A community-led project, providing space to meet and network, all to create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach, education, fundraising, all in a virtual environment.
Courtesy of Bernhard Drax, we now have a wonderful new Nonprofit Commons Video. Draxtor did a fantastic job putting this together. If you like what you see, be sure to check out more of our Nonprofits and Second Life videos and Draxtor’s weekly Life4U show “The Drax Files”.
Written by: penguin kuhn
Tomorrow, April 28th at 11 A.M. PST/SL, Robert Bloomfield and Metanomics hosts Susan Tenby (aka Glitteractica Cookie) of TechSoup, and the American Cancer Society’s Randal Moss, Director of the Futuring and Innovation Center.
Monday’s event will take place on Muse Arena on Muse Isle, as well as through Metanomics’ event partners, and filmed and streamed live on SLCN.tv.
Afterward, if you wish to discuss the topic further, miss the live event, or hope to network with others in the virtual business community, attend “Metanomics Rewind” on Muse Isle. This week’s episode of Metanomics will be rebroadcast on Tuesday at 3:00PM SLT.
Contact Bevan Whitfield or JenzZa Misfit in SL for more details or visit the Metanomics site.
Written by: penguin kuhn
Three ways to be a hero.
One event to launch them.
The Second Life Event April 26th will celebrate the launch of:
Register in Second Life to ensure you have a seat or visit the Face Book Event Page.
The virtual event will bring together IT Pros and Developers to get an in-depth, up-close look at the new products and will give attendees an opportunity to meet with their peers as well as Microsoft employees.
The event is designed to give attendees a high level technical overview covering features and solutions of all three new products in a classroom environment.
This is an opportunity to:
Join in for this day long celebration!
Check out the schedule of the day’s events, find links to downloads for Live Meeting, and more information here.
Written by: penguin kuhn
Got FaceBook? Then please help us to raise $1,000.00 to send school supplies to our students in Lesotho, southern Africa.
SOLID, the organization supporting the Gardens of Hope project, has a presence in Second Life. You can find us on Better World Island. With the Gardens of Hope project we support the building of food gardens, tree nurseries and greenhouses in Lesotho. One of our projects is at a disabled centre where, just last year, we built the 1st fully integrated school in Lesotho. This primary school meets the educational needs of 330 orphans and vulnerable children. Integration of special needs students into the classroom affords disabled and mentally handicapped children the opportunity to learn, and fosters a culture of tolerance and compassion. 40 of the students at Mamello English Medium School have special needs, from physical to mental handicaps. Enrollment in the primary school is free and the children are not required to have a uniform … more 1sts for Lesotho!
This month FaceBook is sponsoring a Razoo Speed Grant and the top prize is for $1,000.00! Please consider logging in to your FaceBook account and voting for our proposal “A New Year for African Students” which you will find here: http://apps.facebook.com/speedgranting/proposal.php?pid=553&ref=NTUzfDc3…
Then recruit your friends to vote!
In world you will find posters in the gardens at Better World Island, at the Prim Perfect offices and various other locations in Second Life. Saffia, editor and owner of Prim Perfect, Second Life Style for Home and Garden, has been a wonderful promoter and supporter of the Gardens of Hope project. You can find her blog entry for the FaceBook campaign here: http://primperfectblog.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/using-facebook-to-raise-… The posters contain a direct link to our proposal on FaceBook and are copy-able. If you have a space in Second Life please consider taking a copy and putting the poster up to promote our campaign.
This $1,000.00 will go a long way to provide our students with the tools they need for learning.
Contest closes January 14, 2008 so please vote soon. Thank you for your support of African students in Lesotho.
If you have any questions please IM Zeke Poutine in world.
Wishing you all the best to you and yours in 2008!
XoX Zeke
Written by: Zeke
The Transgender Day of Remembrance began nine years ago as a way to honor victims of transgender hate crimes and raise public awareness about such violence. Yesterday was the first Transgender Day of Remembrance in Second Life. Elysium Gardens, along with the Transgender Resource Center hosted the first Second Life service in memory of victims of violence against transgendered people. The event lasted all day and provided Second Life avatars worldwide a space to honor and remember victims, such as Gwen Arajuo.
The service included many Second Life residents and supporters sharing memories and their personal stories and experiences of those who were victims of suicide or transgender hate crimes. At a candlelight evening ceremony, Jani Myriam of the Transgender Resource Center gave a touching remembrance address.
You can find out more about the Transgender Day of Remembrance by visiting: http://www.rememberingourdead.org/day/.
Written by: penguin kuhn
This recent Second Life scandal has some nonprofit board members concerned about the value for nonprofits using Second Life. Much like the Web, Second Life also has some seedy people out there. But as many nonprofits can attest, the ever-growing community of amazing avatars working for good far outweighs the few “bad apples” or rather “bad avatars.”
