Tag: npsl

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NPC Opportunities: Weekly Update from Nonprofit Commons

Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons

Events this week: 8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area
Wharf Ratz happens Tuesday nights at Aloft Nonprofit Commons, northern side wharf with Brena Benoir and Coughran Mayo!

WEBINAR: Online Collaboration Tools Thursday, August 26, 11 am Pacific time at the Plush Amphitheatre
It doesn’t matter if your organization is large or small, or if you have a complex network or have no server at all. Knowing about online collaboration tools can help organizations and individuals be more effective, for less money, especially when your staff is not located in one central location.

In this free webinar, Kami Griffiths will interview Jon Warnow from 350.org to learn about the tools that they use to accomplish their mission specifically Google Apps, Skype and Salsa Labs-Democracy in Action. We’ll also hear from Jay Boren, from Google, who will provide more information about Google Apps and the ways that nonprofits and libraries can take advantage of this suite of free tools.

Last week at the NPC:
Megan at TechSoup (Penguin Kuhn inSL) announced changes to the blogging system on www.nonprofitcommons.org and invited our tenants and community members to get involved as bloggers. Talk to Megan if you would like more information on how to become a blogger!
Layal (Ninlil Xentiltat inSL) shared progress with the Community Gateway project, soon to be installed but also decommissioned as an official gateway as Linden Lab is discontinuing the focused orientation program.
Evonne (In Kenzo inSL) introduced the estate managers on each sim and opened the door for new estate managers to join our team on ECO Commons. We are working with the Anshe Chung team to place new estate managers on Plush while updating our lists for the NPCHelp Desk.
Jessica (Kali Izdiak inSL) introduced the Field Trip idea for visiting other sims with our community, a mix of good building inspiration and fun exploring new places.
Glitteractica Cookie will be away for a few more days and Kali, InK, Ninlil and Penguin can assist any tenants by emailing nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

Submit your Projects to the FACT Social Justice Challenge at NetSquared
The French American Charitable Trust (FACT) and NetSquared are pleased to announce the second annual FACT Social Justice Awards. Submissions are now open for your innovative Projects that leverage web and/or mobile technologies to foster collaboration around social justice issues. Learn more about the Challenge and how to participate here: http://netsquared.org/challenges/fact-social-justice-2010

Classes: August 26th at 1PM with Builders Brewery: 1:00 PM SLT
PUTTING IT TOGETHER WHEN BUILDING A HOUSE (or office)
Instructor: Auryn Beorn at Builders Brewery, Dockside
When we build a house, it’s common wanting to add some nice features, as doors that open/close remaining linked to the main build, having a controller that allows us to tint the windows or setting lights ON/OFF. So let’s put it all together in this class, and build a fully featured house. Class length: 90 minutes. Prerequisites: Editing and linking prims, editing scripts.

In case you missed: The Digital Catalog was released by TechSoup Global recently featuring all services and stock available to nonprofits! Visit the Digital Catalog at http://home.techsoup.org/pages/catalog.aspx

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest response.

Written by: InKenzo

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Running Free: Seattle Free School at Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp

[Blog post written by Elliot Harmon and cross-posted on TechSoup Blog]

 

One thing I always enjoy about Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp is getting to know very small organizations. A lot of people stopped by our booth and told us about the challenges their one-or-two-person nonprofits are facing. It’s an important perspective, and a big part of TechSoup’s user base. Working with a tiny staff and budget brings a litany of challenges, but it brings some amazing opportunities too.

The low-budget ethos is encapsulated no better than in the Seattle Free School. SFS doesn’t accept donations and doesn’t apply for grants. Volunteers teach free classes in rooms donated by other local organizations. In two and a half years, SFS has grown from a simple idea into an impressive institution, with classes in topics ranging from crochet to Linux installation to getting Irish citizenship.

Founder Jessica Dally came down from Seattle to give a talk called Run Free: How to Transform Your Community Without Money. (Jessica is also a Nonprofit Commons member and NetSquared Local organizer.) In a one-hour presentation, Jessica took on the daunting task of convincing a room full of people trying to start and grow nonprofits to consider a no-budget model. She started with a simple question: What do you need to start an organization? People called out various budget items (a space, computers, staff, telephones) as well as intangibles (attention, a mission, passion). Next, she asked which items from the list you can’t get for free. We selected a handful of items from the list — publicity, computers, space, and a few others — and for each item we came up with, Jessica explained how SFS had gotten it for free or made do without it.

Publicity? Jessica explained that when she first started SFS, she’d spend a lot of money and time printing flyers and taking them to community centers and coffeeshops around Seattle. One day she realized that there was no way she’d get the fliers everywhere in Seattle; why not crowdsource the job? Now, she posts the flyers on Twitter and Facebook, asking followers to bring them to their own neighborhood spots. “It’s just one copy. You can even print it off at work if you don’t tell anyone,” she joked. But the publicity hasn’t stopped there. A no-budget organization is a compelling story, and it gets SFS a lot of publicity. The school has been featured in every major publication in Seattle, and many of those have been cover stories.

Computers? Jessica and the people who work with her use their own personal computers. This one gives me a small case of jitters: it’s become increasingly common for nonprofit staff to use their own computers at least some of the time, and that’s fine if it’s an understanding that all parties are comfortable with. For any organization doing this, I’d strongly recommend that you use remote backup tools and/or online collaboration tools like Google Docs, Zoho or Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Phones? Jessica explained that at first, she simply put her mobile phone number on SFS’s website. Once she started getting enough calls that it became a problem, she switched to Google Voice. That kind of ad hoc decision-making was a major theme in Jessica’s talk: you don’t need the fancy solution right away; just use the simplest solution that’ll work until it stops working.

Space? SFS began by holding all of its classes in meeting rooms at the library. But as the school got more attention, local organizations started actively courting SFS to hold classes at their offices, with the idea that it was good marketing for them. If SFS were a traditional nonprofit, it’s possible that other local organizations with their own budgetary woes wouldn’t have been so generous.

Finally, someone asked, “How do you support yourself?” Some were bemused by Jessica’s matter-of-fact reply, “I have a day job. Actually, I have three day jobs.” She said that she works about ten hours a week month for SFS, but that those ten hours are all spent on programs, not on fundraising and accounting. When I interviewed NOZA founder Craig Harris a few years ago, he told me that when people start nonprofits, they’re invariably surprised to learn that regardless of what the organization does, they’ll be spending most of their time fundraising. Looking at it that way, there’s something to say for foregoing the fundraising and just getting a day job.

Does a no-budget model make sense for every organization? Maybe not. But we can all learn something from organizations like the Seattle Free School about finding creative solutions and relying on our communities.

Update: See Jessica’s notes in the comments thread.

Microsoft and NOZA are TechSoup product donation partners.

…………………………………………………

Discuss This in Our Forums

What are the advantages of operating with no money? What are the drawbacks? What’s your secret to running your nonprofit on the cheap? Join this Emerging Technologies forum discussion.

Written by: penguin kuhn

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Weekly Update from NPC: August 17, 2010

Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life

Events this week: 8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area!

August 19th at 11AM: WEBINAR TechSoup for Faith-Based Organizations http://bit.ly/tsfaith

Last week at the NPC: Steven Toussaint is our newest resident on Health Commons with the new Alzheimers Association of NYC: Visit their site at http://www.alz.org/nyc/ or check out their new hilltop office on Health Commons!

In Kenzo and Ninlil Xentiltat (Evonne and Layal) gave a detailed Flickr tutorial on how to use the #NPSL tag on uploaded photos along with how to create groups, sets, printed goods, badges for your website and inworld Flickr applications.

Ninlil shared progress on the Community Gateway that will be installed soon on Aloft Nonprofit Commons with the help of Parhelion Parou and Brena Benoir, thank you all for your ideas and contributions.

A special note that the new NPChelp@nonprofitcommons.org alias is now operational for SL-related mentor questions, there are also 6 mailboxes on the four NPC sims that will allow you to drop a request directly to our mentors.

Glitteractica Cookie will be away for the next two weeks but Kali, InK, Ninlil and Penguin will be around to assist any tenants by emailing nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

Classes: August 20th at 3PM with Builders Brewery: 3:00 PM SLT SCRIPTING: Reading Notecards: The Truth Game Instructor: Auryn Beorn Builders Brewery, Dockside I’m sure that, at least once in your life, you all have played “truth or dare”. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able of setting an object for playing the first part, “truth”, with our friends? Wouldn’t it be nice, too, if we could learn the basics of working with notecards at the same time?

