This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

 

By Twilio.

 

Empower Others. Those words are not just a catchphrase at Twilio. Instead, they have been the foundation of our core values and products since the very beginning.

 

Twilions know that unleashing human potential — both within our company and throughout our communities — is key not just to our success, but to the greater good we wish to see in the world.

As we’ve grown as a company and our culture evolved, so has our desire to do our part in creating a better, more just world. We saw this with Twilio’s commitment as a company to Pledge 1% of our time, equity and funds to doing good.

 

And we see it in the personal passions of Twilions. Like Kathryn Shirley in Atlanta, who donates her time to the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Georgia, providing Wishes for children with life-threatening, critical illnesses to enrich their human experience. Or Alex Alleyne in London, who gives money to organizations like the Hackney Learning Trust, educating and empowering students from low-income neighborhoods. Both wanting to scale their impact beyond their individual contributions.

 

But let’s face it, there are real barriers in people’s lives that can get in the way of making the positive impact they’d like. Some of us have more time, some less. Some can give more money, some less. On top of that, our lives, hearts, families, and communities are all touched by an array of issues. With all this in mind, determining how to make a positive impact isn’t always easy, and the scale of the issues we want to take on can feel daunting.

 

Introducing Twilio’s WePledge Program

 

That’s why we created WePledge. WePledge is our new employee impact program empowering Twilions to take action as individuals, leading to a meaningful global impact as a whole. Like Pledge 1%, WePledge provides a framework for giving in ways that fit the lives and schedules of individuals and enables people to create impact in meaningful ways important to them.

 

Through WePledge, Twilions make a commitment to contribute 1% of their individual time, money, or both to the causes they personally care about. In turn, Twilio provides an employee engagement platform, matching funds, coordinated volunteer opportunities, and the ongoing support of being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

 

Making an impact with WePledge is easy:

 

Volunteer time. Twilions are encouraged to donate 1%, or 20 hours, of our work time throughout the year to causes individuals care about at organizations that could benefit from our energy and expertise. Everyone has 20 hours of paid volunteer time off (VTO) to make this possible.

 

Donate equity or income. Twilions are encouraged to donate 1% of their equity or income to charity(s) that are meaningful to them. Donating equity often means charitable organizations receive more financial support than they would through a standard donation, and our internal equity systems are set up to help Twilions do this with the click of a button.

 

Get matched. Twilio amplifies the employee contributions through matching gifts for personal volunteer time, equity, and monetary donations up to a $500 annually per employee.

 

Global Weeks of Service. Twilio coordinates a week of global volunteering events twice per year which give employees diversity in volunteer opportunities to increase our social impact and connect more deeply with organizations in our communities — and other Twilions in the process. This makes finding ways to use VTO is easier than ever.

 

Twilions are already out in the world doing good however they can, and with the support of WePledge, Twilio will help magnify the impact of Twilions like Kathryn and Alex.

 

WePledge is one more way for Twilions to Empower Others. It’s how we empower the organizations working on social issues we care about, it’s how we empower the communities we serve, and it’s how we empower each other to realize the full potential of what we can achieve together.

 

When we pledge our time and money as individuals, our collective efforts have the potential to make a meaningful impact on a global scale. And this is just the beginning.