Twilio Reached More Than Half a Billion People Worldwide in 2021 Through Its Social Impact Work,

  • Twilio’s vaccine initiative helped 324 million people access vaccines and trusted COVID-19 information
  • The company provided $66M in grants, donations, product credits and discounts to social impact organizations
  • Expanded corporate commitment to antiracism into an actionable, company-wide strategy

Twilio, the leading cloud communications platform, released its 2021 Impact and DEI Report, announcing that 7,624 organizations used Twilio’s technology platform and funding to help 511 million people in 2021, representing fifteen percent of the world’s population, and a 92 percent increase in people reached year over year. The report reveals how Twilio’s model of integrated impact – which aligns social impact programs with revenue to reinvest in more impact – enabled Twilio to help nonprofits delivering support in crisis and connecting people to life changing resources across all 195 countries around the world. The report also provides a guide for other companies looking to integrate an antiracist framework at the corporate level, using Twilio’s expansion of antiracism from idea to company-wide strategy as a case study.

“We started our journey to build an antiracist organization last year, and this report shares insights from our playbook so that other companies can learn alongside us.”

Twilio.org, Twilio’s social impact team, is the engine behind social impact builders at nonprofits, social enterprises, international NGOs and more, delivering digital engagement tools and financial resources to organizations to supercharge their reach and impact. In 2021, the company supported 7,624 organizations with technology and funding, provided $66M in grants, donations, product credits and discounts to social impact organizations, powered 17 billion messages for good, and volunteered 7,553 employee hours of service in its communities through WePledge 1%, the company’s employee impact program.

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“At Twilio, we believe that business should leave society better than we found it,” says Erin Reilly, chief social impact officer at Twilio. “That’s why we align social impact with the way we run our business to ensure that as the company scales, our positive impact on society scales as well. When you consider the ripple effects – more organizations doing good in our communities, our employees feel proud to work here – the return on investment is remarkable.”

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Highlights from the 2021 Impact and DEI Report include:

  • The road to vaccinate 1 billion people against COVID-19. Twilio helped 324 million people access trusted COVID-19 information and vaccination services, making significant progress against its bold goal to support one billion people to get vaccinated. To date, 1,270 organizations use Twilio products to support vaccine outreach. With $18 million total in committed funding to organizations like GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, in support of COVAX, Twilio supported large global and grassroots organizations driving improved outcomes across the entire vaccine lifecycle. From sourcing to distribution, Twilio’s funds and technology helped bring vaccines to marginalized and underserved communities and increase global vaccine equity.
  • Building an antiracist company. In 2021, Twilio transformed its commitment to become an antiracist organization into a framework, embedding principles of antiracism in the strategic decision-making and goal-setting processes used by every team at the company. Twilio developed and expanded programs to educate employees on antiracism, the most effective way to move from theory to practice. As a result, 86 percent of leaders participated in an in-depth antiracism workshop, and 83 percent of Twilions have a better understanding on what antiracism is and how Twilo is becoming an antiracist company. Twilio also invested in programs to promote equitable experiences, including RiseUp, a 12-month leadership development and career advancement program for Black and Latinx Twilions. The program resulted in 94.5 percent retention of this cohort, a significant step toward Twilio’s broader company goal of developing future leaders.

“We believe antiracism is the future of DEI,” says Lybra Clemons, chief diversity officer at Twilio. “We started our journey to build an antiracist organization last year, and this report shares insights from our playbook so that other companies can learn alongside us.”

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