Feeling inspired? Bring Animal Project Buddies to your city. It's easier than you think — and the impact is incredible.
It's a really easy group to start, and it's been amazing for community, inspiration, accountability, and friendship. It's incredible to see what a group of passionate animal advocates can do with all of the talents they have!
The group is not intended to be a working session, but more of a roundtable discussion where each person gives updates on their project. It serves as a space to celebrate your wins, share your problems, bounce ideas off of each other, and inspire each other to larger ideas and projects — all alongside friends and community building.
Many of our members report feeling inspired to bring good news to the meeting, and others have said they'd never have explored new skills, projects, ideas, and even made a difference with them without our meeting. That is the whole idea behind APB!
Order a slice of pizza (this may vary if you're not lucky enough to have a vegan pizza place, ha), and socialize a bit while we wait for people to arrive.
Once most of the group is here, we do a quick round of intros on names in case there are new folks. Normally, someone will explain how the group works.
We always describe the group as "you don't have to have a project to attend" and normally state that right at the beginning for new folks.
Then we move into the main tofu of the matter — the project updates roundtable. One person goes first, and they will:
As they share, other group members may jump in with questions, ideas, or follow-ups. This is a great opportunity for knowledge collaboration and for folks to get feedback on their projects.
It's also meant to celebrate the work they are doing! Positive encouragement is needed and super helpful for projects like these. Most of us have full-time jobs and do this on the side. It's nice to come share the wins with people who get what we are doing and why.
Each member will normally talk for about 5–8 minutes including questions and discussion. You can be flexible on the time based on what works for your group. Sometimes someone may have a big update and it's worth diving into more, or the group is smaller — and you have the time for more in-depth discussions.
We then continue in a circle until everyone has given their update!
At the end, we do any group admin stuff — then just normally talk and socialize before folks head home.
We do not work on our projects together — the idea of Animal Project Buddies is mostly meant to be accountability, inspiration, and support alongside friendship. But if your group wants to, you can intersperse that!
Outside of the meetings, we have a Discord server where folks can post general discussion, ask for additional help, and post updates if they cannot make the meeting or want to formalize their updates. It's another great way to build community and encourage accountability.
If preferred, you can join our Discord and create your own local sub-channel! See our Discord here.
A great option is tables at restaurants and businesses that are mission-aligned and care about animals (i.e. plant-based restaurants). Sometimes the owner will let you use a space for free!
We use a vegan pizza restaurant near public transit in Seattle, and meet on weekdays every other week.
Use the meeting format above and just get started! It takes a bit as folks settle into their projects, but it's been really amazing to see what people are able to achieve as side projects.
If you have questions about how it all works, or want help — please reach out! It's a bit meta, but a sub-project of Animal Project Buddies is to inspire other chapters, so we'd love to help you.
Ready to get started?! You can find a list of Open Project Ideas on our website for inspiration!
Projects can be loosely defined in whatever way you want! The whole idea of the group is that there are many ways to make a difference for animals. Street activism is still great, and we highly encourage folks to try it, but that may not be a fit for everyone, or you may have the time and space to have an even bigger impact through a project!
There are so many talents among us, so why not put them to use in unique ways for animals? You could even use this as a driver to learn something new — we have members learning to make board games and video games who have never done that before, but now they are — with an animal spin!
Projects can be big or small — from nonprofits to clean meat to social media accounts to writing tons of restaurant reviews or posting 10 times on Reddit a day about animal rights items. A project is whatever you want it to be — but we definitely recommend setting goals and markers of success. We try to track our projects' "impacts" in any way we can.
If you have "open ideas" to add to our list, please send an email to animalprojectbuddies@gmail.com and we will get it added!
Animal Project Buddies is about helping each other help animals. Reach out to us if you want help starting a chapter, or join our Discord to connect with the community.