Toyota Halftime Hand Off Rallies Support for Sports-Related Causes

FYI: Toyota Buyer's Guide

TORRANCE, CA--Sept. 21, 2011: Toyota today announced its "Halftime Hand Off: A Rally for Causes" program airing on the NBC Sunday Night Football halftime show, which will award a total of $150,000 to deserving sports-related nonprofit organizations based on public vote. Carrying on the philanthropic spirit of the 100 Cars for Good and Ideas for Good programs, Toyota's latest community effort is designed to aid organizations that use sports as a vehicle for change.

"The Halftime Hand Off program continues Toyota's commitment to the community," said Bill Fay, group vice president of marketing for Toyota. "We look forward to recognizing the efforts of many deserving organizations and supporting them as they strive to change the world."

To familiarize the public with Toyota's previous community involvement, the past three halftime show segments have focused on the 100 Cars for Good (Sept. 8) and Ideas for Good (Sept. 11 and 18) initiatives.  From there, an introductory video running during the September 25 halftime show will direct fans to the Toyota Facebook page to cast votes for deserving non-professional sports associations and sports-related charities.

Toyota, in partnership with Causes.com, will pre-select eligible non-profit organizations to participate in the Halftime Hand Off program. Each week, four organizations will be profiled on the Toyota Facebook page and fans may vote for the charity they feel is most deserving of support. The organization receiving the most votes each week will receive a $10,000 donation from Toyota and will be featured during the following week's halftime show segment.

Public voting begins on September 21 and will continue throughout the 2011 NFL season. Voters may cast one vote per day per voting cycle. Voting is limited to U.S. residents only. To learn more about the Toyota Halftime Hand Off, visit Toyota on Facebook.

About Toyota

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion.  Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of nearly 1,500 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers which sold more than 1.76 million vehicles in 2010.  Toyota directly employs nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion.