#Voiceless4AnimalJustice Hero Toolkit

Hello #Voiceless4AnimalJustice Hero!

Thank you for joining #Voiceless4AnimalJustice and helping Animal Justice protect animals! We’re so excited and grateful to have you on board. This page is your #Voiceless4AnimalJustice Toolkit, explaining all you need to know, including:

1. About #Voiceless4AnimalJustice
2. Campaign Timeline
3. Getting Started
4. Fundraising Tips
5. Social Media & Graphics
6. Your Impact: Animal Justice & Ag Gag

1. About #Voiceless4AnimalJustice

#Voiceless4AnimalJustice is an annual community fundraiser that empowers our supporters to collect funds to support our efforts to transform Canada into a kinder country for animals. During the campaign, you can fundraise and share on social media to educate the public about ag gag laws, dangerous laws that make it illegal to expose cruelty in the meat industry. Animal Justice is currently fighting to stop a federal ag gag bill in its tracks, and will be challenging Ontario’s ag gag law in court at the end of October. As a #Voiceless4AnimalJustice fundraiser, you will be a part of making this historic case possible.

On October 25, 2023, the last day of #Voiceless4AnimalJustice, we will take a vow of silence for the whistleblowers, undercover investigators, and millions of suffering animals who are being silenced by ag gag laws.

While we encourage participants to try to stay silent for a full 24 hours, you can pledge to go silent for a time frame that you choose, and that you’re excited to share with your networks. If you are passionate about helping, we want you to join us as it works for you. You can also choose another day of action if you need to.

On your day of silence, please post on social media with a red “❌” on your hand and over your mouth, with the hashtag #Voiceless4AnimalJustice. Together we will create a powerful, visual statement that we are standing with those being silenced. 

2. Campaign Timeline

🗓 OCT 4: Get registered ✍️

• Sign up on the #Voiceless4AnimalJustice website!

🗓 OCT 11 – Oct 25: Fundraise to help fight dangerous ag gag laws!

• The campaign runs for two weeks. Use this time to reach out to your networks and let them know why this cause is so important to you. #Voiceless4AnimalJustice is a powerful advocacy campaign and a great opportunity to speak up for farmed animals who suffer in the food industry.
• Raise money on your personal fundraising page. The funds you raise will fuel the fight against unconstitutional ag gag laws in Canada. 
• Use social media to create a buzz and tell a story. Post videos, photos, and get creative!

🗓 Oct 25: Day of Silence 🤫 For animals & animal advocates 

• Post a picture with a red ❌ on your hand like this one to bring attention to what’s happening with ag gag laws in Canada:

• While you are participating in the day of silence, you can communicate online or with written messages.​ 
• This is our last day of fundraising, so lean on that urgency and ask people to help you reach your goal!

3. Getting started

Register! You will get an individual fundraising page on the platform Qgiv, which will guide you through the setup process after you register. You’ll notice helpful tools like the ability to import your email list so you can email your contacts, the ability to post on social media with pre-made template posts, and fun badges to award your achievements.

Get your friends and family registered. We’d love for you to fundraise and take your vow of silence with fellow animal heroes in your life!

Join the Facebook group for #Voiceless4AnimalJustice heroes! We’ll share helpful info and motivate each other throughout the campaign, and you can connect with fellow animal advocates.

Keep an eye out for emails from us. We’ll be in touch throughout the campaign to help you along. 

Start spreading the word and fundraising! 

4. Fundraising tips

Until October 25th, we want you to make as much noise as possible about why you are fundraising to help protect animals. Here are some tips to get the most out of your fundraising:

