Celebrating 10 Years of CWI!

8/28/24

Wow! It seems like only yesterday that CWI was born. Driven by a passion for creating a better world for animals, Executive Director Carrie LeBlanc and a team of volunteers willed CompassionWorks into being with no funding, no promises, and no true certainty as to whether this project would drive any results.

After 10 years we can now happily say...it has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams!

Over the coming months we will take a look back at CWI's successes and share our vision for the future. We hope you will feel as proud as we do because you were a part of every accomplishment! Together, we build a more just and compassionate world for all.

CWI's goal has always been to help as many animals as possible regardless of species. With a small team and an even smaller budget, we've done our best to accomplish that aim. When you are small and aiming big, efficiency is key. So we set our sights on a behemoth, developed a strategy, and got to work.

A look back at the fall of a mighty giant.

Our first campaign, which predates the birth of CWI, focused on ending circus cruelty. Though it is an aim that continues, we've had many successes along the way.

CWI's goal has always been to help as many animals as possible regardless of species. With a small team and an even smaller budget, we've done our best to accomplish that aim. When you are small and aiming big, efficiency is key. So we set our sights on a behemoth, developed a strategy, and got to work.

Our first campaign, which predates the birth of CWI, focused on ending circus cruelty. Though it is an aim that continues, we've had many successes along the way.

Giant among those successes is the end of Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus.

From coast to coast, CWI relentlessly pursued Ringling with years of peaceful protests, investigations, USDA complaints, petitions and countless other actions. Thousands of you joined us in this pursuit, and Ringling heard us. In 2016, they announced the end of the use of elephants in their circuses, and on May 21, 2017, CWI hosted the final protest of an animal-abusing Ringling circus in Long Island. We are happy to say that Ringling is touring again...WITHOUT animals.

We thank all of the activists who came before us and are glad we were able to breathe new life into what had become a stalled effort to end Ringling abuse.

The work to end circus cruelty continues with ever-evolving strategies and partnerships, and a renewed interest amongst animal advocates nationwide.

We are proud to be one of only two animal advocacy organizations in the U.S. that devotes daily time and resources to putting an end to animal abusing circuses across the country once and for all.

Hope for animals requires dedication and a vast team of supporters. If you appreciate our work, we hope you will consider joining our group of Animal Guardian Monthly Sustainers, whose monthly gifts help us to help elephants like Viola and Isa. Thank you for standing with us against cruelty!