About Vegan Outreach
Vegan Outreach is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to end violence against animals. We envision a future when sentient animals are no longer exploited as commodities.
Founded in 1993, we’ve been best known for our massive leafleting outreach program on college campuses. At its peak, we were handing booklets to over 1 million students at 1,000 schools per semester.
We focus on reaching the people who are motivated enough to make changes now—there are always many in our target audience who just need some guidance. By steadily increasing the number of vegans, we’re laying the groundwork to reach a tipping point at which sweeping public policy changes for animals will become realistic.
10 Weeks to Vegan
Based on research showing that veg challenges are highly effective at facilitating change, we’ve focused much of our recent outreach on signing people up for our 10 Weeks to Vegan program. 10 Weeks to Vegan is an email series that guides people in making sustainable changes toward a vegan lifestyle. It includes recipes, dining and shopping tips, and advice for navigating social situations.
Focusing more on online outreach allowed us to expand to many more countries (listed below). Since 2019, over 1.7 million people have signed up. See our spreadsheet of the number of signups per country per year.
We have 20 different 10 Weeks to Vegan series tailored to 18 countries:
Support for Making Changes
Our regional 10 Weeks to Vegan programs have companion Facebook groups with moderators and a dietitian to answer questions. Thousands of people join these groups each month.
We also provide nutrition support from registered dietitians via VeganHealth.org and our 30-day Get Healthy challenge using whole plant foods.
For more personal guidance, we have a vegan mentorship program with mentors in over 600 cities and dozens of countries.
Food Events
In 2026, our Food Events team brought back Mac Downs! Mac Downs are vegan macaroni-and-cheese contests held at a central location. We had two successful events in Tulsa, OK, and Springfield, IL, in January, which attracted many non-vegans—about half the attendees—who got to taste some incredible vegan comfort food.
We also organize dozens of Vegan Chef Challenges throughout the country. The challenges are month-long events showcasing new vegan menu items at local non-vegan restaurants in a specific city. Typically, 10 to 30 restaurants take part, and the dining public is encouraged to vote for their favorite dishes.
Vegan Chef Challenges and Mac Downs create a positive buzz about veganism, often in areas that don’t normally have many vegan options.
Our food events receive positive media coverage, such as our July 2022 Albuquerque vegan chef challenge with 30 participating venues (Vegan Chef Challenge invites community to help end animal cruelty) and our July 2024 Amarillo challenge that received no less than ten news segments!
Adopt-a-College
In 2025, Vegan Outreach’s Adopt-a-College program saw a significant revitalization. Yuri Mitzkewich fired up his Vegan Outreach van and toured much of the United States. We also have regional college leafleters in southern California, Sacramento, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. In all, we gave booklets to 260,400 students at 297 colleges.
To volunteer for this program, please see our Adopt-a-College website.
Green Tuesday Initiative
Our Green Tuesday Initiative works with institutions to add vegan options and reduce their use of animal products in India and Vietnam. We’ve helped 83 educational institutions and corporate offices implement more sustainable food policies and reduce the volume of animal products on their menus.
About Food Planet Health
Food Planet Health: Talks for Future is a campaign by Vegan Outreach that educates youth in India about the impact of our dietary choices on animals, health, and the environment. Through awareness sessions, we reach 50,000 students every year, helping them make informed, compassionate food choices.
Measuring Our Effectiveness
Vegan Outreach aims to be as effective as possible by regularly studying the impact of our outreach, including a randomized controlled survey described in our article, Impact of 10 Weeks to Vegan.
How Your Donation is Spent
Each dollar donated to Vegan Outreach is allocated to the following programs and expenses.
A Big Tent
Vegan Outreach believes in never shaming people but rather embracing them in making changes at a pace that works for them.
Rather than focusing on personal purity or trace ingredients, we emphasize avoiding obvious animal products while using our time and energy to advocate to others—see Talking to Friends and Family.
Vegan Outreach strives to hire a diverse staff and to place women and people of color in leadership positions.
