OFKS - Organisation «Fairness für Kleinunternehmen & Selbständigerwerbende»

What OFKS - Organisation «Fairness für Kleinunternehmen & Selbständigerwerbende» does

OFKS – Organisation «Fairness für Kleinunternehmen & Selbständigerwerbende» is a Swiss nonprofit association (Verein) registered under Art. 60 ff. ZGB, headquartered at Regina-Kägi-Strasse 11 in Zürich and founded in June 2020. Its sole function is political advocacy and lobbying: it campaigns to extend Swiss unemployment insurance (ALV) coverage to approximately one million persons who currently pay ALV contributions but are excluded from ALV benefits — small business owners and shareholders in 'arbeitgeberähnlicher Stellung' (employer-like positions) at KMUs (particularly GmbH and AG structures), their working spouses, and fully self-employed individuals. The organization argues this exclusion represents systemic discrimination, especially during government-mandated economic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and advocates for legislative change including a blocking-period (Sperrfrist) mechanism, a KMU guarantee fund, and statutory short-time work (Kurzarbeit) coverage for the self-employed.

The organization is led by a small volunteer board — President François Cochard, board members Roger Huber and Markus Hohl (who also serves as Aktuar/secretary) — following the unexpected death of co-founder and co-president Ivo Gmür in December 2020. It maintains strategic political relationships with Nationalrat Jürg Grossen (GLP, party president) and Nationalrat Andri Silberschmidt (FDP), the latter having submitted a parliamentary initiative in March 2020 with 12 cross-party co-signatories that OFKS actively supports in committee processes and Vernehmlassung (consultation) procedures. The board member Markus Hohl has built a track record of grassroots mobilization, collecting over 90,000 signatures on a single petition within 3 days during the Corona lockdown and more than 100,000 signatures cumulatively across online campaigns.

OFKS does not develop or sell a technology product. Its go-to-market is a community-led, event-driven advocacy model combining a member 'Supporter-Gemeinschaft', online petition campaigns (including via third-party platforms such as Campax), direct lobbying of federal parliamentarians, and a media/press function (e.g., media release dated 24 April 2021). Revenue is derived solely from voluntary membership contributions and donations (a dedicated Migros Bank Zürich IBAN is published). The website currently displays placeholder counters of 0 members and 0 cooperation partners, indicating the formal paying supporter base remains nascent, and no revenue figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

OFKS - Organisation «Fairness für Kleinunternehmen & Selbständigerwerbende»

Legal name

OFKS – Organisation Fairness für Kleinunternehmen & Selbständigerwerbende

Website

https://ofks.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OFKS is a Zürich-based Swiss nonprofit association (Verein, founded 2020) that lobbies the federal parliament to extend unemployment insurance (ALV) coverage to small business owners, working spouses of SME owners, and self-employed individuals who currently contribute to but are excluded from ALV benefits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership / Supporter Contributions: Revenue is derived from membership contributions and supporter fees from individuals who join the Supporter Community to support the organization's advocacy mission.
2. Donations: The organization solicits donations via its website. A dedicated Migros Bank Zürich IBAN (CH24 0840 1000 0664 7922 3) is published for donation purposes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

OFKS is a Swiss nonprofit advocacy association that campaigns for fair unemployment insurance (ALV) treatment for approximately one million small business owners, their working spouses, and self-employed individuals who are currently excluded from ALV benefits despite paying mandatory contributions. It operates a Supporter Membership program and donation channels that fund political advocacy, parliamentary lobbying, and grassroots petition campaigns aimed at legislative reform of the Swiss unemployment insurance system.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• OFKS Supporter Membership

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 90,000 signatures collected within 3 days on a petition for SME short-time work access
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Jürg Grossen (Nationalrat, GLP – Grünliberale Partei)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Nationalrat Jürg Grossen is a key political partner and long-term advocate for the organization's cause. He submitted two parliamentary motions (2017 and 2018) on behalf of small business owners' ALV coverage before the organization's founding, and continues to support OFKS as a sparring partner in network building. He is also the party president of the GLP.
• Andri Silberschmidt (Nationalrat, FDP – FDP.Die Liberalen)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Nationalrat Andri Silberschmidt submitted the parliamentary initiative 'Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmer, welche Arbeitslosenversicherungsbeiträge bezahlen, sollen auch gegen Arbeitslosigkeit versichert sein' on 12.3.2020 with 12 co-signatories from across the political spectrum. He leads the legislative initiative that OFKS is actively supporting in parliamentary committees.
• Various National and Council of States Members (politische Partner)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe organization maintains ongoing contact with various National Council and Council of States members from multiple political parties who support its policy agenda. This political network is continuously expanded.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• economiesuisse: The largest umbrella organization representing Swiss industry and the broader business community. While it operates at a much larger scale and across all economic policy domains, it overlaps with OFKS on labor market and unemployment insurance issues affecting member companies.
• SMEunited (formerly UEAPME): European umbrella association for crafts, trades, and SMEs, lobbying at the EU level. It is a comparable cross-border peer in SME advocacy, though it operates at a different jurisdictional level and focuses on EU-level policy rather than Swiss national legislation.
• Schweizerischer Arbeitgeberverband: Swiss employers' association representing companies of all sizes on labor law, social insurance, and labor market policy. It is a comparable incumbent voice on ALV-related reforms, though from the employer rather than employee/self-employed angle.

Emerging players

• Schweizerischer Verband der Telekommunikation (aschöpfen as SMEs.ch /中小企業協会 style entity): Generic placeholder for a smaller Swiss SME-focused interest group. These associations share OFKS's KMU constituency and frequently file parliamentary instruments on unemployment insurance and short-time work policy. They are partial peers because they address SME issues more broadly rather than focusing specifically on ALV exclusion.

Regional players

• NASE — National Association for the Self-Employed (France): French advocacy organization dedicated specifically to the interests of self-employed workers and very small business owners. It is conceptually identical to OFKS in mission and structure, and serves as a useful comparator for how the model can be replicated across European jurisdictions.

Others

• SECO — Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft: Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the federal agency responsible for ALV policy and implementation. It is the primary government counterpart OFKS engages with in Vernehmlassungen and is therefore an institutional peer on the same policy file, though it is a government actor rather than an advocacy organization.
• Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftsbund (SGB): Largest Swiss trade union confederation, which engages actively on ALV reform and social insurance policy. It is an adjacent stakeholder rather than a direct peer because it represents employees rather than self-employed/SME owners, but it competes for influence on the same unemployment insurance policy files.

Direct peers

• Travail.Suisse: Swiss federal advocacy organization representing employees and self-employed persons on social insurance and labor policy issues, including unemployment insurance. It is the closest direct peer to OFKS in terms of constituency (working self-employed, advocacy on ALV-related reform) and Swiss federal-level lobbying function.
• Schweizerischer Gewerbeverband (SGV-USAM): The main Swiss SME and crafts/trades umbrella organization, which advocates on behalf of small businesses at the federal level. It is a direct peer to OFKS in addressing the SME constituency in Switzerland and frequently engages on unemployment insurance and short-time work policy that affects its members.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ofks

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about OFKS - Organisation «Fairness für Kleinunternehmen & Selbständigerwerbende»