The Initiative will:

Improve RAINN’s communications infrastructure and boost RAINN’s efforts to support survivors and their loved ones in times of crisis.

Provide grant funding to RAINN for communications technology to support survivors and their loved ones in times of crisis.

SAN FRANCISCO, SIGNAL 2019 - Today RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, announced its partnership with Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform.

The announcement was made at SIGNAL, Twilio’s annual developer and customer conference held this week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Keeli Sorensen, vice president of victim services at RAINN, delivered a keynote address at SIGNAL on the critical role of technology in supporting RAINN’s work to help survivors heal from sexual assault. Sorensen’s keynote included videos of survivors and discussed how RAINN uses technology to protect the anonymity of those who use the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

At the conference, Twilio’s social impact arm, Twilio.org, launched its Crisis Response and Prevention Initiative. As part of the initiative, along with funding, Twilio.org established the Crisis Response Technology Network (CRTN), of which RAINN will be a member, intended to help nonprofits develop communications technology to serve individuals and communities in times of crisis.

The CRTN will:

• Bring together organizations that have the greatest capacity for delivering crisis response communications at scale via technology.
• Identify barriers and opportunities for nonprofits to utilize technology to improve response times for providing help to people in crisis.
• Reflect the network’s vision that one day, everyone who is at risk will get the help they need, right when they need it.

"Twilio’s Programmable SMS allows our hotline staff to safely share resources across the globe, whether that’s with a survivor in rural Alaska, or a NOAA scientist in the Arctic,” said Sorensen. “Twilio's Programmable Voice also helps RAINN connect with people worldwide. Together, these technologies have made it possible for our staff to provide survivors with emotional support, develop safety plans to leave abusive environments, and learn ways to report their assaults to law enforcement.”

“More and more nonprofits are using Twilio’s technology given the important role of communications in life and death situations,” said Erin Reilly, vice president of social impact and general manager of Twilio.org. “Nonprofits want to deliver the right message at the right time to the right person, all at the scale of the problem they’re tackling. They are the experts in changing people’s lives, and we want to help them expand their reach to even more people. We’re looking forward to working even more closely with leading organizations that have been supporting people in times of crisis for decades.”