Every holiday season, I watch well-intentioned donors search for meaningful ways to address hunger. One of the more popular options is the "gift" of live farm animals to families in low-income countries. The imagery is powerful: smiling children hugging goats and cows, donors reassured they are giving something tangible and lasting. For many years, this narrative went largely unquestioned. But after two decades of working in hunger relief and climate advocacy, I believe this model does far more harm than good, and that plant-based giving offers a more effective, transparent, and compassionate alternative.
Concerns about livestock gifting are not fringe opinions. Prominent charity evaluators, food-security NGOs, and even Jane Goodall have urged donors to reconsider animal-based aid and explore more sustainable approaches. Those warnings reflect realities I have seen repeatedly: animals introduced into food-insecure regions require far more resources than most people realize, and the burden often falls on families already struggling to feed themselves.
Since the late 1990s and then through my work with A Well-Fed World, the global hunger relief and climate advocacy nonprofit I founded in 2009, I have advocated for improved practices in food security, highlighted the hidden costs of livestock gifting programs, and redirected funding toward smaller, plant-based organizations with low overhead and highly effective aid initiatives rooted in their own communities. This shift wasn't based on sentimentality; it was based on pragmatism and evidence.
A Well-Fed World's Plants-4-Hunger program channels resources directly to grassroots partners working on the ground. These organizations provide plant-based foods to undernourished children and communities through school meals, bean-farming kits, food tree planting, disaster relief, and soy-based microbusinesses for women. Crucially, the program sends 100% of its donations directly to these partners, ensuring funds are used where donors expect them to be used, feeding people.
Plants-4-Hunger is designed to support both immediate nourishment and long-term resilience. Livestock gifting programs often emphasize that animals reproduce and therefore provide ongoing benefit. But plants and trees do the same, while also restoring ecosystems and mitigating the climate crisis. Unlike animal-sourced food programs, plant-based initiatives expand photosynthesis, naturally drawing carbon from the atmosphere. They reduce deforestation, curb pollution, and conserve land and water, outcomes that are inseparable from long-term food security.
While vegetarians and vegans may be especially enthusiastic about plant-based giving, this approach resonates far beyond dietary preferences. Plants-4-Hunger strengthens small projects that gain proportionately more from each contribution, while promoting efficiency, sustainability, and long-term resiliency. It also offers donor-friendly tools, such as custom e-cards and climate-friendly food guides, making it easier for people to give thoughtfully without the unintended consequences.
The problems with livestock gifting become even clearer when examined closely. Despite common misconceptions, animals eat much more protein than they produce, and they do not simply "live off the land." Grazing is often restricted or impossible due to land scarcity, degraded soils, or community land-use rules. As a result, families must divert food and water to animals even as they face hunger themselves. When grazing does occur, it brings additional environmental costs. All ruminant animals produce methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide over a short time frame, but grazing triples the methane production.
Biology also matters. African, Asian, and Latino populations are predominantly lactose-intolerant, yet livestock-gifting dairy projects are still framed as nutritional solutions. Children who experience digestive distress carry a double burden: compromised health and diminished ability to learn.
Marketing further obscures reality. Prominent charity evaluators do not recommend livestock gifting and have even cautioned that some programs may exist largely because of how well they can be marketed to donors. Campaigns like "Give a Goat" can mislead people into believing their money is dedicated to a specific animal, when in fact funds may be redirected to unrelated expenses, including high executive salaries and massive fundraising budgets.
These shortcomings are especially concerning given the scale of the global food challenge ahead. The United Nations projects that we will need to produce 50% more food by 2050 without using additional land, while simultaneously reducing agriculture's greenhouse-gas emissions by two-thirds to remain within livable planetary boundaries. Expanding livestock systems cannot meet those demands.
Globally, animal farming already uses about 80% of agricultural land, while providing only 18% of global calories. UN experts estimate that we could feed an additional 3.5 billion people by growing crops for direct human consumption on land currently used to grow feed for livestock, instead of inefficiently cycling food through animals with an average net loss of roughly 10 to 1 for calories and protein.
As Dr. Pete Smith of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned, Ruminant [animal products] are 10 to 100 times more harmful to the climate compared to plant-based food. As a global community, there is a growing need to move beyond dependence on livestock systems, much like the necessary shift away from fossil fuel–based energy.
Plant-based proteins, beans, nuts, and seeds already demonstrate what's possible. They feed more people per dollar while conserving resources and protecting animals and ecosystems. The World Bank notes that animal products cost nearly 60% more in lower-income countries than in high-income ones at purchasing power parity. For communities facing poverty, climate disruption, and rising food costs, plant-based hunger relief delivers immediate, practical support without creating new burdens.
Ultimately, this comes down to what works best overall. A gift should not only feel good; it should seek to maximize good and minimize harm. By shifting from animal gifting to plant-based hunger solutions like those funded through A Well-Fed World's Plants-4-Hunger program, supporters nourish more people and better protect the planet for future generations.
About the Author
Dawn Moncrief is the founder and president of A Well-Fed World, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit advancing plant-based hunger relief and climate solutions. She has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of food security, environmental stewardship, and systems-based humanitarian aid.
