Public Eye

What Public Eye does

Public Eye (formerly Déclaration de Berne) is a Swiss nonprofit investigative organization founded in 1971 and headquartered in Zürich, with a French-language office in Lausanne. It investigates and exposes the impact of Switzerland and Swiss companies on human rights, labor conditions, corruption, and the environment in economically disadvantaged countries. Core outputs include investigative reports, factsheets, press releases, a regular email newsletter, the 'Mon œil!' podcast, public events, and the annual Investigation Award at the Green Film Festival. The organization runs high-profile advocacy campaigns such as #StopChiquita, with deep-dive investigations hosted on the 'stories.publiceye.ch' immersive storytelling platform.

The organization is funded primarily through recurring membership fees from approximately 28,000–29,000 individual members, supplemented by donations, bequests, online publication sales via its shop, and limited institutional grants from a fragmented base of Swiss foundations and religious-parish funders; public funds account for less than 5% of total income. It maintains strict independence by refusing corporate donations, holds ZEWO certification (renewed 2021), and reports under SWISS GAAP RPC 21. Its technology stack is built on standard SaaS tools (ActiveCampaign, Matomo, Paperform, Zapier, Twilio, RaiseNow, Meta Pixel) used for donation processing, newsletter distribution, campaign mobilization, and web analytics — it does not develop proprietary technology products.

Name

Public Eye

Legal name

Public Eye

Website

https://publiceye.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Public Eye is a Swiss nonprofit investigative organization that exposes corruption, human rights violations, and environmental harm caused by Swiss companies abroad, serving approximately 29,000 members through reports, campaigns, and advocacy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Investigative Journalism and Advocacy

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Policy, Regulatory & Public Affairs Research (BPAHALAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Affairs, Government Relations & Lobbying (BPAFADAB), Public Communications, Transparency & Open Government (BPAIAAAH)

Keywords

• Investigative journalism
• Corporate accountability
• Global justice advocacy
• Nonprofit research
• Human rights reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: Primary funding source from approximately 28,000-29,000 members who pay membership fees, providing financial stability and independence.
2. Donations and bequests: Individual donations and bequests represent a growing share of funding, demonstrating long-term supporter confidence. Public Eye maintains strict independence from corporate donations.
3. Publication sales: Sale of reports, factsheets, magazines and educational materials through their online shop.
4. Institutional funding: Support from foundations including Geneva Federation for Cooperation and Development (FGC), Vaud Federation for Cooperation (Fedevaco), GlobalLokal Foundation, Lucerne Catholic Parish, and Berne Reformist Parish. Public funds cover less than 5% of total income.

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Public Eye is a Swiss investigative nonprofit organization that produces in-depth reports, factsheets, podcasts, and advocacy campaigns examining the impact of Switzerland and Swiss companies on human rights, the environment, and development in economically disadvantaged countries. Its work covers commodities trading, corruption, fashion supply chains, pesticides, the pharmaceutical industry, seeds, and trade policy. The organization distributes its research through a multilingual website, an online shop, a membership program, public events, and the annual Investigation Award for investigative journalism.

Product overview

Public Eye is a Swiss NGO focused on global justice that operates as a single, unified advocacy and publishing organization rather than a technology product company. Its core offerings consist of investigative reports, factsheets, newsletters, podcasts, and advocacy campaigns examining the impact of Switzerland and Swiss companies on global issues. The organization's main products include publications covering topics such as commodities, corruption, fashion, pesticides, pharmaceutical industry, seeds, and trade policy. Public Eye also organizes the annual Investigation Award and conducts campaigns like #StopChiquita. Additional offerings include a podcast, educational materials, an online shop, and events. The organization maintains Zewo certification as a recognized not-for-profit.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Reports & Factsheets

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Hinderling VolkartminorOthers · 1 January 2018Creative agency responsible for website conception, design, and frontend development. Website redesign completed in 2018.
• RTP GmbHminorOthers · 1 January 2018Technical implementation partner for the Content Management System. Collaborated on 2018 website redesign.
• Twilio Inc.minorOthersUS service provider used to send text messages and WhatsApp communications for campaign engagement. Data processing agreement in place.
• RaiseNowminorOthersExternal payment partner certified according to PCI DSS. Handles credit card processing for donations and shop purchases. Public Eye does not store credit card details.
• Meta Platforms Ireland LimitedminorOthersMeta Pixel and Conversions API integrated on campaign pages for advertising targeting and conversion tracking. Website provider has no knowledge of data use by Meta.
• Geneva Federation for Cooperation and Development (FGC)minorOthersInstitutional funder supporting Public Eye's operations and mission.
• Vaud Federation for Cooperation (Fedevaco)minorOthersInstitutional funder supporting Public Eye's operations and mission.
• GlobalLokal FoundationminorOthersInstitutional funder supporting Public Eye's operations and mission.
• Lucerne Catholic ParishminorOthersInstitutional funder supporting Public Eye's operations and mission.
• Berne Reformist ParishminorOthersInstitutional funder supporting Public Eye's operations and mission.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Greenpeace: Independent campaigning organization using investigations and direct action to challenge corporate and government practices. Overlaps with Public Eye on commodity supply chains, fossil fuels, and corporate accountability themes.
• Human Rights Watch: Large international investigative and advocacy organization. Comparable in producing rigorous reports that target governments and corporations, and in relying on individual donor support to maintain independence.
• Oxfam: Global confederation focused on inequality, corporate accountability, and human rights. Comparable advocacy on Swiss-listed commodity traders, garment supply chains, and pharma pricing, with a far larger scale and international supporter base.
• Global Witness: Investigative NGO focused on corruption, extractives, and corporate accountability. Highly comparable mission, donor-funded model, and use of high-impact investigative reports to drive campaigns.
• Amnesty International: Global human-rights movement that combines investigative research with membership-based advocacy. Closely comparable operating model (members, donations, reports, campaigns) and a much larger international footprint.
• SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations): Dutch-based research NGO investigating multinational corporate behavior. Closely mirrors Public Eye's approach of sector-specific corporate accountability research (commodities, pharma, finance) and is a natural European counterpart.
• Transparency International: Global coalition producing investigative reports and indices on corruption and corporate accountability. Most directly comparable to Public Eye's corruption and commodities investigations, with a similarly advocacy-driven, research-based model.

Regional players

• Swissaid: Swiss development and advocacy NGO addressing global justice issues with a similar Swiss-based, donor-funded model. Comparable in geographic and funding profile, but with more emphasis on direct development programs versus corporate investigations.
• Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World): German development and human-rights organization with comparable advocacy on global justice, supply-chain accountability, and human rights. Operates in a similar thematic space but from a German institutional base.

Emerging players

• Public Citizen: US-based consumer-rights and corporate-accountability advocacy group. Comparable in producing investigative reports and running campaigns targeting specific corporations, but primarily operates in a different regulatory and donor environment.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/publiceye
• Facebookfacebook.com/PublicEyeSuisse
• LinkedInch.linkedin.com/company/publiceye_ch
• Instagraminstagram.com/publiceye.ch
• Xx.com/publiceye_ch

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Public Eye