Celebrating 10 years of impact with Twilio.org
In 2013, Twilio created Twilio.org, Twilio’s social impact arm, to help nonprofits create social impact at scale. A decade later, we are proud to support over 20,000 social impact organizations5 that collectively reach over half a billion people each year.6 These organizations range from large, global organizations such as the Red Cross and UNICEF to thousands of small nonprofits operating in local neighborhoods around the world. They spark hope, justice, and joy in the world by connecting people with vital resources where and when they need them. As we look ahead to the next decade, we will continue to find ways to unleash Twilio’s product, capital, and people for the greater good.
Delivering meaningful impact at incredible scale
At Twilio, we believe business should leave society better than we found it. We leverage our technology, our people, and our capital to help nonprofits expand their reach and scale their missions.
Social impact organizations count on our digital communications and engagement tools to better reach, understand, and serve their audiences. Nearly 90% of nonprofits report that digital communications like text messaging, chatbots, voice, and video are critical to achieving their missions. Twilio’s digital tools make it possible for nonprofits to reach and engage individuals wherever they’re located, everyday. From improving access to healthcare, to connecting families with meals, to streamlining mental health support, our technology makes it possible for more people to be seen, heard, and supported.
Equitable healthcare at scale
CareMessage, a nonprofit communications platform for healthcare companies, wanted to help safety-net organizations meet the needs of underserved populations. By leveraging Twilio SMS and Voice, CareMessage enables healthcare professionals to deliver messages when and how their patients prefer. Using Twilio, CareMessage has served over 50,000 patients from underserved populations, booking 12,000 appointments in a single day and delivering 1.5M messages in 12 months—saving lives by helping people access the care they need.
Food security at scale
Many people who need food assistance must endure stressful, hours-long wait times to access a meal. City Harvest and the United Way of New York City created a mobile app called Plentiful to let families schedule food pick-up times with local pantries. Using Twilio Programmable Messaging, City Harvest’s SMS-based reservation system has saved people 500,000+ hours of waiting in lines and increased engagement in food pantry programs by 4X over its mobile app experience. That all adds up to helping more people find resources faster and get access to food with dignity.
Mental health support at scale
The National Alliance of Mental Health Illness (NAMI) wanted to simplify access to mental health support, but technical challenges made communication slow and unreliable. With Twilio Flex, NAMI is able to provide multiple channels for people to seek help for themselves or those they love. In 2020, when there was an increase in mental illness cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization was able to multiply its volunteer team and help 65-70% more help seekers—and that number continues to grow.
2023 product impact results
Three focus areas that define our impact
Over the past decade, thousands of social impact organizations have utilized Twilio’s resources to tackle significant challenges. While organizations spanning various issue areas use Twilio, we've identified three key areas where our products, funding, and skills are particularly suited to make a substantial impact: scaling humanitarian aid, addressing climate change, and promoting long-term wellbeing. These areas are interconnected; without addressing climate change, humanitarian crises will worsen, and without increased support and resources for those impacted by these crises, we can’t begin to rebuild and strengthen communities, nor support them in gaining the long-term stability that they deserve.
When people are displaced by a crisis, every minute counts—and delivering information and assistance via mobile devices is both fast and effective. This is how Twilio’s technology makes an outsized impact. Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 through December 2023, nonprofits have used Twilio to reach eight million individuals6 and send over 68 million messages7 to help those affected by the conflict.
Among these nonprofit organizations is The International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network. The IFRC partnered with Twilio to create a digital registration system through SMS and WhatsApp that delivers cash and voucher assistance at scale—rapidly getting money into the hands of people when they need it most.
A selection of nonprofits delivering humanitarian aid at scale:
Twilio’s platform: Dependability precisely when it matters most
When lives and livelihoods depend on reliable communication, every message matters. Trust is everything. We understand that the reliability and dependability of our platform can make a critical difference in affecting lives for good. That’s why we continue to build best practices and standards that strengthen trust, security, and privacy among all stakeholders.
Trusted to support those impacted by human trafficking
Polaris, a survivor-centered organization, combats human trafficking in all its forms. Operating the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline since 2007, Polaris reports that it has connected over 75,000 victims and survivors to support.10 With a Twilio.org Digital Innovation Grant, Polaris enhanced its hotline, including upgrades such as a chatbot for text messaging that made it much easier and faster for individuals to request and receive assistance.
“Our partnership with Twilio has enabled us to test-drive our mission-engineering approach to problem solving, and set us up for even bigger and better data modernization moves for the anti-trafficking movement.”
—Patrick McIntyre, Chief Development and External Affairs Officer, Polaris
Trusted to warn those at risk during a natural disaster
Immediacy is everything during a natural disaster. In Indonesia, where massive floods are common, disaster warnings can make the difference between life and death. Since most Indonesians have mobile devices, Atma Connect uses text-based communications to deliver locally-relevant alerts. With Twilio Programmable Messaging, the nonprofit sends text messages of urgent flood warnings and other critical news that help save lives and reduce damages.
“Twilio allows us to break through the mobile phone environment… you’re always going to get a notification on SMS. It gives us a way to immediately reach users.”
—Meena Palaniappan, Founder and CEO, Atma Connect
Trusted to provide support to those experiencing a mental health crisis
For over 20 years, The Trevor Project has provided free, confidential crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth. As their technology platform began to age, they knew every communications delay could have disastrous consequences. Making the switch to Twilio shortened text interactions, streamlined agent workflows, and unified engagement channels—helping their teams serve more people in crisis.
“When we switched our TrevorText service to Twilio, the results were remarkable…. Given the speed and reliability of the platform, we were able to trim 10 seconds off of each interaction. Every single person we talk to is getting the help they need faster.”
—Amit Paley, Former CEO and Executive Director, The Trevor Project
Footnotes
5 We define social impact customers as the eligible social impact organization types listed here that have usage in December 2023. A single social impact organization may use multiple unique active accounts.
6 We define a “person reached” as an individual who has sent or received a message or phone call through one of our Twilio.org customers. We count each phone number only once, even if they have engaged multiple customers or received multiple messages. This count also includes the unique number of individuals who have received emails from Twilio.org customers that do not also use Twilio’s messaging and voice products. This information is tracked (anonymously) via Twilio’s backend system. This metric may exclude individuals who were contacted by one of our Twilio.org customers through products other than messaging, voice, and email.
7 Measures the total number of messages sent through one of our Twilio.org social impact customers. Multiple messages can be sent to one individual.
8 Twilio product usage is not a condition to be considered for Impact Fund grants or donations.
9 “Nonprofit Empower Work helps people deal with discrimination, harassment on the job” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYdwiVRIXY0).