Here’s the link
http://nptimes.blogspot.com/2007/09/virtual-land-rush-nonprofits-stake-y…
Written by: kanter
Support Burma in Second Life: Red T-Shirt and Vigil on Commonwealth Island
Attended the Nonprofit Commons and there was a T-Shirt giver and I got my virtual T-Shirt. There’s also a vigil being held today organized by the Peacemaker Institute on Commonwealth Island. Here’s the information on the notecard:
Please join us in solidarity for the monks in Burma who are beng killed and imprisoned…a meditation/vigil will be held throughout the day on Friday the 28th on Commonwealth island:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/110/137/24
They are arresting and imprisoning monks- so far over 700 have been arrested.
They have raided dozens of monasteries
While the regime is stating only 9 have been killed the number is far closer to 200
They have snipers on tops of buildings to pick of the leaders
They are trying to suppress the violence.
We MUST protest!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1 – Protest – Look below for details of worldwide protests. Contact US Campaign for Burma to sign up to hold a march, vigil or any sort of event in your area- thelma@uscampaignforburma.org there is also a protest being held on Burning Life sim today.
2 – Spread the word – Invite your friends to this group, email all your family and friends, write to local newspapers
3 – Write to your elected official – they will respond if enough people contact them.
4 – Wear red clothes on Friday. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=18267307704
5 – Email the companies that still operate in Burma, their email addresses are listed here http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=24957770200&topic=3071
6 – Sign up for the petition!
•http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/action/action.html
•http://www.petitiononline.com/BUR_2007/petition.html
•http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/h.php/?cl=20589575
Written by: kanter
Update on “Pink for Life” mixed-reality breast cancer charity event
Wow, there is like a ton of in-world activity going on around cancer lately. Here’s yet another cancer-related benefit coming up in October.
Yogi Huldschinsky, the organizer of an upcoming charity event entitled "Pink for Life," contacted me regarding some changes to their mixed-reality event, which I have blogged about previously. "Pink for Life" is a benefit for the Institut Gustave Roussy, a prominent French breast cancer research center, taking place October 9-10.
First of all, Yogi tells me that they succeeded in getting the permission of several real world luxury brands to reproduce their products in Second Life for auction. (So that’s not a knock-off virtual Prada bag, honey!) Also they will no longer be holding a virtual auction, and instead will be giving away pink ribbons and asking for linden dollar donations. SL designers are still asked to "lend" pink objects for display, but they won’t be up for sale or auction.
Oh yeah, they are also looking for models to strut their stuff on the runway with the donated goods.
Hit the jump for the complete announcement or go to http://www.ConceptSL.com/…
Message from Yogi Huldschinsky:
Thanks to a lot of support and feedback from the SL community (thanks everyone !), we have modified the organization for a more effective event. Moreover, after intensive negociations, we have now the opportunity to reproduce on SL some objects from the RL exhibition (we should thank here the fashion designers and luxury brands that allowed this !).
To facilitate the RL objects reproduction and the setting up of the SL exhibition, the "Pink for Life on SL" operation will take place at the same time as the RL exhibition : Oct. 9 and 10.
Instead of the "auction sale" of virtual goods we will give away pink ribbons "Pink for Life on SL", and set up a donate box in the exhibition hall to receive donations in L$.
We are offering the SL designers community a chance to help in setting up all this by "lending" their pink objects, which will be exposed along the RL reproduced objects. Selected designers will also be put forward during the entire operation on our website : ConceptSL.com
In order for us to reproduce a maximum of RL objects, and to enable more SL designers to submit their creations, we are extending the submission deadline to October 4th. Please send pictures of your objects to fashion@conceptsl.com (If you intend to participate please send an IM to Yogi Huldschinsky to facilitate the organization).
As usual you can find all the details on the dedicated webpage : http://www.ConceptSL.com/igr.php
P.S. : we are still looking for models and stewards/stewardess to wear the clothes during the exhibition and also to answer visitor’s questions. If you are interested, please send us an email : contact@conceptsl.com
Thanks.
