Actress Renee Zellweger, along with musicians Richie Sambora and Tommy Lee, are among stateside celebrities who are supporting an app Csnaps(Charity Snaps) that turns repetitive fan photos into a purpose-driven way to raise funds for charities.

Fans wanting to experience a meaningful and memorable meet with a star request for a ‘Lifesaver Selfie’, as explained in this promotional YouTube video. Participating stars wanting to optimise their time for needy causes can turn a once casual pose into meaningful act of giving together by insisting “Csnaps only please”. The Csnaps app  or selfie.app is downloaded in seconds. Fans then purchase the pics for $3 with proceeds going straight to the featured stars’ top three charities selected in their Csnap account settings.

Unregistered stars taking Lifesavers for the first time have an incentive to register with Csnaps so that donations are directed to their favourite charities. With stars who are not registered, the donation will go to the Csnaps house charity.

Bon Jovi guitarist Sambora is using his pictures to support musical scholarships for low income children via the charity Ovation, while Tommy Lee is supporting animal rights organisation PETA. Renee Zellweger’s went to ALS Association.

Other charities currently benefiting from donations to the app include Childhelp, Smile Train, Humane Society, the Wolf Education Project, and the Foundation for Arts.

Csnaps was inspired by Ellen DeGeneres and the Oscars selfie that went viral in February 2014. The star-studded digital snap, which included Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, as well as DeGeneres herself, became the most shared selfie to date. Its success inspired Csnaps inventors to think of ways in which celebrity selfies can be turned into charity funds.

“This purpose driven act gets the fan their pic and the charity gets the money,” said Terry Ahern, Co-founder at Csnaps, “so together, they’re both making a real difference in other’s lives.”