In case you missed:
Boost your fundraising: On August 17 and 18, get GrantStation for only $99. Identify private and government grantmakers with GrantStation’s online database and use the tutorials to secure funding. Already have a GrantStation membership? Add another year during this two-day offer. http://www.techsoup.org/stock/promo/?cg=sp Have more questions about GrantStation? Post them here: http://bit.ly/gstation

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest response.

Written by: InKenzo

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NEWS! Weekly update for 8/9/10 from the Nonprofit Commons

NPCommonspeak
Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons

Events this week:
8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre
http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area!
We will be doing special tutorials during the month of August during our Friday morning meetings, so come this week for tips and tools on using Flickr for your organization.

There will be no Grant Station webinar in Second Life this week as previously noted in our weekly update – however you can register and attend this webinar through www.techsoup.org web access.

Last week at the NPC:
EmmaGNP Seaside from Great Nonprofits shared an opportunity to be featured as part of the Science and Technology Campaign. Eligible nonprofits should visit the www.greatnonprofits.org website and ask others to vote for their organizations.
Penguin Kuhn from TechSoupGlobal shared changes to the Nonprofit Commons blog and website. The blog is now the front page to our site and tenants are welcome to apply to blog with NPC.
We discussed plans for the new Community Gateway being installed on Aloft Nonprofit Commons.
Layal and Evonne (Ninlil Xentiltat and In Kenzo) shared the Stories of Impact production plan for short machinima videos to feature our tenants, events and partners at NPC. Virtual Helping Hands and the National Service Inclusion Project are our first featured partners and you can look for more videos up this week at http://youtu.be/E3vuBsIK3NI and http://youtube.com/TechSoupVideo
Glitteractica Cookie will be away for the next two weeks but Kali, InK, Ninlil and Penguin will be around to assist any tenants by emailing nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

Classes:
August 12th at 6PM with Builders Brewery:
BEGINNING BUILDING – Learning the basics, lesson 1 with instructor DeAnn Dufaux Builders Brewery – Dockside (Class 1 of 5) – This is the first class of the series. During this series, we’ll go over some of the building tools that, even if you have built something, perhaps you haven’t thought to use or don’t know what they’re for. Instructions will be for both viewer v.1.23 and v. 2.0.

In case you missed:
The Online Community Managers Meetup is hosted monthly at TechSoup Global in San Francisco and at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre on the fourth wednesday of the month and the next live event will take place September 22nd. From last week’s event here are two quick links—
The first link to Ben Rigby’s presentation on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/benrigby/ocm-presi
The second link is to the follow-up discussion with The Extraordinaries, prompted by our in-person discussion: http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/t/30701.aspx

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest response.

Written by: InKenzo

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Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons: August 3rd Edition

NPCommonspeak
Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons

Events this week:
8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre
http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area!

Wharf Ratz every Tuesday at 8PM on Aloft Nonprofit Commons
http://bit.ly/wharfratz

New Residents:
Welcome the Topia Arts Center and CarynTopia Silvercloud to NPC! Topia has moved into Aloft Nonprofit Commons and is looking for mentorship so please reach out, say hi and help out as you are available!
http://bit.ly/topiaarts

Last week at the NPC:
Anna (Sage Qvetcher in Second Life) joined us from the TechSoup Global offices to share the redesign of TechSoup Stock for easier usability and language that more closely matches nonprofit grant terminology. We hope this will make the TSG Stock program easier to use for everyone.
Cheryl and Henry (RevCheryl Swansen and Jaywick Forcella inSL) shared a new event update system including a notecard submission form that will help the events team craft a press release with you prior to your event and share it with all relevant media. Please plan to submit event listings four weeks in advance for best results.
Evonne (In Kenzo inSL) shared a new mailbox HELP system that allows residents and potential tenants an easy way to reach mentors at NPC. You will find mailboxes in the public areas on each sim where you can click, write your message and it will automatically send an email to our mentor team at NPChelp@techsoup.org.

Classes and Webinars:
Webinar on Grant Station with Cynthia Adams on August 11th at 11AM at the Plush Amphitheatre.
http://blog.techsoup.org/node/1400?cg=sp
For a direct teleport click to http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons

Class at Builders’ Brewery: 3:00 PM SLT LET’S PUT IT TOGETHER BUILDING A HOUSE (or office!) with avatar instructor Auryn Beorn at Builders Brewery, Dockside
When we build a house, it’s common to want to add some nice features – doors that open/close remaining linked to the main build, having a controller that allows us to tint the windows or set lights on or off. In this class you will build a fully featured building.