Here’s a list of 10 reasons why Second Life is worthwhile for your nonprofit:
1. Over 2 million people use Second Life. That’s a large community of people–and potential folks that your organization can reach.
2. Second Life offers new ways to collaborate and get work done. Through in-world meetings, people from disparate parts of the globe can chat (by text and voice), share documents and information, and work together on virtual projects.
3. It’s a carbon-friendly way to connect with people worldwide. Imagine the carbon (and cost savings) of participating in a global conference from the privacy of your own computer. OneClimate‘s OneWorld Island is offering just that with their Virtual Bali conference this fall, offering an alternative for people to participate virtually in the annual UN conference without the carbon cost of flying.
4. Low cost. The basic Second Life account is free, though there are additional costs for purchasing land. The Nonprofit Commons virtual space is donated land that allows nonprofits to set up virtual shop at no cost to the organization.
5. It gives your organization the opportunity to be thought leaders and innovators in your field of expertise. For example, Global Kids has run a series of virtual workshops on global issues and leadership to teens and are developing best practices for bringing this type of education into Second Life.
6. Second Life can provide a virtual sandbox for NPOs to experiment with different ways of building awareness and support for their cause. For Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York, developing a Second Life presence was a pilot project as a new program to contribute to their mission. Just as you have to try out a new fundraising or membership strategy, organizations can experiment with Second Life as another approach for meeting its goals.
7. Second Life awareness often translates into real-world donations. Consider the case of the Digital Campfires Foundation. Through connecting with others in Second Life, Digital Campfires received nearly a semi truck load of real-world donated monitors and computers.
8. Virtual worlds offer a level of interactivity that the Web can’t match. Take the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) developed the Gone Gitmo project. This Second Life representation of Guantanamo Bay gives avatars a temporary simulated experience of what it’s like to be imprisoned in Guatanamo Bay and to teach about issues of habeas corpus.
9. Second Life fosters innovation and creativity. Nonprofits are continually coming up with new ways to gain awareness and touch people. Whether that’s through in-world concerts, virtual political debates or art exhibits, Second Life offers endless possibilities for creatively combining visual, text, and audio technologies.
10. Second Life is continually evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated as technologies are developed. The possibilities for technical and social innovations in virtual worlds abound!
Written by: penguin kuhn
Over 38.8 million people, in 110 countries participated in this years Stand Up and Speak Out event, a global initiative launched by the United Nations Millennium Campaign, to show support for the UN Millennium Development goals and against poverty. We joined them in their call by organising a Stand Up Against Poverty event in the virtual world Second Life. We had 70 visitors to our virtual Fight Hunger office at the Nonprofit Commons during the both events and it was really nice to meet so many interesting people and discuss ways to help end poverty and hunger. Our avatar Fight Hunchke had invaluable help of the avatar DrChaos Torok with organising the Stand Up event.
During the Stand Up in Second Life, the visitors were given free Stand Up bracelets and T-shirts to show their support for the UN Millennium Development goals. Here you find a link to our Fight Hunger office in Second Life.
The worldwide “Stand Up and Speak Out” event broke the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to “Stand Up Against Poverty” in 24 hours. The record attempt took place over 16th and 17th October and was jointly organised by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty with a wide range of other partners. The challenge saw millions of people physically and intentionally standing up against poverty, inequality and in support of the Millennium Development Goals. They spoke out to demand a more urgent political response to the growing crisis of global poverty.
Written by: FightHunger.org
Paul Young of Converseon sends news that the Second Chance Trees initiative has been selected as one of 50 finalists in a competition sponsored by American Express called "The Members Project." Second Chance Trees is an effort to raise awareness about and funds for rainforest re-forestation around the world. Second Life residents can purchase virtual trees in a lush rainforest setting for L$300 (about one US dollar), which funds the planting of a real tree in a rainforest somewhere in the real world.
Paul says that if Second Chance Trees wins the competition, they could get up to $5 million, which would fund millions of trees. Amex card holders can vote for Second Chance (or any other member project) by going to http://www.membersproject.com.
There’s a YouTube video that explains the Second Chance initiative, but of course it’s best to teleport in and check it out yourself in-world (teleport SLURL.) Buy a few trees while you’re there. I’m partial to the "Golden Shower" and the "Mangium" myself. Second Chance Trees was conceived, developed and built by social media agency Converseon in partnership with the non-profit Plant It 2020.
Written by: rikomatic
I was working on trying to furnish the WESTAF office last night. I looked into the "object" containing all manner of lamps and lights and quite by accident clothed myself with a myriad of lighting objects in one fell swoop. This was the outcome…
Written by: Creech