Donate with a click through Viewers to Volunteer charity program

CBS’s Viewers to Volunteers is a partnership with EcoMedia and Toyota that seeks find and highlight foundational charities. 11 programs will benefit from Toyota’s inaugural run, but which advertiser is up next and what does the charity program do?

CBS Corporation, CBS EcoMedia, and Toyota are aiming to transform “Viewers to Volunteers.”

On March 9, the companies released a statement about the project and hopeful goals. Viewers to Volunteers, or V2V, doesn’t want to spend viewers or consumers money. Instead the program “offers viewers an online destination to watch videos and read articles that further a good cause” and “effect positive change.”

Remember the ‘click here and x amount goes to y charity’, like The Animal Rescue Site on Petfinder? Same idea on a multiplatform, viewing scale. Once viewers utilize the device by voluntarily give up time and bandwidth, “direct real-life financial contributions to the nation’s most effective nonprofit organizations” starts.

Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation, sees the project as a way to engage and motivate all income levels to give back. “We are excited about all that V2V can do to benefit the nation’s leading charities, our advertisers and our viewers.”

Using the platform and reputation of Ecomedia, CBS Corporation wants to encourage the improvement of millions of people ranging from veterans to students to hospitalized children. Being in need of help shouldn’t involve a stigma, but instead a solution.

“Viewers to Volunteers is a digital giving platform bringing together media, advertising and philanthropy in an interesting new way, opening doors to viewers at any income level looking to make a difference.”  Sustaining the environment, providing healthy conditions for people is a strong commitment to keep planet safe for future generations.

Now the public are able to interact and be a philanthropist with the click of a button. Free donations to those looking for support and help without the means necessarily. And it only takes a little time a day.

Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of EcoMedia, remains “confident that V2V will have a profound impact not only in how people support causes, but also in how some of our nation’s most effective and marquee nonprofits are funded.”

EcoMedia, a CBS acquisition, wants to continue the work to improve viewers’ lives, as well as society. By choosing to advertise with the company, advertisers “agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities.”

However advertisers must be aware that EcoMedia is not endorsing any product or service, only connecting viewers with beneficiaries because it’s not always easy to stay in contact or earn enough to significantly donate as desired.

Toyota is the inaugural advertiser and is funding major market projects in Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia. Currently, viewers are able to watch targeted content from the company across mobile platforms. And as advertising partnerships increase, so will the availability of smartphone and tablet apps to continue connecting viewers to volunteerism nationally.

Right now, eleven volunteer groups are signed up ranging from First Book, a social enterprise distributing books to programs and schools in need in the United States and Canada, to Meals on Wheels America, an organization that directly addresses senior isolation and hunger on a community-based level.

Ecomedia’s president believes “by harnessing the power of CBS, social media and the latest innovations in technology, we are extending the privilege of giving to everyone.” In a digital age where fans are able to vote for fan favorites on a phone and hashtag a couple, using social media to promote change isn’t a bad plan.

Other volunteer programs include the Special Olympics World Games, Starlight Children’s Foundation, and Fisher House Foundation. Ultimately, the goal is to provide a better quality of life because content, happy people are more charitable without recrimination to those in need.

One example for V2V’s charity partnership is Hip Hop Public Health.

Easy A.D., member of legendary rap group Cold Crush Brothers and founding trainer, works with Hip Hop Public Health to energize and encourage kids to look for nutritional meals and how to find them in a world full of labels. Every day, he asks “what would make me excited at eight-years-old” and focuses on ways to make lives better for children.

Partnered with Kids in Need, the idea is to foster healthy decision through celebrity. Other famous rappers include Chuck D, DMC, Doug E. Fresh, and Ian Ellis James. Grammy-award winning artists, physicians, staff, and advisory board look to promote a better life for children through music. The first released song of the program was “Stroke Ain’t No Joke” with Doug E. Fresh in 2005 and since has focused on Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and obesity.

Change comes from action.

Dr. Olajide Williams, another founder, believes this is a new public health outreach program and “making children the ambassadors of good health” by reaching out and simply speaking on their level. Communicating with children /4/lead to a restructure of family health through parental interaction and involvement. Believing “that credibility is the cornerstone of persuasion” means finding people who have the status to back up those wearing white lab coats.

He also thinks physicians “spend way too much time treating diseases” instead of “preventing them from happening.” Thanks to donated funds, the Hip Hop Public Health outreach program can direct change to those underrepresented in society by teaching future generations how to lead a healthy, more active life. And that’s what V2V is all about.

Polizzotto wants people to stay connected. “Our hope is when you combine this new way of giving with national advertisers like Toyota, we’ll make tangible and positive improvements in the areas of veteran’s services, education, health and wellness, and the environment.”

Areas consistently requiring an influx of monetary donations to keep programs running. And Viewers to Volunteers aims to create a larger donation pool by advertiser positioning and power.

“A better world at your fingertips.”

For further information on V2V, please visit Viewers to Volunteers official site or the Ecomedia website at ecomediacbs.com. For information on Hip Hop Public Health, visit hhph.org.