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How Do I Get My Volunteers Involved in SL?

As a relative newbie in SL and NPC, I am still learning pretty much everything. I would love for my NP organization to have a presence in SL, however, I am relatively sure that I am the only member of my nonprofit that has an account. And while I am happy to do what I can to help out my org, I simply can’t be the only person supporting our presence. We are an all volunteer NP which adds to the challenge.

I would love to hear from more seasoned NPC members regarding how they were able to rally the troops and get them involved. My volunteers are just now getting Facebook profiles and blogging. And Twitter is light years away. How do you get your team over the initial shock or the virtual world and get them excited about helping? Have you recruited volunteers in-world? Please share your nuggets of wisdom.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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New Report! Nonprofits in Second Life: Promoting Causes Inside Second Life for Real World Impact

Techsoup.org has just published the latest study on the benefits, impact, challenges and opportunities of nonprofits in Second Life at: http://npsl.wikispaces.com/Validation-+Nonprofits+in+SL

Written by Anika Pastorelli (Sandy Bettger) of GCN, this report represents a collaborative effort among 12 nonprofits, TechSoup and NPC volunteers in capturing, analyzing and presenting the benefits and impact of nonprofits in a virtual world. We hope the study will help all nonprofits in SL to strengthen their rationale and strategy, promote their causes and achieve greater impact.

Below is the abstract:

Nonprofits across the globe have successfully established a virtual community in Second Life (SL) via Nonprofit Commons (NPC), a two-island community managed by TechSoup and populated with almost 80 nonprofits. While NPC is but one of 11 identified “nodes” or centers of nonprofits operating in SL, it is the largest and most prominent in SL, so it is the focus of this study. A recurring concern of nonprofit boards, members and other stakeholders is to determine the benefit of participating in a virtual community environment and the ultimate impact of that participation on their real-world missions and causes. Based on interviews with NPC nonprofit representatives, this study examines the benefits and impact of operating in just such a virtual nonprofit community. The findings are that benefits exist for nonprofits, and that the impact of participation spans more than 10 areas of relevance to nonprofit real-world missions. The results include quantitative data that ranks the relative value of different impact areas on real-life missions and that captures fundraising achievements to date as well as qualitative outcomes and anecdotal examples of impact. The author takes one step beyond the study findings and explores the challenges and future opportunities for nonprofits in SL positioning themselves with respect to technological trends and their new audience (the younger “digital” generations), cost savings and environmental benefits. These research results and future considerations provide a strong rationale for the participation of nonprofits in a virtual community.

Comments/Questions: IM Anika Pastorelli in-world or email sbettger1@msn.com

Written by: GCN

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Peggy Weil and Nonny de la Peña Discuss Using Art for Political Activism at Justice Center October 24


Can virtual art stimulate real-world political action? Find out on Friday, October 24, as digital media artists Peggy Weil (Ping Rau in SL) and Nonny de la Peña (Nonny Writer) discuss how they are using 3D artwork as a form of political expression and civic engagement. At the Justice Center (click here to teleport ) from 10-11am PST on October 24.

Peggy and Nonny have been involved in a number of ground-breaking digital media projects that explore the intersections of art and politics, from “The Redistricting Game” that Peggy designed to “Unconstitutional” a documentary of civil liberties in America post 9/11 produced by Nonny. They will talk about their latest explorations of political artwork in SL, from the “Gone Gitmo” project to the “Mauerkrankheit/Wallsickness” installation that was an Annenberg Public Good Merit Award winner. Then we will teleport over to their exhibits to get a guided tour from them

Written by: rikomatic

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Promoting Causes Inside Second Life – For Real-World Impact

There is a fantastic, comprehensive report on the WIKI compiled and delivered by Anika Pastorelli (aka Sandra Bettger) called Nonprofits and Second Life: Promoting Causes Inside Second Life – For Real-World Impact.

The report details the benefits of maintaining and operating a presence within Second Life and how it breaks down into real-life organizational missions. She’s also included the challenges and future opportunities for nonprofits considering new technology and the shift of new audiences.

I personally think that this is a must-read for anyone considering a virtual presence for their nonprofit and look forward to reading it myself!

Thanks, Anika!

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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An Open Source Grant Making System

Grant-making isn’t a cheap venture. Even if you are a re-granting agency (you are given money to give away), the overhead involved in running a grants program is significant. I want to help that change.

Six or so years ago, I was central in developing an online grants system and later managing a grants program using that online grants system. During that time, I worked with roughly 20 large and small organizations that gave grants ranging from city, to county, to state, to federal agencies.

Many grants programs are paper-based. Applications are filled out with pen on paper or with a typewriter. In some instances the application is available as a fillable PDF, but ultimately the process becomes analog-paper being passed from administrator to panels and from agency to applicant. It is expensive in human resources–people having to manage the process often, with the help of, excel or other spreadsheet applications.

Other grants programs use specialised software which–by and large–is expensive to set up and expensive to license each year.

The more money used to administer grants programs, the less money there is to distribute. Less Money to distribute=Less Good in the target community.

