Mox and Sentient Futures are building a dedicated animal welfare hub in San Francisco. Our goal is to draw together a core nucleus of animal advocacy and welfare organizations in a way that strengthens the entire movement, generating momentum for animal welfare organizations based in the Bay Area and worldwide.

Gap being addressed

The Bay Area has one of the highest concentrations of animal welfare professionals in the world, but little shared physical infrastructure. AI safety has Constellation, Lighthaven, and Mox; animal welfare has nothing. Sentient Futures has already been advocating for this, see prior proposal for Animal Advocacy Innovation Hub. Sentient Futures will lead the programming and Mox is providing physical space and logistical support.

Project proposal

• Immediately begin animal welfare coworking days at Mox. We’ll dedicate a 50-person space within the building exclusively to people interested in working on or alongside animal welfare and advocacy orgs, with desks and monitors, as well as couches for gathering and relaxing. Each week will include lunch, talks, and structured work sessions (pomodoros).
• Within 12 months, build out a hub with 2+ dedicated animal welfare organizations working at Mox fulltime, in addition to Sentient Futures. To kickstart the hub, we are seeking to fund a rent discount to subsidize each organization which takes a private office.
• Long term, dedicate 4000-8000 sq. ft at Mox specifically to animal welfare organizations, and incubate new organizations with office discounts and mentorship.

Why Mox

Organic demand. Sentient Futures is already based at Mox, and the broader Bay Area animal welfare community knows and visits the space. Sentient Futures has already successfully co-hosted over a dozen events at Mox, such as AI for Animals, a discussion on rescuing beagles from Ridglan Farms, a fireside with Leah Garces, a talk on animal advocacy in China, and their flagship Sentient Futures Summit conference.

We support the full spectrum of advocacy. Mox's culture is comfortable with activism (including direct action campaigns and civil disobedience) in a way that academic or corporate-adjacent spaces are not.

Natural overlap with AI advocacy work. Our existing AI safety advocacy organizations share infrastructure needs with animal welfare orgs, such as offices, event space, community programming, so the space is already built out in a way that would immediately fulfill many welfare orgs’ needs.

International collaboration thru J-1 visa hosting. Mox hosts international fellows through our Global Expert fellowship (Researchers and Founders: Join Mox’s J-1 Global Expert Fellowship!) and has already scoped animal welfare as a viable category, thus can help support a larger international community of animal welfare activists.

Funds requested:

Mainline funding request: $186,000 for a 12-month program ($15,500/mo)

• $120,000: Setup and partial rent of the Animal Welfare hub on one half floor of Mox (5k sq ft)
  • Orgs and individuals receive complimentary 1mo trial + 50% subsidy on standard rates
• $30,000: Part-time community coordinator (10-20 hours/week).
• $26,000: Food and drinks for weekly open-to-public Animal Welfare coworking days
• $10,000: Incidentals for additional programming and events, with Mox providing space and ops support.

Additional funding could sponsor:

• Full rental of one floor of Mox, and furniture and space upgrades