Mumbai, February 02, 2026: The India Animal Welfare Forum (IAWF) has introduced India’s first collaborative Animal Welfare Funding Circle, marking a significant step toward addressing chronic underfunding in the sector. The initiative was launched at a national convening in Mumbai that brought together policymakers, philanthropists, non-profits, researchers, legal experts, and conservation leaders to discuss systemic challenges facing animal welfare in India.
Animal welfare currently receives only around 1.5% of India’s total CSR funding, a gap that the Funding Circle aims to address through coordinated and policy-aligned philanthropy. The initiative has been backed by an initial commitment of ₹14 crore from Upadhyaya Foundation, India Animal Fund, Caring Friends, Mela Foundation, and Coefficient Giving.
Designed as a collaborative platform, the Funding Circle will channel philanthropic capital into scalable, evidence-based animal welfare programmes, with a focus on accountability, long-term impact, and systemic change across regions and species. The initiative positions animal welfare not as a peripheral charitable concern, but as a development priority closely linked to public health, climate resilience, livelihoods, and urban sustainability.
The Forum’s agenda reflected the breadth of issues within the sector. Sessions explored the need for bold philanthropic approaches, the reframing of animal welfare as a development issue, human–wildlife coexistence, and the role of law and policy, including discussions around the Supreme Court street dog case. These conversations highlighted the intersection of research, public safety, urban governance, and animal welfare implementation.
A key outcome of the convening was the launch of a Snake Conservation Coalition in the Western Ghats, bringing together funders, researchers, herpetologists, conservation specialists, venom experts, and civil society organisations to address one of the most underfunded areas of animal welfare and conservation in India.
The Forum also hosted closed-door sessions between funders and selected non-profit organisations working across community animal welfare, wildlife conservation, advocacy, and habitat protection. These sessions were designed to enable deeper engagement, knowledge exchange, and potential partnerships.
Brinda Upadhyaya, Co-founder, Upadhyaya Foundation, said, “The Indian Animal Welfare Forum was an attempt to highlight animal welfare as a key issue in philanthropy and community service. Animals play a vital role in human life and their conservation and well-being is important for public health and environmental sustenance. Despite this, their needs and rights have been ignored and their suffering largely unaddressed. At this forum, we aimed to provide a coordinated ecosystem to bridge gaps in strategic funding and encourage philanthropic support for organisations working in this space.”
Emphasising the value of collective action, Sethu Vaidyanathan, entrepreneur and animal welfare advocate, noted, “A forum like this is vital because it brings together diverse voices working toward a shared goal: improving the lives of animals. It creates space to share knowledge, align strategies, and build partnerships that can lead to more effective, coordinated action.”
The Forum concluded with a shared acknowledgement that long-term capital, coordinated collaboration, and policy-aligned approaches are essential to strengthening India’s animal welfare ecosystem, particularly in the context of rapid urbanisation and growing climate risks.
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