In case you missed:
The Online Community Managers Meetup is hosted monthly at TechSoup Global in San Francisco and at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre on the fourth wednesday of the month and the next live event will take place September 22nd. From last week’s event here are two quick links—
The first link to Ben Rigby’s presentation on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/benrigby/ocm-presi
The second link is to the follow-up discussion with The Extraordinaries, prompted by our in-person discussion: http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/t/30701.aspx

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions, comments and ideas please contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest feedback response.

Written by: InKenzo

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Extra, Extra!: Ben Rigby talks micro-volunteering and community

Written by guest blogger, MeiMei Fox, @meimeifox and cross-posted to TechSoup blog.

 

 

 

Ben Rigby of the Extraordinaries spoke at the SF Online Community MeetUp and got the conversation rolling on micro-volunteering and building mobile communities.

Update: Ben Rigby’s presentation on SlideShare.

The Opportunity: Why don’t people volunteer?

They don’t have time. Or so we say. Yet we play hundreds of hours of solitaire. We watch 1 billion YouTube videos and spend 270 million hours on Facebook every day. With that time, we could build 40 Empire State Buildings every year. So we have spare time. We have instant internet access thanks to smart phones, and even in the developing world people have mobile phones. And surveys show that we want to help – so there is a desire.

The Solution: Micro-volunteering!

You can volunteer in minute moments, like when you’re standing in line at the post office- you don’t need to go anywhere. You can do it from your mobile phone- you don’t even need to be on a computer or have internet access. Obama raised $500 million, $80 at a time through crowdsourcing micro-donations. The Extraordinaries is doing the same thing for volunteering.

Here are a few examples:

Google image labeler is a technology where you see an image, and you write tags describing what you see. That meta-data makes the image accessible to search engines. So the Extraordinaries built an app whereby, as a volunteer, you could scroll through images and tag them for non-profits like the Smithsonian, which has archives of millions of photos that are untagged and therefore unsearchable.

One day after the Jan 12 earthquake in Haiti, the Extraordinaries turned this technology into a way to find missing persons. They brought images in from news agencies, then put together a survey asking their volunteers to identify what they saw: “Can you see a person in this photo? Age? Gender? Buildings nearby?” People would add meta-data to the photos, and the Extraordinaries created a search engine that allowed you to narrow down images from the news based on this info. You could type in, for example “young, female, pink shirt” and it would narrow down thousands of images to 50 photos. Then they pulled the missing persons feed from Google’s database, and had volunteers sift through one-by-one: Do you see the missing person in the photo on the right in this photo on the left? They found 24 missing persons in this way!

Another example of an Extraordinaries app was when they asked micro-volunteers to find defibrillators, take a picture, and tag them with mapping software. This generated a map of defibrillators everywhere, which is vital because emergency responders only have ten minutes to get to a defibrillator before a person dies from a heart attach.

The Extraordinaries is a for-profit company, in that it wants to generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining. Its original funding came from angel investors, and grants they won from Netsquared and the Knight Foundation. They tried selling their micro-volunteering services to non-profits, but it didn’t work—the non-profits all said no. So now the Extraordinaries offer their services to non-profits free of charge. But they’re selling their services to corporations. 92% of Fortune 500 companies have volunteering efforts, and The Extraordinaries allows them to add an online component to their existing programs.

Unlike VolunteerMatch or Idealist, the Extraodrinaries operates on a networked model. The key is many people doing many, small bits of work that add up to task completion.

The main problem the Extraordinaires is having at the moment is attrition. People register—the iPhone app has over 40,000 downloads—but then they get bored after four days and stop volunteering. So the company’s top priority is to figure out how to build community in order to keep people engaged. How can the Extraordinaries make micro-volunteering as exciting and fun as Farmville?

They know that people don’t like interacting in a vacuum. At first, people had no way of knowing who else was volunteering or, even more importantly, of sharing what they were accomplishing. So now the Extraordinaries has started to add community features, such as being able to Like a piece of advice that someone gives to a non-profit, or being able to share how many hours you’ve volunteered with your friends/team members. But they’re still looking for solutions to this issue – so please share your ideas with BeExtra.org!