Yogi Huldschinsky
Pink For Life Event Organizer
Written by: rikomatic
New Events sign/calendar at NPC landing point
I just discovered that the new events committee of the Nonprofits in SL group, also known as the Nonprofit Commons community has created a calendar/sign post. This was very exciting to me since this is something that I have wanted to have in-world for a while now. While I was having lunch in RL with SLebrity, Jani Myriam, of Transgender Resource Center fame, on Friday, she and I were discussing how if you want something to happen in a community in SL, you mostly have to do it yourself, or it takes long to never to happen. It was a commons frustration we shared. Until recently…I am lucky to have Coughran Mayo, Kosmik Guru and PCOSGurl Infinity on the new events team.
While I was there, I was talking to Movies1963 Beck who has a MySpace page dedicated to SL Live events. He was looking at the new NPC events calendar, and I told him that I was interested in having the events tagged NPSL in eventful. “Tagging?, What’s that?”, he asked. “Uh oh”, my reply. I then barraged him with TechSoup articles on tagging and forum threads on feeds and tagging 101. Then, fortunately, Faust (Nick Hernandez) came to my rescue. While I flew away, I over heard him uttering, “There are sites like del.icio.us that you can…”
So, thankfully, I had achieved a few positive things in world tonight. I got friendly with an avatar who has a myspace page for SL live events, I learned about a new events calendar that our group has put together and I helped introduce a couple members of our community and one learned about Web 2.0.
You see! SL is more than just a game! On the note of the calendar/sign. Do any of you know how to make the events on that thing get tagged with NPSL for eventful, so it can be fed into this site?
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/130/179/26
Written by: Glitteractica_Cookie
Global Aid Foundation seeks non-profit partners to manage shared island in Second Life
I received this appeal from the Global Aid Foundation for help in keeping their sim Castella (teleport SLURL) alive:
Global Aid Foundation has diligently been trying to establish a base of operations for our organization and to serve as well as a platform for other NGO’s. After almost a year of presence in SL and our efforts in offering free space for organization to showcase their services, the response has been minimal. At this point we will like to share with other NGO’s our islands; we seek to share the tier cost in exchange; we will be willing to subdivide. We can me modify our islands to suit any needs or projects. Currently there is a conference center with a nice beach with surf and decorating flora all over around, as well as some rides.
For further information or to arrange for an inworld meeting, contact Christine Dobush at mainoffice@globalaf.org.
Written by: rikomatic
Meet PCOSGurl Infinity
PCOSGurl Infinity/Ashley Tabeling
Tell me about your organization
In February of 2007 I founded an organization for women and girls who are suffering with PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome. This came out of my own frustrations with gong through years of not knowing what was wrong with me and incorrect diagnosis. Then once I got the right diagnosis, there was no information available out treatment and the condition itself. I have been invovled with the PCOs Community online since 2000.
What is your role with the organization?
I am the chief operations officer. We have an all-volunteer staff of 25 people who handle daily operations, support services and the creation of an PCOS community on Second Life.
Why did you decide to come into Second Life?
As our organization is trying to reach women worldwide, we are a virtual organization
It was only natural that we open offices in Second Life, which will allows us to reach these individuals in a way that may otherwise be impossible. We now have the availibilty to bring, patients, the public and healthcare providers together on a regualr basis.
What are some of the benefits so far?
One of the greatest benefits is being able to network with like minded people and organizations
The other day, I was able to speak with a woman who runs an online medical information kiosk that I was trying to connect with. We are finding a lot of patient support groups in Second Life. I think it is because Second Life is a fantastic empowerment tool.
What are your current or planned activities?
We’re just getting started, but we will be distributing information, facilitating support groups, and have lectures/talks. We will host monthly support meetings. And, even though we’ve just gotten started, we have already seen a large influx of women with PCOS coming to SL to join our group and take part in our activities. Additionally we are offering new SL members a weekly orientation on Project PCOS and SL and have many in-world information resources for our members. The biggest thing is the connection. It’s the ability for people to be able to see and interact with one another and get immediate support.
What advice would you give to other nonprofits who want to start in Second Life?
Second Life is moving non-profits in to the next era. It enhances a nonprofit organization’s aiblity to connect, network, and provide service. The opportunities are limitless and the ability to impact the success of our real life organization is amazing.
