Purposeful Giving
On Seth Godin's blog, he points to a school that was built in Nepal as a result of ebook sales he donated.
I think that this is a very smart move. It seems like everybody is jumping on the cause-related marketing band wagon. This means that it's less unique to say, "A % of sales are donated to charity."
With that said, do you think the desperate for money idea has a relation to this. Corporations could donate to the best stories and get a better return on their donations.
In my experience in the nonprofit world, many sell themselves with stories of top alumni, not statistical analysis on the impact they've made.