Written by: penguin kuhn

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Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons

Weekly Roundup from the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life

Upcoming events @NPSL
Friday meeting 8:30AM every week at the Plush Nonprofit Commons (NPC) Amphitheatre
Weekly Tuesday night social meetups are happening on Aloft NPC at Wharf Ratz, 8PM
Grace Culbertson is hosting a discussion and prayer group at the National Day of Prayer/Tennessee office on Aloft on Tuesday at 7PM.

Events streaming at the Plush NPC Amphitheatre:

July 27th at 11AM: Microsoft 2010 Assistance, learn more about Office 2010: http://bit.ly/Microsoftwebinar

July 28th at 7PM: Online Community Managers Meetup with Ben Rigby from the Extraordinaries live @TechSoup in San Francisco: http://www.meetup.com/octribe/calendar/13319849/

Self-Guided Tour Text Needed!
If you have not submitted your tour text please email nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

with:
Sim Name (Aloft, Plush, Health or Eco) 

Office Number (if you don’t know it please leave blank and we’ll find it for you) 

Avatar Contact information (in world name and possibly email address) 

NPO Name 

Website URL 

Purpose or Mission of your org
Please keep text to three sentences and send this in by Tuesday July 27th for this update!

Last Friday’s meeting:
Amy Sample Ward (Amytron Helendale inSL) came to share about the Netsquared network connected to TechSoup, including local meetups in many cities and innovation challenges for social benefit organizations. To find a local meetup visit http://netsquared.org/local
Jori Clarke (Mali Sunflower inSL) who met Susan Tenby (Glitteractica Cookie inSL) at Games for Change, shared her work providing safe online spaces for kids with KidsCom.com across game worlds and virtual spaces, her slides are available online at http://bit.ly/KidsCom.
Sapna Cheryan (Marie Dirval inSL) led us through her research on stareotypes in Second Life as we looked at ways in which race, gender, age and other distinctions affect our inworld relationships: her slides can be viewed at http://bit.ly/DebunkTypes.
Volunteer questions and ideas please email nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org or find Layal Rabat (Ninlil Xentiltat) inworld. For mentorship needs please find Sandra Andrews (Ozma Malibu inSL) at the NPC.

Featured Org of the Week:
Steven Toussaint of the Alzheimer’s Association of New York has been building a new office on the Health Commons sim where he will be focusing on Alzheimers education. Please welcome him to the hilltop! For more info visit http://www.alznyc.org

Community Gateway:
Brena Benoir and Ninlil Xentiltat are working with our amazing volunteers at NPC to redo our community gateway, updating lessons for Viewer 2 and streamlining the orientation process for new avatars. Please contact Brena or Ninlil to assist in this endeavor on Aloft.

Event Listings:
Avatars RevCheryl Swansen and Jaywick Forcella will be sharing more with us on event listings in our upcoming meeting. Visit the NPSL event calendar at http://nonprofitcommons.org/content/event-calendar

Learn to do more in Second Life!
There are many classes every week inworld that can help you improve your skills at scripting, building, hosting events and creating unique interactive experiences.

Builders Brewery – Seamless Textures
Jul 28, 2010 6PM: www.buildersbrewery.com
Instructor: Avatar Robin Sojourner at Builders Brewery, Dockside
This class shows how to make seamless textures in Photoshop. Examples are given in PS, but the theory is good for any graphics application.

It is always good to see you at NPC for events, collaboration and common causes! If you have specific questions for our team or would like to be added to the agenda for an upcoming meeting please email nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org. Thanks for your volunteer service!

Written by: InKenzo

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Feed a Smile Benefit Event For Live and Learn in Kenya Int

Feed a Smile Benefit Event For Live and Learn in Kenya Int

Brique Zeiner, CEO Brique Topaz in Second Life

 

The goal of the Feed a Smile benefit event is to raise funds to pay for the meals for the children on the Live and Learn in Kenya Intl. NPO program in Nakuru – Kenya. We have nearly 500 mouths to feed.

A huge array of live musicians, tribute groups (U2inSL – Michael Jackson – The Rolling Stones), artists, a modeling and fashion show agency, designers and builders have come together to turn this event into a successful one-week mega event – and to “”feed many, many smiles””.

