EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM FOR ALL SENTIENT BEINGS Fundraising prospectus
Who we are SENTIENCE POLITICS IS AN ANTI-SPECIESIST POLITICAL THINK-TANK. We advocate a society which grants moral consideration to all sentient beings, regardless of their species membership. We use a rational and empirically grounded approach to achieve this goal. ACTIVITIES OF SENTIENCE POLITICS We produce high-quality, evidence based policy papers We run political initiatives to spread our message to broad audiences We publish cutting-edge research in the form of academic papers and online articles We organize events such as conferences and panel discussions We provide careers advice and run workshops to help people find high impact careers Anti-speciesism is the rejection of discrimi nation on the basis of species membership. We offer scholarships to promising students and researchers
Our philosophy OUR PHILOSOPHY IS BASED IN EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM: THE VIEW THAT WE SHOULD USE OUR LIMITED RESOURCES TO HELP OTHERS IN THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY POSSIBLE. Effective altruism combines empathy with rational thinking; when we identify the most effective leverage points for alleviating suffering, we can multiply our positive impact. Our circle of moral concern includes both human and nonhuman sentient beings. Why should it matter whether a being has two, four or six legs, or whether she has a mouth, a snout or a beak? We believe equal suffering should count equally, regardless of the external characteristics of the individual concerned, such as race, gender or species. This insight forms the basis for the recog nition of both human rights and animal rights. Sentience is the capacity to have conscious experiences, particularly the ability to experience suffering. It s the only criterion for ethical con side ration that includes all human beings (no matter their cognitive abilities) and which precludes arbitrary discrimination. The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Jeremy Bentham philosopher and legal scholar (1748 1832)
Our strategic approach SENTIENCE POLITICS USES RATIONALITY AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY AND IMPLEMENT THE MOST EFFECTIVE STRATE GIES FOR REDUCING SUFFERING. To do this, we work to identify the most effective leverage points for reducing the suffering of all sentient beings, drawing on insight from social psychology, behavioural economics, political science, and related fields. Leverage points are places in complex systems such as the laws of a country or a field of scientific research where a small change in one point can produce big changes in the entire system. By finding the right leverage points, we can greatly reduce suffering simply by using our limited resources in the right way. SELECTED TOPICS We also use this approach in order to select and prioritize the causes that we work on: Plant-based diet: Factory farms and slaughterhouses cause intense suffering to billions of sentient individuals every year. In order to avoid this unnecessary suffering, Sentience Politics promotes a plant-based diet through political initiatives (e.g. demanding plant-based options in all public canteens). One of the main advantages of our political approach is that we can spark large-scale societal debates with very little effort. Also, many more people are inclined to politically support structural measures than are inclined to significantly change their consumer behaviour very quickly. The strongest argument for a plant-based diet I. We should not harm animals unnecessarily (cruelty to animals). II. The consumption of animal products harms animals. III. The consumption of animal products is unnecessary. IV. Therefore, we should not consume animal products.
Counterintuitively, you can save many more animals with your wallet than with your plate. Empirical data shows that when we decide whether and where to donate, much more is at stake than with our food choices. Adriano Mannino philosopher and co-founder of Sentience Politics Cultured meat: Large scale dietary change to a plant-based diet may be difficult to bring about. But in the coming decades, we may see cultured meat replacing conventional meat production. This means that cultured meat, together with cultured eggs and cultured milk, have the potential to solve the problem of factory farming entirely and without requiring a large-scale change in dietary habits. For this reason, we believe that developing cultured meat is a potentially highly effective leverage point. Effective giving and earning to give BY DONATING SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO THE BEST ORGANIZATIONS, WE CAN SAVE FAR MORE ANIMALS THAN WE WOULD DIRECTLY CONSUME OURSELVES. Basic rights for primates: In the long run, it is essential to change the underlying speciesist attitude of our society, not just its current (eating) behaviours. The legal recognition of basic rights for non-human primates (particularly the rights to life and integrity) is a particularly promising leverage point for changing speciesist attitudes. It would benefit only a small number of individuals directly, but it could play a crucial role in shaping the attitudes of future generations, and could subsequently be extended to other species. This is because donations fund activists at NGOs to persuade lots of people to make more animal-friendly food choices. Sentience Politics promotes those arguments in the animal rights movement and encourages activists to pursue earning to give as a career. Those activists deliberately take up lucrative jobs not in order to get rich, but in order to donate a large fraction of their earnings to effective NGOs, where their donations can enable several full-time jobs.
