31 January,2026 10:18 PM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav
Panellists deliberate on boosting philanthropic funding for animal welfare at the India Animal Welfare Forum in Mumbai on Saturday. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
With animal welfare accounting for just 1.5 per cent of India's corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding, the India Animal Welfare Forum (IAWF) on Saturday launched the country's first collaborative Animal Welfare Funding Circle, backed by an initial Rs 14 crore to address long-standing funding gaps in the sector.
The funding pool has been supported by the Upadhyaya Foundation, India Animal Fund, Caring Friends, Mela Foundation, and Coefficient Giving. The national convening brought together policymakers, philanthropists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), researchers, legal experts, and conservation leaders to discuss key challenges facing animal welfare in India, including chronic underfunding, gaps in policy implementation and the need for coordinated, policy-aligned action.
The Funding Circle will operate as a collaborative platform to channel philanthropic capital into scalable, evidence-based animal welfare initiatives, with a focus on long-term impact, accountability, and systemic change across regions and species.
Led by family philanthropy Upadhyaya Foundation, the forum positioned animal welfare as a development and policy concern linked to public health, climate resilience, livelihoods, and urban sustainability.
The agenda included sessions on funding gaps in animal welfare, reframing animal welfare as a development priority, human-wildlife conflict, policy issues surrounding the Supreme Court street dog case, and the role of law and research in urban animal welfare.
The forum also marked the launch of a Snake Conservation Coalition in the Western Ghats, bringing together funders, researchers, herpetologists, conservation specialists, venom experts, and NGOs to address conservation challenges in an underfunded area of the sector.
Additional discussions focused on coalition-led conservation approaches, the role of collaboration in driving impact, the use of technology and artificial intelligence in animal welfare, and public narratives around farmed animals. Closed-door sessions were also held between NGOs and funders to facilitate partnerships across community animal welfare, policy and advocacy, wildlife conservation, and habitat protection.
Speaking at the forum, Brinda Upadhyaya, co-founder of Upadhyaya Foundation, said animal welfare continued to remain marginalised despite its importance to public health and environmental sustainability.
"Despite animals playing a vital role in human life, their needs and rights have largely been ignored. This forum aimed to create a coordinated ecosystem to bridge gaps in strategic funding and encourage philanthropic support for groups working in this space," she said.
Animal welfare advocate Sethu Vaidyanathan said such forums were essential for bringing together diverse stakeholders.
"It creates space to share knowledge, align strategies and build partnerships that can lead to more effective, coordinated action and greater collective impact," he said.
The forum concluded with participants emphasising the need for long-term capital, coordinated action, and policy-aligned approaches to address animal welfare challenges in an increasingly urbanised and climate-sensitive landscape.
