The coronavirus (COVID-19) is top of mind for most of you, as it is for all of us here at ACE. As we continue to navigate this global pandemic, we want you to know that our thoughts are with you and your families during these uncertain times.

At ACE, our international team will continue working hard to find and promote the most effective ways to help animals, while also doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our employees, interns, supporters, and community.

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

We’ve canceled our spring in-person staff retreat in Oakland. Instead, we will hold our retreat remotely over the span of two weeks for both employees and interns to attend.

All in-person meetings with external stakeholders and supporters have been canceled and will be held remotely instead.

Our employees have the option to receive advance payment for emergency supplies such as food, medicine, and other necessary goods.

We provide our employees with paid time for intentional self-care activities that they may use however they see fit. During these challenging times, we especially encourage employees to use this benefit.

In the current round of grants from the Effective Animal Advocacy Fund (EAA Fund), we will not fund any applicants whose projects revolve around in-person events. We have communicated this change to the applicants to whom it applies, and we encourage them to apply for the next round of funding instead.

We’ve urged the November EAA Fund grantees to reschedule all in-person events or to consider holding them remotely. We intend to work closely with them to make these necessary adjustments.

As an entirely remote team, we are fortunate that these recent events have not significantly impacted our day-to-day operations. However, we understand how stressful the transition to remote work can be for many organizations and individuals unfamiliar with this operating model. We hope that our remote work roundtable series can help provide guidance and alleviate frustration as everyone adapts to these changing circumstances. We, too, will continue to brainstorm creative ways to support the effective animal advocacy movement without in-person meetings or events.

ACE will continue to monitor this situation closely as it develops, follow guidelines and best practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and adapt accordingly.

Please continue to take care of yourself and each other during this challenging time.