Accomplishments SENTIENCE POLITICS IS ALREADY MAKING POLITICAL HISTORY. In the major Swiss cities of Basel and Zurich, we demanded that all public canteens must offer at least one plant-based meal option in their menus. Our demands backed by well-known politicians and public figures made it to the ballot, enabling more than half a million citizens to take a binding vote on the country s firstever pro-vegan initiatives in 2017/2018. Switzerland s direct democracy offers a unique instrument for us to spark largescale societal debates. The fact that popular initiatives are legally binding automatically leads to significant interest from both news media and the public alike. Numerous media articles were dedicated to our initiative, and it even became the focus of a full-length documentary aired on national TV to hundreds of thousands of viewers. Finally, a detailed justification of the initiative will be sent by mail to every household in the two voting cities, allowing our message to reach hundreds of thousands of politically interested citizens. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo writer (1802 1885)
Our plans for the future SENTIENCE POLITICS HAS AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. WE PLAN TO SYSTEMATICALLY SCALE UP AND EXTEND OUR ACTIVITIES INTERNATIONALLY. This year witnessed us moving our headquarters from our country of origin, Switzerland, to Germany. Now based in Berlin, one of Europe s largest cultural and political centres, we have a solid platform from which to launch our future campaigns. We currently have initiatives planned in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; but we re only just getting started, and have set our sights on future initiatives in the United Kingdom and the United States. We will continue to present our arguments chiefly in the form of well-researched policy papers, each of which elaborates our position on a wide range of issues relevant to anti-speciesism. In addition to our already published papers on plant-based diets, basic rights for primates, and cultured meat, we will produce rigorous position papers on issues such as meat labelling, meat taxation, and many more. By systematically presenting rational arguments in this way, we are able to reach influential decision-makers and intellectuals. At the same time, our position papers provide access to significant academic and political support for anti-speciesist ideas, thereby complementing the broad outreach of other animal advocacy organizations. Our policy papers form the basis of our political initiatives. In Switzerland, we are currently looking to secure another popular vote on basic rights for primates. We also aim to launch an initiative on the national level in 2017 or 2018, possibly proposing a ban on factory farming. A political campaign in Germany is also in the making, wherein we will demand state funding for cultured meat research. We think that our political initiatives are highly effective because they allow us to spread anti-speciesist ideas to a broader audience. Alongside our direct political work, we will continue to pursue effective metastrategies that is, general approaches that enhance the long-term capacities of the animal movement itself. For example, most animal advocacy groups are limited in their impact by a constant lack of funding, meaning that any improvements to common fundraising strategies could be pivotal to helping the entire movement achieve its goals. Our systematic approach to this will be to spread ideas like effective giving and earning to give within the animal advocacy movement using online content, workshops and in-person followups, whilst at the same time working to identify new meta-strategies.
Support us BY DONATING TO SENTIENCE POLITICS, YOU ARE CASTING YOUR VOTE FOR A SOCIETY WHERE THE INTERESTS OF ALL SENTIENT BEINGS HAVE FULL MORAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATION, REGARDLESS OF SPECIES MEMBERSHIP. We re bringing this about by considering every possible strategy from helping the existing animal advocacy movement, to finding new ways of attacking old problems. Our focus on rationality and evidence means we can find and implement the best of these strategies as quickly and effectively as possible. This is only possible due to our fast-growing community of supporters and volunteers. We hope you can join us in realizing our future plans. To keep up-to-date with the latest ideas in making the world a better place for all sentient beings, like our page on Facebook or sign up to our mailing list. And to become part of the community that makes world-changing ideas a reality, please support us with your donation today. Bank account Recipient: Effective Altruism Foundation Efringerstrasse 25 CH-4057 Basel SWITZERLAND IBAN CHF: CH67 0023 3233 1775 4501 N IBAN EUR: CH20 0023 3233 1775 4560 D IBAN USD: CH79 0023 3233 1775 4561 F IBAN GBP: CH08 0023 3233 1775 4562 T BIC/SWIFT: UBSWCHZH80A Please label your transaction with Sentience Visit our website: www.sentience-politics.org Get in touch: info@sentience-politics.org