At pingVision, we have assembled a Knight Drupal Initiative Proposal that addresses the need for an open-source solution for grant-makers. This application seeks:

  1. To create an easy-to-use, state of the art, open-source grant-making system using the Drupal Content Management system.
  2. To allow for custom development of application forms.
  3. To allow for custom theme development.
  4. To provide management tools for grant applicants, grantees, panelists, and Grant-makers

Interested in helping? We can use constructive comments and votes! Help make this project happen.

You do need to register to vote and comment. If you do vote, please leave a comment of some kind.

Thanks!
Creech (Matthew)

Written by: Creech

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SL-BaSE – the Second Life Business and Social Expo

From Eschatos Graves…

As was noted this week in the Metaverse Messenger, we’ve started
up a new division, Metaverse Conference Management, to develop a new series of meetings. The first of these is SL-BaSE, the Second Life Business and Social Expo, which is (obviously) going to focus specifically on Second Life.

Details:
What: ….. SL-BaSE
When: …. June 4-7, 2009
Where: … Portland, OR
Web: …… http://sl-base.com

We’re splitting up the Business and Social parts into individual conferences, with the Business Conference running on Thursday and Friday, and the Social Conference running on Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, on all four days there is going to be an exhibition hall featuring vendors displaying their SL-oriented products and services, from in-world scripts and gadgets, to assorted real-world hardware.

There are four options for attending SL-BaSE, a Full-Conference pass, a Business Conference (w/expo) pass, a Social Conference (w/expo) pass, and an expo-only pass. Also, there are deep discounts for early registration, saving as much as 68% off the at-the-door rates.

We’re still very early in the planning process, but we have the basics.

The Business Conference has 5 tracks, with 4 sessions on each of the 2 days. The tracks are:

Education
Business
Technology
Non-Profit
and “Sponsored”

The Social Conference has 5 tracks, with 4 sessions on Saturday, and 3 sessions on Sunday. The tracks are:

Business “inSL”
Art & Culture
Community
Building/Scripting
and Machinima

We are currently taking “Track Proposals” for any of these sessions, and hope that many NPC folks will send in concepts for presentations, especially in the “Education”, “Non-Profit”, “Art & Culture”, and “Community” tracks!

More info (and a full schedule, such as it is at this point) is on the website.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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Avatar on Duty

Hi there… just wanted to let you all know we’re on hiatus until November. We’re taking the information we’ve gathered thus far and will share the results with you all via this blog.

Also, we are hoping to expand the hours and services we offer to nonprofits in the Commons. We’ll keep you posted.

Please, if you should have any questions, contact me at saigalas@gvsu.edu or in SL at 2020Vision Obviate. I’ll try to respond to you as quickly as possible.

Thanks,

Ashima

Written by: ashima.saigal

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Mollom Spam Filter — An Update

Mollom has been doing its job pretty well. In the last month it has caught over 1100 potential spam comments on the site! Where I had been engaged in daily cleanup of of anywhere from 20-50 spam comments, I have only had to “pick off’ a handful manually.

I guess the question is, have the members of this community found it easier or harder to use the site? Have you noticed any change?

Let me know.

Best,
Creech (Matthew)

Written by: Creech

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Halloween Party Preparations – Ghoulishly Grand!

The NPC Halloween party is just around the corner and Mercedes and Anika are kicking butt and taking names! =) If your NPO wishes to participate in the party, please send Mercedes or Anika the following with full perms (copy mod and transfer):

  • a Landmark to your office in NPC
  • a LOGO
  • a notecard about your NPO
  • a full perm item for your treat bag

    • These need to be submitted by October 15!

    Dress up and get the word out about your organization and P-A-R-T-Y with us on October 25! Here are the details…

    October 25, 2008
    4PM-11:30PM SLT

    NPC community-wide Halloween Party, with trick or treating at nonprofit offices (4PM SLT), dance party on NPC2-Aloft (4PM SLT), and a movie on NPC1-Plush (9PM SLT). The purpose is to promote the NPC two-island community as well as the individual 80 nonprofit residents, and to just have fun on Halloween. (PG costumes only as NPC2 is a PG sim). The venue is “in world” (inside Second Life): See SLURLS below under links. For more information, IM Anika Pastorelli inside SL.

    Written by: Beth J. Bates

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    GRAND OPENING PARTY – ABLE (Association for Better Living & Education)

    Don’t be left out!! JOIN us for the grand opening party for ABLE (the Association for Better Living & Education). There will be fireworks, dancing to a live DJ, games and refreshments, as well as networking opportunities and a seriously fun time!

    ABLE (the Association for Better Living & Education) is an international nonprofit organization working in the fields of: Improving education & literacy; Drug rehabilitation & education; Inmate rehabilitation and life skills; and Campaigning in common sense values that bring communities together in harmony and cooperative achievement.

    October 11, 2008
    8PM SLT
    Aloft Nonprofit Commons
    More details…

    Come hang out and meet other NPC residents, volunteers and supporters!

    Written by: Beth J. Bates