500.00 / 375 days ago
Love your work so much, Jo - thank you for your selfless dedication to a kinder world. - Alka + Bruce
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Gregory Walsh
$20.00 / 375 days ago
Even though it breaks my heart seeing some of your photos Keep up the great work
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Sandra Eisert
$10.00 / 375 days ago
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Craig Cline/The GoldenRuleism Guy
$663.00 / 375 days ago
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Donna B. Reynolds
$20.00 / 375 days ago
All these years of travel to all 7 continents; all the appalling cruelty she has witnessed while holding her camera steady; and still Jo has emerged at 47 with grace, beauty, and astounding productivity. Bless your beautiful glowing Heart, Jo! 💖
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Anonymous
$3,000.00 / 375 days ago
brilliant work! wonderful team! happy birthday to the woman who started it all 🤩💚
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Richard Hughes
$30.00 / 375 days ago
About 47 Reasons to Support We Animals Media on my 47th Birthday!
For my 47th birthday, I’m raising $4,700.00 for my beloved non-profit photo agency, We Animals Media.
I need your help in achieving this goal, so without further ado, these are 47 reasons why We Animals is a vibrant and essential animal advocacy organization that deserves your support.
Ready? :)
TL;DR: Yes, I listed 47 reasons to support We Animals. It was easy because we are awesome. I hope you’ll help me celebrate my birthday by donating to us by December 23. I’m encouraging donations of $4.70, $47.00, $147.00, $470.00, and…what the heck…$4,700.00.
1. We Animals Media is the photo agency I needed, but didn’t exist, when I began my photography career 25 years ago.
2. We coined animal photojournalism, a new and necessary genre of photography. Who even does that? We did! Here's our explanation.
3. We mentor. This year, we offered not one but two fellowships.
4. We help animals by working on all continents to document their stories.
5. Our role as an animal photojournalism agency is unique in both the worlds of animal advocacy and photography. We are helping to evolve both.
6. Our work has been used in over 150 countries.
7. We Animals now has a global network of 110 photographers from 36 countries.
8. About these intrepid souls. They venture into farms, slaughterhouses, wet markets and natural disasters to show what animals endure. These determined people put themselves at physical, financial, and psychological risk so we can see the lived experiences of animals. We are so proud to know them and work with them.
9. In November, we improved our agreements for contributing animal photojournalists, and in 2024, we’ll be able to pay them more for their assignments and licensed content.
10. We have the loveliest team of thoughtful and passionate staff! We are democratic in our processes and I trust everyone to center our clients: animals. I love going to work every day at WAM.
11. We are thorough in our decision-making and always honing in on improved strategy.
12. We collect data on our wins and our shortcomings, and pivot accordingly…
13. …while not forgetting the qualitative, everyday changes we create. We see the We Animals’ ripple effects on both the individual and global scale.
14. We have core values: Excellence. Collaboration. Leadership. Integrity. Generosity.
15. Excellence. We ensure the highest standards of our work.
16. Collaboration. We work with other animal advocates, organizations, and media to tell the stories of animals.
17. Leadership. We bring the genre of animal photojournalism into the mainstream so that animal stories are clear, persuasive, and moving.
18. Integrity. We represent animal stories with veracity and truthfulness; we acknowledge and embrace our animal advocacy while remaining journalistic.
19. Generosity. We make our stock platform available for free for those working to make changes on behalf of animals.
20. More on that point! We make over 25,000 photos and video clips available for animal advocates to use, free of charge. And we are building new models for sustainability so that we can keep this spirit of generosity. (It’s getting harder not to end all of these reasons with exclamation points) (!!!!!!)
21. We partner with more and more animal NGOs, academic institutions, and media outlets, for broader reach and impact.
22. We have an experienced, dedicated, and thoughtful Board. We’ll be recruiting more Board members with a variety of expertise and backgrounds in 2024.
23. We support our photographers by offering portfolio reviews and group critiques.
24. We keep honing our voice to best express the urgency of our message about animals' suffering, whilst also sharing reasons for hope and actions for change.
