Since the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) began in 1951, the organization has aimed towards alleviating the suffering that animals go through in the hands of people. When the AWI was just starting, it was particularly focused on easing the plight of animals being used in experiments. In the decades that followed, the organization expanded the range of its work to address the many other concerns that animal suffering touches on. Today, one of the main focuses of the AWI is cruel animal factories where pigs, cows, chickens, and other animals are raised and slaughtered. The biggest of these are in the US and this is a big issue for the organization.

Representatives from the AWI regularly attend meetings held by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in an effort to protect endangered and threatened species. Essentially, the organization condemns violence against all living creatures.