In this day and age every company has to find a way to do their part. While some companies (like ours) cant make massive donations – there is always a way to give back to the community.

We would like to introduce our way of giving back.

We call it the “Win-Win Campaign” and it’s something we are so excited about, and proud of, we had to post about it even though it’s still in development. The idea stemmed from us meeting with Street Haven a charitable organization that provides assistance to women in Toronto dealing with issues related to mental health, addiction, violence, poverty and homelessness. We offered Street Haven the production of their web video content for free. We cant give them lots of money – but we can help them spread their message.

After our initial meeting we did however realize – that YIKES! this project is going to be a lot of work! Being a company that prides itself in the quality of its pieces, there was no way we would provide Street Haven with anything less then something extraordinary. So although we are really proud and excited to take on this project, we realized we were going to need help. We thought about what we could do for a short while, until the Win-Win Campaign emerged from the depths of our imagination.

The way the “Win-Win Campaign” works is like this:

- We find two interns in film/video production that need to create more work for their personal resume/reel.
- We pair them up with a charity (in this case Street Haven)
- We let the intern produce the entire video beginning to end – mentoring them the entire way through the process.

The intern gets full access in using our studio and all of our equipment, they get training in pre-production, camera technique, interviewing skills, editing, working with a team and most importantly they get a project they can call their own that has a real world application.

The charity gets a high quality video because we stay involved the entire time and provide access to animators, professional copywriters, equipment and our own expertise.

Everyone wins in the end.

Before starting The Biz Media I was the VP, Corporate Social Initiatives at ARC: Artists Raising Conciousness and this is where I learned the importance of giving back. I worked alongside ARC president Billie Mintz on various projects with both large companies and not-for-profit organizations. Since working for ARC I have been looking for ways to give back and what we are doing now at The Biz Media with The Win-Win Campaign is our contribution.

We just selected our first two interns who are very eager to work with Street Haven. When the video is done it will be posted on the Street Haven site and on our blog. If you are a not-for-profit organization / charity and want to apply for a free video to add value to your organizations website or want more information please send me an email at dan@thebizmedia.com. If you’re just reading this out of interest – please help spread the message by sharing this post on facebook/twitter.

We are going to set up a formal application on the website sometime soon – but for now are taking applications via email.