Begins on July 10, 2010 at 8 am at Pepita (120,86,43) (this is where most of the events will be held unless otherwise noted)

Ends on July 18, 2010 at about 2 pm with a U2inSL concert at Dragon Moon (75, 120, 22)

A more serious discussion group will take place at Aloft Nonprofit Commons Live and Learn in Kenya Int (LLK) (185, 167, 39)

LLK Website: http://www.llk-selb.de

BLOG:

Event calendar:

 

  • Georg Stonewall (G&N Quality Design) – Building
  • Nikki Heron G&N (Quality Design) – Fashion and Blogging
  • Chriscloud Loon (Crossing Culture) – http://www.bluesflavor.com/ – Music

Please help us get the word out by linking people to this blog using this link: http://bit.ly/FeedSmile

For Twitter, use this: Feed A Smile benefit for NPC org: Live and Learn in Kenya 07/08-07/18 http://bit.ly/FeedSmile #secondlife #sl #npsl

Written by: Layal

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Mixed Reality Learning Lab & more at the NCVS Conference in NYC next week

From Evonne Heyning with Claire Sale @techsoup:

The 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS) is June 28-30 in New York City. The NCVS conference is an opportunity for volunteer and service leaders to get together for in-person networking and learning. If you’re going to be there we’d love for you to get in touch — or if you cannot attend, join us in Second Life or on the web!

Here’s a listing of live sessions and spaces hosted by TechSoup:

Mixed Reality Learning Lab
Susan Tenby from TechSoup Global along with Nonprofits in Second Life team members Evonne Heyning and Josephine Dorado

Dates: All conference long!


Location: In the lounge near the ballroom entrance corridor between the conference host exhibit spaces.
The team at TechSoup has brewed up a select menu of tools and strategies to provide a social media curriculum to conference attendees on how to explore Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and applications for engaging volunteers and supporters around the world.

Attendees can join a tour of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life or learn how to use digital storytelling and Facebook for quick and easy updates to keep connected to supporters. Quick tips and tools will be provided on how to get started as well as support for more advanced users. Also, engage in mixed reality events as avatars and representatives from nonprofits around the world discuss their work both virtually and in their communities.

Join us in Second Life at the Nonprofit Commons!
Monday June 28: 7-10AM PST (10AM – 1PM EST)
Tuesday June 29: 7-8AM PST and 11-12:30PM PST (10-11AM or 2:00-3:30PM)
Wednesday June 30: 5:30AM PST (8:30AM EST)
NCVS Schedule

You can also watch this stream on the web directly.

Community-Driven Social Impact Session
Amy Sample Ward from NetSquared

Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Eastern
 Room: 1471
This session focuses on strategies and case studies for creating successful community-driven media, events, and campaigns. Participants will learn about best practices and work in small groups to put learning into practice.

Technology Planning for Nonprofits Session
Catherine Hurd and Elliot Harmon
 from TechSoup Global

Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 from 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Eastern 

Room: 1374
This session will help participants to assess their organization’s technology needs and capacity; work with technical volunteers; and understand the role of technology planning as the foundation for an effective operating environment.

Get in Touch via Twitter
Will you be at the NCVS? We’d love to hear from you at @NetSquared, @TechSoup or @npsl. Or connect with us directly:

Amy Sample Ward: @AmyRSWard
Elliot Harmon: @ElliotHarmon
Susan Tenby: @Suzboop
Evonne Heyning: @amoration
Josephine Dorado: @funksoup

TrackBack: http://blog.techsoup.org/trackback/1360

Written by: InKenzo

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We’re a Finalist for the 2010 Linden Prize!

UPDATE:: The winner of the 2010 Linden Prize is the Tech Virtual Museum, set to receive an award of $10,000 USD. Check out the Winner’s Announcement!

Nonprofit Commons in Second Life was recently chosen as one of ten finalists for this year’s Linden Prize, which recognizes outstanding innovation in improving the lives of people both inside and outside the virtual world of SL.

Each Finalist gave a video interview to Treet TV, and we encourage you to view ours here. Watch Our Video Interview with Treet TV for the Linden Prize. TechSoup Online Community Director and Nonprofit Commons Founding Director, Susan Tenby, (avatar name: Glitteractica Cookie) explains the purpose of Nonprofit Commons in Second Life: “We want to lower the barriers of access to this kind of technology, and allow nonprofits to showcase their mission in a way that they can’t do with the 2-D web.”

Thank you to all who have helped to build this community–your hard work has been recognized in a big way! Be sure to check out The Official Second Life Community Blog for coverage of our 2010 Linden Prize nomination. To learn more about the Winner and other Finalists, click here.

Written by: sparker2