Project summary
Sentience is a Swiss non-profit dedicated to advancing animal welfare through direct democratic initiatives and strategic engagement. We aim to shift public opinion and policy to establish sentience as the central moral consideration for all human and non-human animals. Through institutional changes and challenges to societal norms, we seek to drive systemic changes that result in meaningful reforms and legislation, ensuring that animal suffering is minimised as effectively as possible.
Sentience Website
Sentience Annual Reports
What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?
Our focus projects drive systemic, long-term improvements for millions of animals. By setting legal and policy precedents, our work can influence neighbouring EU countries and support advocates abroad—making Switzerland a blueprint for impactful reform.
Our current projects include:
Preparations for a National Ballot Initiative Demanding Outdoor Access for All Farm Animals in Switzerland
It may surprise you to learn that 87% of Swiss farm animals—approximately 80 million individuals—lack regular outdoor access. This group is overwhelmingly composed of chickens, followed by pigs. We believe the public will find this reality unacceptable, as it contradicts their perceptions of Swiss animal welfare standards.
In 2025, we will first launch the pre-campaign to lay the groundwork for the formal launch of the National Initiative. Through an informative and visually compelling website, we aim to educate the public and the media on the rationale for the new initiative, raise awareness of key animal welfare issues and secure early support. We will also present a vision for location-adapted, pasture-based agriculture.
The next step is launching the National Ballot Initiative.
This proposal has a strong likelihood of success due to its compelling and noncontroversial demand — which aligns with the idyllic imagery widely used by the meat and dairy industry. Millions of animals stand to benefit from improved health and living conditions.
We anticipate that this campaign will also serve as another ‘lighthouse project’ with significant influence beyond our borders, particularly within the EU.
Building the Alliance for Animals (previously the Alliance Against Factory Farming)
We are further developing the Alliance For Animals, a coalition of animal welfare, farming, and environmental organisations. This alliance is a long-term strategic effort to counterbalance the agricultural lobby's influence and drive policy changes in favour of higher welfare standards. Our approach includes:
Pressure campaigns targeting major retailers, focusing on animal welfare issues such as phasing out low-welfare breeds, with a particular emphasis on chickens.
Establishing a platform to counter misleading advertising practices, highlighting the disconnect between advertising images and reality.
Invisible Animals Campaign: At Sentience, acknowledging the capacity for suffering as a crucial moral criterion is at the core of our mission. Thus, we aim to give a voice to ‘invisible animals’ those whose well-being receives little or no attention in our society.
This campaign highlights the welfare issues of:
Animals that are alien to us and traditionally considered non- or barely sentient. This includes fish and bees.
Animals that live among us in urban areas and depend on proximity to humans. This includes rats and pigeons.
Through collaborations with experts and organisations, we have developed species-specific welfare recommendations and launched four targeted petitions. So far, we have gathered nearly 35,000 signatures, demonstrating strong public support for these neglected animals.
We are now preparing to bring our demands to parliamentarians at both city and national levels. Even partial adoption of these proposals could significantly improve the lives of thousands of animals.
🔗 Campaign Link
🔗 EA Forum Link
Support needed: The Invisible Animals campaign was launched with limited funding, yet its potential impact is substantial. Any contribution to help backfill the funding gap would be greatly appreciated and would directly support advocacy efforts for these overlooked animals.
How will this funding be used?
Funding is for our focus projects and will be used to help cover essential expenses including
Public awareness events to engage and inform the public
Supporting campaign and outreach efforts to mobilise support
Salaries to fund a robust team and drive the projects forward
Campaign materials to support advocacy efforts
Campaign website design and development for a compelling digital presence
Collaboration with partner organisations and stakeholders to maximise impact.
Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?
Team:
Sentience consists of an operational core team, a board of directors and an academic advisory board that provides insights on our core topics. Full details can be found here: https://sentience.ch/en/team/
Track record and milestones:
Founded in 2014 as a project of the Effective Altruism Foundation, Sentience has operated as a tax-exempt association since 2017. Our team and management are supported in their campaign and political work by our board and expert advisory board, together with an extensive network of professionals from the fields of sustainability, animal ethics and agriculture.
Sentience has a reputation for punching above its weight, delivering significant impact relative to budget.
2016-2018: Local voting on our Sustainable Food initiatives in Basel, Zürich, Lucerne, and Bern led to significant policy changes. The establishment of the City of Zürich’s sustainable nutrition unit traces back to this initiative.
2022: We pioneered a historic vote in Basel-Stadt to secure Fundamental Rights for Non-Human Primates. Although we did not win, we received endorsements from figures like Dr. Jane Goodall and succeeded in inspiring political parties to incorporate explicit policies on animal rights into their manifestos.
2022: We led the groundbreaking Initiative to Abolish Factory Farming in Switzerland, securing over 1 million votes, (37% of the electorate). This catalysed a nationwide and international debate on farm animal welfare, inspiring similar initiatives in Sonoma County and Colorado.
2023: We established the Alliance Against Factory Farming, currently comprised of eleven organisations, that continue to work towards better farm animal welfare conditions.
2023: Our "RRRevolution!" campaign secured 11,500+ online signatories in four months The campaign called for applying the 3R principle (refine, reduce, replace) to animals in agriculture, resulting in agreements for roundtable discussions with major retailers on farm animal welfare and the protein transition.
2023: In collaboration with collaboratio helvetica and the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Sentience hosted a multi-stakeholder series of workshops, “The Protein Lab” to explore how to accelerate the protein transition. The final report in German can be viewed here
2024 - concluding in 2025: Invisible Animals Campaign
2024- ongoing: We launched the “END Preprogrammed Suffering” campaign called on Coop and Migros to stop using fast-growing chicken breeds. In just two months, we collected 12’ 825 signatures. In December, we met with Coop and Migros in their headquarters in Basel and Zurich to present our petition and engage in discussions - further discussions are slated for 2025.
2024 - Ongoing - Further building the Alliance for Animals (formerly the Alliance Against Factory Farming)
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?
We have listed our major projects and failure to secure funding would undermine our efforts to achieve systemic change for animals and thus delay crucial improvements needed for the welfare of millions of farm animals, leaving them vulnerable to continued neglect and suffering.
What other funding are you or your project getting?
EA Funds, Anonymous European Foundation, Anonymous Swiss Foundations