25. We are activists in practice and at heart. The We Animals team and I are here because we want to make the world a kinder place for all animals.
26. Our animal rights work is increasingly accepted and disseminated. Fellow advocates, we know this is an uphill battle!
27. We know we’re doing something right because our work wins awards. Check out a few of these recent wins:
28. Transfarming Switzerland: Finalist in the Setting Sun Film Festival and winner in the animal advocacy category at the International Vegan Film Festival.
29. Overall winner in the Nature and Humans photography competition for my image of an open rescue in Spain. And a team win for our story Animals in the Anthropocene at the prestigious SIPA Awards.
30. Real-world outcomes. With NGOs and media, we have ongoing tangible and positive outcomes for animals. We expose and help NGOs change, and sometimes close, farms.
31. 2023 was our biggest year yet. We expanded our work and networks into Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
32. Independent assignments kept our photographers busy in 2023. We were at the California floods, and at mega-dairies in Arizona. We covered Indonesia’s wet markets. Sheep farming in Slovakia. Shrimp and fish farming in India, and foie gras farms in France. Mercifully, we also witnessed human kindness at sanctuaries in Europe and North America.
33. We licensed hundreds of timely and newsworthy visuals from investigations by Oikeutta Elaimille, Essere Animali, and The Every Animal Project. This includes the heartbreaking avian flu culls, octopus farming, and Italy’s deadly floods.
34. This year, our visuals have been published in over 350 media outlets, and prominently so, from Vox to National Geographic.
35. Our books continue to have influence and longevity. With Lantern Publishing & Media, we republished We Animals as a manual for photojournalism. HIDDEN has been exhibited at galleries, congresses, and even parliaments in Peru, Switzerland, France, Spain, the US, and the European Union.
36. I was invited by Compassion in World Farming to speak about farmed animals at the European Parliament this year. What an honour, and we aim for more opportunities to speak directly to political decision-makers.
37. After seven glorious years of celebrating women in animal advocacy, we wrapped up the Unbound Project. Its stories were successful in their goals: to uplift the women we featured and inspire people to follow in their footsteps.
38. We expose systems, and show the suffering created by those systems instead of placing blame on individual workers.
39. Corporations lobby governments to implement ag-gag laws that aim to silence whistleblowers and people documenting animal cruelty. I take this as an indication that we are doing effective work exposing cruelty. When ag-gag laws pass, we support the lawyers overturning them.
40. Wow, I’m at 40. Cool, cool. That was easy. Almost there!
41. We aim to keep ahead of changing technology and potential threats (hello, AI).
42. We work towards continuous improvement and will be offering stock platform subscriptions in the New Year for those who want extra functionality and flexibility for accessing our visuals.
43. We listen to the campaign needs of our partners, our users, and our allies by adding new visuals to our stock platform every week, covering a diverse range of species and topics.
44. We continue to strive for a healthy workplace, which includes a safe, supportive, and fun work environment.
45. As we grow thoughtfully and strategically, we recommit to our mission to bring visibility to animals, uplift animal photojournalism, serve the animal advocacy movement, and help make this a kinder world.
46. I believe in the quality, the necessity, the integrity, and the advocacy of We Animals, and in everyone who works here.
47. We are grateful to you, our supporters, and to all of our global collaborators. We know that we achieve nothing alone.
You made it! For these reasons and more, I’d love your support on my birthday to meet my personal goal of raising $4,700.00 for We Animals Media.
Now, some important details:
All gifts made by December 31 to a total of $24,000 will be included in our current matching campaign — DOUBLING your impact.
And! A holiday print offer 🙂 If you donate $100 or more, we'll send you an 8"x 10” print signed by me. For $180, choose two. $250, choose three. $350, receive all five! We'll then be in touch about your print choice(s).
Lastly, and this is awesome: we can give tax receipts to our US donors offering $500 USD or more. Please contact Jennifer at development@weanimals.org for instructions.