• Personalize your fundraising page. People are more likely to donate to a personalized page and it’s a great way to tell your story. If you let your friends and family know why this is important to you, they will be inspired to support you.
• Set a fundraising goal. Then your supporters can see that their gift gets you one step closer to achieving your goal. Towards the end of your fundraising, this can really help you drum up excitement to hit that goal on our final day of action. And if you hit your goal early? Log in to your fundraising page and set a new goal. We bet that your friends will do their best to help you get there!
• Get your page started by making the first donation yourself – show your friends and family how easy it is.
• Use all your channels and personalize the messages. Let your friends, family and coworkers know how much their support means to you. Always include a link to your fundraising page.
• Ask your network of friends, family or co-workers, or company to match a personal donation.
• Ask businesses that you support to support you back. Your dentist, hairdresser, physio. The coffee shop you frequent or your favourite vegan lunch spot. 
• Keep your social media buzzing with updates! Share information about ag gag, your passion for animals, and updates on your fundraising goal. With media now, people may need to see things a few times to act, so keep on posting!
• Sometimes people hesitate to give because they don’t know what’s appropriate. It may help to suggest a gift amount and remind them that it all pools together to make a big difference. They’ve just helped you get that much closer to your fundraising goal!
• Make a short video or livestream for social media about why you are fundraising for #Voiceless4AnimalJustice.
• Have a yard sale. Sell items online. Hold a workshop teaching one of your skills, with proceeds going to your #Voiceless4AnimalJustice campaign. Get creative and have fun!
• Create a scannable QR code of your personal fundraising page to make in-person donations easy. You can do this with Bitly (email us if you’d like help!) 
• On your day of silence, print an explanation to carry with you and the QR code for your fundraising page so people know what your vow of silence symbolizes and can easily support you.
• On your day of silence, drum up the urgency! It’s your last day of fundraising and your last day for people to help you hit your fundraising goal!

Make sure to thank everyone who donated to you and supported your mission to help stand up for animals!

We have a huge selection of fabulous prizes, that have been donated by animal-friendly brands, to be awarded to the top fundraisers and participants who reach certain milestones. This year’s prize for our 1st Place Top Fundraiser is a stylish Fauna Collection set (sweatshirt, shorts and t-shirt!) from Wuxly!

5. Social media & graphics

Social media tips

• Share the link to your personal fundraising page on social media. Make sure to include the hashtag #Voiceless4AnimalJustice.
• Sharing personal stories is a great way to engage people on the issue. Example: If you’re an animal advocate who bears witness to animals in transport outside slaughterhouses, you can share a story about a suffering animal you’ve personally seen.
• Tag us on Instagram @animaljustice_ and on Twitter @AnimalJustice.
• Include a link to your campaign in the bio of your Twitter and Instagram so people can find it easily.
• On October 25, post a picture of yourself with a red ❌ on your hand asking people to donate. If you prefer to add an ❌ digitally, you can use our Canva template. Just replace the portrait with your own!
• Share our pre-made graphics on social media and ask your friends and family to donate to your campaign! For the square graphic, make sure to include the link to your personal fundraising page in the caption. For the story graphic, feel free to use version 1 with the main fundraising website link included, or version 2, with a place to add your own link with an Instagram link sticker.

Photos of previous participants:

6. Your Impact: Animal Justice & Ag Gag

Animal Justice is Canada’s only national animal law advocacy organization working to protect animals from cruelty and neglect. Canada has some of the worst animal protection laws in the Western world, but with the help of supporters like you, we give animals a voice in court, push for stronger laws, and raise the profile of animals in the media. You are helping create a future where all animals have the legal protections they need and deserve!

In the past few years, Canada has seen a troubling new trend of agricultural gag laws (ag gag laws) being passed, which cover up the suffering that takes place on farms and in slaughterhouses by punishing those who expose it. Your fundraising this year will help fuel the fight against ag gag laws. Read more about ag gag laws here.

Animal Justice is currently fighting to stop a federal ag gag bill in its tracks. We will also be challenging Ontario’s ag gag law in court at the end of October. Fighting these ag gag laws will be costly–the meat, egg and dairy industries lobbied for these laws to protect their profits–but we will not back down. By joining #Voiceless4AnimalJustice, you are standing up for the brave whistleblowers, undercover investigators, and the millions of animals that are suffering on farms!

To learn more about Animal Justice’s life-saving work, watch our 2022 Year In Review video below:

Thanks again for joining #Voiceless4AnimalJustice. If you need any help along the way, you can contact Carlene from Animal Justice at cfield [at] animaljustice [dot] ca.

Good luck!