Through regranting and support, AGORA enables leadership retreats that strengthen coordination, capacity, and shared strategy in national animal advocacy movements.
Too much of the animal advocacy work happens in isolation — passionate people and organizations doing important work, but rarely in concert. AGORA helps to change that.
In 2026, AGORA aims to support up to 10 countries set up their national leadership retreat. Spaces where we can connect and foster trust, to increase our collective impact.
We support activists with up to 10,000 USD in funding to organize convenings over multiple days, where leadership can connect, amplify shared goals, and help their local movement grow.
In many countries, key actors and leaders across different animal advocacy groups do not always know each other well or have not built sufficient trust, which limits collaboration and getting to a shared strategy. In particular, there is often a disconnect or difference of opinion between established NGOs and grassroots organizations.
To address this, AGORA is initially looking to support and fund national convenings for key actors ("leadership retreats") in strategically important countries for the farmed animal movement, where few similar events are happening. These gatherings will bring together 10–20 influential advocates within a country for 2–3 day retreats focused on networking, trust-building, identifying high-impact local opportunities, fostering collaboration, and working on a shared strategic vision.
In 2026 we will be inviting applications mainly from organizers in Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam to coordinate and host these leadership retreats. We support three to five countries for the first round with funding up to 10,000 USD and hands-on advice. Selected organizers will be responsible for coordinating and managing the event – this includes logistics, selecting and inviting participants, setting up the program, and hosting the retreat. The first application closed on January 15th; the next round will open in Q2 2026.
We work with stakeholders to determine what countries would benefit most from a leadership retreat and open applications to those specific countries.
We analyze and select the strongest applications for potential impact. With generous support from funders, we provide funds to selected local organizers.
We provide support to selected organizers in determining the program for their retreat, and impact evaluation after the event (MEL).
If you believe your local movement could benefit from a leadership retreat, and you want to take on the task of organizing this, we want to hear from you. Currently, applications are closed, but we will open these again in Q2 2026.
We will ask you to provide details about yourself, your movement's needs, and your plan for the retreat. You'll also need to prepare a draft of your budget.
We believe all movements, whether they are nascent, developed, or very mature, can benefit from places where decision makers can safely connect and collaborate.
If you believe you know potential organizers or movement builders, we're happy to be put in touch. Bridge builders and movement brokers are crucial to improve how these events are put together.
We are looking forward to improving our approach and MEL practices constantly. If you want to contribute, please reach out.
Tell us who you are and what you're working on. We'd love to hear from you.
tim@agora.oooThe movement grows stronger when we work together. Shared wins matter more than who gets the credit.
Animal advocates come from everywhere. We actively work to make sure all voices are genuinely heard — not just the loudest ones. Leadership Retreats should reflect the diversity of Theories of Change within a movement.
We care about what actually works. That means being honest about what the evidence says, even when it's uncomfortable.
Real change takes time. We'd rather build something durable than chase quick wins that don't hold.
We operate openly and share what we learn. Trust is built over time, and we take that seriously.
We're not here to tinker at the edges. A fundamentally different relationship between humans and animals is possible — and that's what we're working towards.