Blog Summary:
1. PreventSA has a bold goal to reduce rape in the U.S. by 70% by 2050, shifting focus from response to true prevention.
2. Their first-ever incubator invests in technology and social-media solutions to prevent peer-on-peer sexual assault among teens.
3. Selected projects receive $50,000 in funding, mentorship, and a six-month support program including in-person workshops and a Demo Day.
4. The initiative centers new voices and bold ideas, especially from people outside traditional prevention spaces.
5. The goal is to build a safer future by supporting innovation, culture change, and proactive prevention strategies rather than waiting until harm occurs.
Reading Time: (6 Minutes)
The Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault (PreventSA) is built on a compelling vision: to achieve a 70% reduction in rape in the United States by 2050. It’s an ambitious goal, but one that reflects both the urgency of the issue and the need for innovative solutions. Founded by Kristin and Jess — both survivors — and supported by entrepreneurs, public health leaders, and advocates, PreventSA combines lived experience with expertise to address sexual violence at its root, while keeping its founding team intentionally small and focused.
Prevention is often the most overlooked and underfunded aspect of the conversation. At Izzy, we see firsthand—through the partners we serve—that crisis response and survivor support are vital. However, lasting change also requires investing in preventing harm before it happens. That’s where PreventSA plays a crucial role.
Their website, preventsa.org, showcases their work: funding innovative solutions, supporting research to identify effective strategies, and leveraging their platform to unite funders and organizations behind prevention. Instead of focusing on reducing harm after it occurs, PreventSA asks, “What if we could stop sexual assault from happening in the first place?”
A First-of-Its-Kind Incubator
This fall, PreventSA launched its first-ever incubator program, and it’s unlike anything else in the prevention field. The incubator is designed to address a critical and often overlooked issue: peer-on-peer sexual assault among high schoolers. These are incidents that take place between teens, often hidden and minimized, but deeply harmful.
PreventSA recognizes that prevention in this space requires new thinking. Traditional programs often fall short with teens because they don’t resonate with how young people communicate, learn, or influence one another. That’s why this incubator is intentionally seeking bold ideas that leverage technology or social media—the very tools teens use daily to shape culture, build identity, and create change.
As PreventSA co-founder Kristin Hatcher explains,
“Funding is available for bold ideas to prevent sexual assault. We believe there are countless people—inside and outside of the field—who have ideas for preventing sexual assault but have never had the resources or support to pursue them. We’re here to change that.”
Their first round of grantmaking focuses on solutions that use technology or social media to prevent peer-on-peer sexual assault among teenagers in the U.S. Applications are open through November 7, and selected projects will receive $50,000 and join the first cohort of the six-month PreventSA Incubator.
Hatcher adds,
“If you just read that and an idea came to mind, but then you immediately thought, Who am I to do this? — you might be exactly who we’re looking for. Some of the most promising ideas will come from people who haven’t traditionally seen themselves as ‘innovators’ in this space.”
Selected projects will do more than just receive funding. Over the course of six months, participants will join a structured program that includes hands-on coaching, peer-to-peer collaboration, and mentorship from prevention and innovation experts. Two in-person workshops will provide opportunities for deeper development and feedback, culminating in a Demo Day where participants present their solutions to a room of potential funders and partners.
This model isn’t just about seeding ideas; it’s about nurturing them, challenging them, and giving them a pathway to scale. PreventSA understands that to create systemic change, we need to create an environment where creativity and boldness are not only welcomed but actively supported.
Why This Matters to Izzy
At Izzy, our work centers on supporting organizations that serve survivors. We build technology that helps helplines, nonprofits, and advocacy groups respond faster, manage cases more effectively, and support their communities with compassion and efficiency. But we’ve also learned something along the way: prevention and response must work hand in hand. Supporting survivors is critical, but so is making sure fewer people need to reach out for support in the first place.
That’s why PreventSA’s incubator resonates so strongly with us. It represents a new chapter in the prevention movement, one that acknowledges the power of technology to reach young people in meaningful ways. Imagine a peer-to-peer app that helps students talk openly about boundaries, a social media campaign that normalizes bystander intervention, or a gamified program that makes learning about consent engaging instead of uncomfortable. These are the kinds of solutions that could emerge from this incubator — solutions that may never have had the chance to grow without this kind of investment.
As Hatcher puts it,
“In the near term, I’m excited to start moving resources toward people with bold ideas about how to prevent harm. We’ve met so many innovators with ideas worth testing, and it’s thrilling to finally be in a position to make our first round of grants.”
Looking further ahead, she adds,
“Prevention is possible. We already know some of what works, but we’ve never made investments at scale and there’s so much we haven’t explored. I can’t wait to see what’s unlocked when more people, ideas, and funding start to flow in the same direction. We could really see meaningful, historic progress in our lifetimes.”
For Izzy, this initiative reflects what we believe at our core: that technology can be a force for safety, empowerment, and systemic change. By spotlighting opportunities like this, we hope to encourage not only innovators but also funders, educators, and community leaders to take prevention seriously — and to see it as something worth investing in.
Get Involved
Applications for the incubator are open now through November 7. If you have a project — or even just the seed of an idea — that uses technology or social media to prevent sexual assault among teens, this is the time to act. You can learn more and apply at preventsa.org.
And even if you’re not applying yourself, you can still make an impact by sharing this opportunity with youth organizations, schools, nonprofits, or colleagues in your network. Prevention doesn’t happen in isolation; it happens when communities come together to support bold, innovative ideas.
Kristin Hatcher and Jess Ladd co-founded PreventSA to push bold, forward-thinking solutions in sexual assault prevention. With backgrounds in public health, survivor-centered advocacy, and tech-driven social impact, they are committed to elevating new voices and building systems that stop harm before it happens.