Cause Marketing Grab Bag

Assorted miscellanea today from the intersection of causes and commerce, marketing and business.

• Out today Trendwatching.com’s Eco Bounty report. Because trendwatching.com casts such a broad net, I find it must reading when I need to inspire my own ideas and thinking.
  
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• Also released today were the results of the third annual Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey which finds that 26 percent of the nonprofits surveyed expect to cut staff in 2009. Here’s a shocking thought; laid off nonprofit employees on the other side of the breadline.
• Adult contemporary/ jazz musician Anders Holst has a new charity single out called All About Soul. During March all proceeds for the sales of the single will benefit the New York affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. 
• Along a similar vein, a host of Brazilian musicians have put out a compilation called Dark Was the Night benefiting the Red Hot Organization, a HIV/AIDS charity.
  
• Huggable American Idol runner-up David Archuleta is fronting an effort from Build-A-Bear Workshop called Love. Hugs. Peace., and meant to inspire kids to improve their world. Archuleta sings a song called Let’s Talk About Love, which you can download from the website (through tomorrow) for $1. Other artists will record the song over time. The money goes to Save the Children. 
  
• Finally, if you find yourself in need of some knowledgeable help with trademarks, I can recommend writer, instructor and trademark and brand doyenne Linda Tancs. We often think of patents as the only real intellectual property. But for many companies and causes their trademarks are the most important elements in their portfolio of intellectual property. And, if properly maintained, they never expire—unlike a patent.