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’re best known for our massive outreach program leafleting college students. At its peak, we handed out booklets to over 1 million students at 1,000 schools per semester.
We focus on reaching people who are motivated enough to make changes now and who only need some inspiration or 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.
Since our founding, the number of vegans in the United States has steadily increased, as shown in the chart below of polls conducted since 1994.
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 recruiting people to our 10 Weeks to Vegan program, an email series and companion Facebook support group.
Since 2019, over 1.7 million people have joined (breakdown by country). We have 20 different 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 mac-and-cheese contests held at a central location. We’ve had three successful events in 2026 (Tulsa, OK; Springfield, IL; and Davis, CA). They attract many non-vegans, about half the attendees, who get to taste some incredible vegan comfort food.
We also organize dozens of Vegan Chef Challenges throughout the country. These month-long events showcase new vegan menu items at local 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 over 100 positive media stories per year, such as WAND-TV Springfield, January 31, 2026, CTV News Calgary, March 31, 2026, and FOX 17 Grand Rapids, August 9, 2025.
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.
Food Planet Health
Food Planet Health: Talks for Future 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.
