Campaign and Program Evaluation

Readers of this blog may be familiar with recent efforts from The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to confront the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), an industry-backed front group that targets animal advocates and misinforms the public about a wide range of consumer issues. While CCF, its people, and its actions are certainly deplorable, it's worth asking whether or not a public response is the best option for HSUS or any other animal advocacy group being publicly attacked. In this post we provide a point/counterpoint on HSUS's "counterpunch," and we invite readers to weigh in with your own thoughts.

Max Planck, the German physicist and Nobel Prize winner once remarked, "a new (scientific) truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." This may seem like a cynical point of view, but Planck understood that truth is neither self-evident nor easily accepted; it requires time to erode strongly held falsehoods and persuade people to accept new concepts.

Our goal with HumaneSpot.org is to help animal and environmental advocates be more effective by empowering them with informative research. During the two and a half years since we launched HumaneSpot.org, I'm pleased to say our user base has grown significantly and we consistently receive positive feedback. To help advocates get even more from using HumaneSpot.org, here are a few essential tips and resources...

Last week I wrote about research evidence showing that stories are more persuasive than data-intensive appeals when it comes to reaching most audiences. Here's some more evidence provided by the same source (nonprofit marketing guru Andy Goodman) suggesting that people more readily believe an individual's story than data describing the context of that individual's situation. Advocates should recognize the difference and avoid having the same bias themselves.

Farmed animals represent the vast majority of animals who suffer at human hands, but there is evidence that things are starting to change for the better. Recent research shows that both the number of land-based farmed animals killed in the U.S. actually declined slightly from 2007 to 2008 and the number of vegetarians appears to be on the rise.

If you are currently receiving the HumaneSpot.org email alerts or using the website for your research, please consider supporting HRC as we seek to upgrade our computers to better serve our clients and the animal protection movement. To learn more about our need for new equipment, please read this message that I sent to HRC's email list last week.

A while back, I mentioned Factual.com, which provides a free tool to create and share collaborative tables. Their goal is to make it easier for people to organize, collaborate on, and access data, as well as make it more transparent. The site is now out of private beta and is available to the public, and HRC has built 15 tables that might interest you.