Vision & Strategy

The Future Holds Hope for a World Without Suffering

Welcome to the Compassionate Future Initiative (CFI). CFI is advocating and mobilising for high-impact initiatives to reduce suffering in the near and distant future.

To better understand suffering and well-being we explore the underlying conceptual, biological and psycho-social mechanisms of sentient experiences. We combine this understanding with strategic action and a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach.

Mission:

• Advocate and mobilise for high-impact interventions aimed at suffering prevention across cause areas and long timelines.
• Build a thriving community of resourceful, compassionate individuals, with diverse backgrounds, eager to get thoughtful and ambitious projects off the ground, building a better future for all sentient beings.  
• Foster collaborative networks across adjacent communities, initiatives, and fields to propagate compassionate care and accelerate impact.

While the concern is focussed on reducing and preventing suffering, we are just as excited to promote sustainable welfare and projects that foster resilient well-being for all sentient beings. 

Explore Our Work

(Navigate the Website's Structure & Content)

• Vision & Strategy: The Future Holds Hope for a World Without Suffering
  • Understanding Suffering: Mechanisms and Causes of Suffering
  • Interventions against Suffering
  • Compassionate Genomics
• Community & Contact
  • Team
  • Work with Us
  • News, Updates & Events
  • Networks
  • Let’s chat!
• Donate

Start Your Impact Journey With Us

The following impact-oriented questions help you to reflect on how you might best contribute, including potential cause areas and career strategies. 

• What are Crucial Considerations for impact of your project, donations or career plans?
• What are your considerations in regard to near-term impact, including importance, tractability, neglectedness (ITN), risk-benefit trade-offs, and counterfactuals? 
• What is your SMART Theory of Change for your involvement? Please include consideration in regard to outcome robustness and implementation robustness.
• What are plausible long-term trajectories (evolution, obstacles, risks, benefits, and counterfactuals) over 10, 50, and 200 years?
• And what are your personal fit, motivation and development plans?

Feel free to contact us if you like to work through those questions together. 

Community & Connection

Caring deeply about suffering can be challenging and at times isolating, as many choose to look away, to spare themselves the pain. That's why we want to foster this community. And hopefully, together, as a community, we will be able to apply effective and sustainable problem-solving methodology and reduce suffering not just in the near but also distant future.

If you want to support this mission and are interested to see and learn more, follow us on LinkedIn, the Effective Altruism Forum, Facebook and Discord. 

Resources: Why to care about suffering the most

On the seriousness of suffering by Brian Tomasik (one of the most influential activist/writers in the broader community) 

The Case for Suffering-Focused Ethics by Lukas Gloor

The Veil of Ignorance considerations by John Rawls

On the relevance of sentience and antispecisiem see Animal Ethics

The Ethics of Wild Animal Suffering by Ole Martin Moen

Library of books by the Center for Reducing Suffering

General resource page on Suffering-Focused Ethics (SFE)

This page was first published on 04 Mar 2022. Latest significant update was on 14 Jan 2026.