Cause marketing sites

Thanks Trendcentral for this report on some recent cause marketing efforts

BURMA: IT CAN'T WAIT VIDEO CAMPAIGN,
TOMS TOURS' SHOE DROP VOLUNTEER VACATION
XBOX 360 GAMES FOR CHANGE CHALLENGE

Burma: It Can't Wait: Kicking off this week to raise awareness and bring to light the turmoil and human atrocities that are facing the Southeast Asian country of Burma is a star studded campaign that will release a different video vignette every day this month, featuring Hollywood elite such as Will Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston, Ellen Page, Sarah Silverman and Judd Apatow, to name a few. With the hope of building a one million person movement to free imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, and her fellow citizens of Burma, this campaign is a call to action for people all over the world to be part of a movement that could change the course of the country. While the issue is serious, the vignettes are very funny. The full campaign will live within social shopping site Fanista at BurmaItCantWait.org, where visitors also will be able to join the campaign, to watch bonus footage from the shoots, and to join Fanista, thereby allowing up to 10% of all of their entertainment purchases to be donated to the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

TOMS Tours: After popularizing the cause-driven, buy-one-give-one consumer product model, TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie's latest endeavor may just do the same for branded volunteer vacations. What started off as an outreach program to help educate and activate consumers (wherein volunteers were invited to help distribute free shoes to children living in some of the world's poorest neighborhoods) has evolved into a full-fledged travel company called TOMS Tours. Due to instantaneous popularity of the "shoe drops", interested parties must fill out an online application to be considered for one of the 15 volunteer positions. Once selected, participants pay $1800 (plus international airfare) for an otherwise all-inclusive trip, to locations such as Argentina, that combines the village visits (where shoes are distributed) with regional group activities such as hiking, wine tasting, and sightseeing.

Xbox 360's Games for Change Challenge: Microsoft has partnered with Games For Change (an organization that supports and promotes social change through game play) to kick off a global competition that challenges socially minded individuals within the gaming community to make the world a better place. The competition, which will kick off in August to coincide with the 5th annual GFC Festival in New York, is open to college students and will require them to create a game in which the goal is to combat global warming. The top three contenders will be considered as potential Xbox LIVE Arcade downloads and their "socially minded" creators will receive cash prizes. The overall winner will also be awarded with an opportunity to apprentice at Microsoft's Interactive Business division as an intern.