Vision & Strategy

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela has been quoted as saying, »Vision without action is merely daydreaming«. Here we present our vision and the strategy for its realization. While our vision contains long-term goals, the strategy is about implementation in the coming years.

Vision

We advocate the abolition of factory farming and a widespread adoption of the vegan lifestyle. In doing so, we deliberately take intermediate steps by continuously raising animal welfare standards and reducing the consumption of animal products.

Strategy – the four pillars

As long-term developments can only be roughly forecast, our strategy focuses on the next three years, which are relatively easy to plan. We continuously adapt the strategy to external circumstances as well as to our own possibilities and insights.

Our strategy is based on four pillars that help us to come closer to realizing our vision.

Businesses

Companies in the food industry have a major influence on how many farm animals are kept and in what way. Our work contributes significantly to more and more companies raising their animal welfare standards. We can often work constructively with the industry. However, not all companies are equally motivated, which is why, increasingly, we are also exerting pressure through campaigns.

We have been very successful in largely ending the sale and industry usage of cage eggs in Germany and beyond. Now we are focusing in particular on taking similar steps for broilers and fishes in aquacultures. In addition, we will increasingly support companies in reducing animal products by offering them the tools to do so and by emphasizing the many benefits for animal welfare, environmental protection and health.

Working with, and in some cases against, companies is also our focus when it comes to internationalization. So far we have established a subsidiary foundation in Poland.

Consumers

In order to reach as many people as possible, to show them alternatives to the consumption of animal products and to bring about successful changes in their behaviour, we have created the Vegan Taste Week. We continue to develop the Vegan Taste Week and use targeted online advertising to attract even more people with an interest in plant-based eating.

Law

Violations of the German animal welfare law are unfortunately part of the system of factory farming. To counter that we are making use of the right of class action which has finally been introduced in several German federal states . The ensuing court rulings have the potential to end some of the worst factory farming methods nationwide.

Politics

It is difficult to persuade German politicians – especially in conservative governments – to take meaningful steps for farmed animals. This is also due to the great lobbying power of the animal industry. Nevertheless, experience shows that it is not impossible to get governments to act. Especially when the food industry has already created facts, chances are good that politicians will follow suit. For example, the ban on all cage systems for laying hens in Germany (coming into force in 2025) was also politically justified by the fact that these systems have little economic relevance left.

We therefore see our political work in the context of our other strategic pillars – especially business and legal.

Note that donations made from outside of Germany will not go to support our political work unless otherwise stated. This is because we learned that tax deductibility could otherwise become an issue for our foreign supporters.

Strategy – the basis

The basis is an important foundation for being able to maximize the outcomes of our four strategic pillars.

Employee satisfaction

The satisfaction of our team is important for successful long-term cooperation. We start with a well-structured onboarding process and ensure clarity in the allocation of tasks, responsibilities and decisions. Regular exchange, reducing negative stress, 360° feedback and – if possible – including the team in decision making are other factors contributing to our satisfaction.

Learning

We continue to further educate ourselves in a targeted manner and pay increased attention to reserving capacities for this purpose. We also raise our ability to deal with conflict and strengthen our learning culture by dealing openly with mistakes as well as by sharing our learning experiences with each other.

Growth

Growth is an important factor in achieving even more for the animals. Not only in Germany, but especially internationally, we see many opportunities to work towards implementing our vision and strategy.

Our experience shows: The more people actively follow us (especially through our newsletters), the higher the donations entrusted to us become. Therefore we will focus on reaching even more people who appreciate our work.

Good & simple structures

An internal survey has shown that our structures are too bureaucratic. We will therefore implement simplifications and gradually delegate more responsibilities.

We have also recognized that we are tackling too many tasks and projects at once. We will therefore prioritize more and reduce the number of projects running simultaneously.