New York, NY — The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people, and the PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity that invests in emerging solutions to society’s greatest challenges in education and humanitarianism, announced a new collaboration to help end suicide among LGBTQ young people across the country. Over the next four years, the PwC Foundation will invest $6 million in The Trevor Project. This is a significant grant by the PwC Foundation, and the largest grant ever received by Trevor.
The $6 million grant will be used to dramatically expand The Trevor Project’s ability to serve the more than 1.8 million LGBTQ young people estimated to seriously consider suicide each year. The Trevor Project’s technological abilities will be further enhanced with the creation of a new volunteer management system, which will streamline several recruitment, training, and retention processes. In addition, the grant will help The Trevor Project incorporate AI solutions to enable even more efficient and scalable operations of its crisis services.
“Volunteer crisis counselors are at the heart of The Trevor Project, and innovative technologies will allow us to recruit, train, and support thousands more volunteers to continue providing best-in-class care to every LGBTQ young person who feels hopeless, alone, or suicidal,” said Amit Paley, CEO & Executive Director of The Trevor Project. “We’re grateful to the PwC Foundation for making a bold investment in our mission to end suicide among LGBTQ youth. With their deep expertise and resources, this collaboration can make a significant impact on the public health crisis of LGBTQ youth suicide.”
By 2022, the two organizations will aim to increase The Trevor Project’s number of current volunteer crisis counselors by 10x. The new volunteer management system will improve all components of the Trevor volunteer experience, including: reviewing thousands of applicants and selecting successful candidates to move forward; facilitating 40 hours of remote and in-person training around LGBTQ topics and suicide prevention; completing a variety of role-play exercises to prepare them to interact with youth in crisis; scheduling and deploying 24/7 counselor shifts across the organization’s free, confidential, and 24/7 phone lifeline, text, and chat counseling services; and ongoing volunteer retention strategies.
“Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers,” said Yolanda Seals-Coffield, president of the PwC Foundation. “Many are longing for a person to reach out to so we know how important it is to step up and invest in Trevor’s life-saving work.”
To complement the PwC Foundation’s investment, PwC US will also provide nearly $2 million in pro-bono consulting services and its subject matter experiences in people, technology, and scaling impact. PwC employees will work in partnership with Trevor’s growing technology team to build a secure, scalable volunteer management system that is capable of supporting thousands of volunteers.
The grant announcement was first shared on-stage during TrevorLIVE Los Angeles 2019, The Trevor Project’s signature annual fundraising event, by Yolanda Seals-Coffield, president of the PwC Foundation, and Shannon Schuyler, chief purpose & inclusion officer for PwC US. The two accepted the ‘20/20 Visionary Award’ on behalf of the PwC Foundation for its history of supporting underrepresented populations and underserved communities, including The Trevor Project and its life-saving work.
To view the video announcement from Paley and Seals-Coffield, click here.
