2026-05-29T14:41:56-07:00 2025-12-31 992008514 Szabad Ventures LLC 8305 Circlewood Ct Raleigh NC 276153213 990EZ 2025-01-01 612245797 Welfare Footprint Institute WELF 5840 RED BUG LAKE RD 2094 WINTER SPRINGS FL 32708 Cynthia Schuck-Paim Director 2026-05-29 true Joshua Holley P03470175 8658042421 2025 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z X X welfarefootprint.org X X 164657 X 164400 257 0 0 0 0 164657 55637 64624 10771 131032 33625 33625 X 64136 1027 0 65163 31538 0 33625 The Welfare Footprint Institute's mission is to advance the scientific quantification of animal welfare to drive improvements in policy, practice, and ethical decision-making. The Institute is an independent research organization, committed to methodological rigor and transparency, that develops and applies the Welfare Footprint Framework to conduct evidence-based estimates of welfare impacts in concrete, comparable units (cumulative time in affective states of defined intensities), with a focus on farmed animals in intensive production systems. The Institute conducted research to quantify the welfare impacts of pre-slaughter operations in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), a species with an estimated 550 million individuals slaughtered annually. Using the Welfare Footprint Framework, the project is developing evidence-based estimates of cumulative welfare burdens across the full pre-slaughter sequence (fasting, crowding, pumping, transport, and dewatering), encompassing six categories of biological harm: hunger, integumentary injuries, crushing injuries, respiratory distress, metabolic exhaustion, and fear and panic. The analysis aims to identify which operations impose the greatest welfare costs and where interventions would be most effective. This project is ongoing. 45377 The Institute conducted research on the welfare of farmed shrimp (L.vannamei), a species produced in the hundreds of billions annually . The project developed a mechanistic framework linking environmental conditions in intensive aquaculture (substrate deprivation, high stocking density, light exposure) to welfare outcomes grounded in the species' physiology and behavioral ecology. Work also included the identification and evaluation of candidate welfare indicators for real-time monitoring in intensive systems. Outputs include manuscripts in preparation for peer-reviewed publication and a feasibility assessment of predictive welfare indicators. This project is ongoing. 35353 The Institute is developing evidence-based estimates of the welfare impacts associated with gestation crate confinement in breeding sows, and the expected welfare outcomes of transitioning to group housing systems. The project applies the Welfare Footprint Framework to quantify and compare cumulative welfare burdens across housing systems, covering the United States, where the analysis encompasses 13 states with varying regulatory and production conditions. This project is ongoing. 20522 101252 Cynthia Schuck-Paim Director 40.00 0 Wladimir J Alonso Director 40.00 0 false false false false false false false 0 0 0 false 0 0 false Cynthia Schuck-Paim 5840 RED BUG LAKE RD 2094 WINTER SPRINGS FL 32708 7756408912 false false false false false false false false false false false NONE NONE true X 164401 164401 0 0 164401 164401 0 164401 0 0 0 164401 X 0.00000 Other Expenses.1002 Office Expenses $9708 Other Expenses.1007 Conferences, Conventions, and Meetings $516 Other Expenses.1 Publication Fees $384 Other Expenses.2 Bank Fees $163 Other Assets.1005 Accounts Receivable - Beginning $0 Accounts Receivable - Ending $27 Other Assets.1011 Prepaid Expenses and Deferred Charges - Beginning $0 Prepaid Expenses and Deferred Charges - Ending $1000 Total Liabilities.1001 Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses - Beginning $0 Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses - Ending $31538 Statement of General Service Activities The Institute carried out general activities supporting its mission to advance the scientific quantification of animal welfare. This included consolidating and refining the Welfare Footprint Framework methodology, producing peer-reviewed publications and preprints on framework development and applications, and developing AI-assisted analytical and visualization tools to support the production and dissemination of welfare footprints. The Institute also started designing a professional certification pathway in Welfare Footprint Analysis to build independent scientific capacity in the field, and engaged in educational dissemination through invited academic talks, scientific collaborations, and the publication of research materials made freely available to researchers, students, and the broader scientific community.