More information at can be found at the
http://www.projectpcos.org/blog/index.php
Written by: kanter
French humanitarian group Première Urgence sets up shop in Second Life
I just got a press release from the French humanitarian aid group Premiere Urgence. According to their mission statement, they "engage in concrete and direct actions to assist victims put in danger, marginalized and excluded by the effects of natural catastrophes, war, civil actions, and conflicts based on economic collapse due to political changes internationally or nationally." In 2006 alone, 1.2 million people in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia benefited directly from actions by Premiere Urgence.
As part of their 15 year anniversary, Premiere Urgence is establishing a virtual headquarters in Second Life. They see their SL space as a means to spread the word about their work, raise funding support, provide opportunities for people to volunteer for one of their humanitarian missions, and keep up to date on their work through news updates, photos and video from their work around the world.
Head to Porcupine sim (teleport SLURL) to check out their HQ. The complete announcement (in French) follows…
Pour
ses 15 ans, Première Urgence installe la Solidarité
Internationale sur Second Life
Paris,
le 14/09/2007 – On connaissait déjà Second Life pour
être un formidable relais pour les échanges économiques
et sociaux. Avec l’arrivée de Première
Urgence, l’ONG de Solidarité Internationale qui fête
ses quinze ans, c’est toute une conception d’un monde solidaire
qui s’installe et veut s’imposer sur Second Life. Parce que
second Life est le reflet de la diversité des intérêts
de ses résidents, Community
Chest considère qu’il est primordial d’y ancrer les
initiatives solidaires de manière durable.
Avec
Première Urgence,
Community Chest a débuté
les implantations visant à défendre dans Second Life
les principes du droit à la vie et à la dignité.
Second Life est, pour Première Urgence et Community
Chest, un moyen efficace pour venir en aide, soulager et
préserver des vies humaines là où elles sont
menacées.
Directement sur l’implantation SL de Première
Urgence, les fondations privées, les entreprises et la
générosité publique peuvent désormais
soutenir les actions de PU grâce aux bornes « dons ».
Les candidats peuvent également y postuler pour partir en
mission humanitaire sur le terrain. Première
Urgence sur Second Life est également conçu comme
un lieu d’échanges, d’information où le public
pourra se tenir au courant des actions en cours grâce aux
expositions de photos et aux projections vidéos des missions
réalisées.
Pour
vous y rendre: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Porcupine/103/158/114
Pour
créer votre avatar: https://secure-web6.secondlife.com/join
Pour
plus d’informations, contactez:
Première
Urgence
9
bis, rue Georges
92250
La Garenne-Colombes France
Tél.
: 00 33 (0)1 55 66 99 66
Fax
: 00 33 (0)1 55 66 99 60
Web: http://www.premiere-urgence.org
Written by: rikomatic
American Cancer Society grand opening in Second Life this Sunday
The American Cancer Society is holding an official dedication and grand opening event for its new headquarters in Second Life (Teleport SLURL) on Sunday September 23. The festivities start at 12 noon PST with opening speeches by representatives of the ACS, the SL Relay for Life, a cancer survivor, and a doctor. This will be followed by tours of the sim, readings, a fashion show, and live music by FinalSago Sodwind, Kim Seifert and Silas Scarborough.
It’s a beautiful island, centered around a Hope Tree that gives off little sparks that float gently around the island. Cancer is a disease that effects everyone at some point. Having a virtual space for people to find support, information and community is wonderful and powerful.
The full schedule follows after the jump…
ACS Dedication Ceremony and Grand Opening
Sunday, September 23
***program subject to change***
(Updated Sept 16)
**************************************
12 noon SLT: Start of Dedication Ceremony
Opening speakers
*Welcome – RC Mars (ACS)
*Fayandria Foley (Relay For Life)
*Candy Antonelli (Survivors)
*DoctorAnn Buchanan (medical community in SL)
*Announcement of winners in the contest to choose a name for the chat room
12.25 pm SLT: Introduction to Luminaria walk – Poppy Zabelin and Marissa Goodliffe
12.30 pm SLT: Gather at Hope tree
6-8 original readings along the route, by survivors, caregivers, and RFL volunteers, interspersed with the Survivor Songs, including:
*If I’d Not Known Her Eyes and Playgrounds – Aryon Dagger
*I am… – Synergy Devonshire
*Lord, Make My Life a Prayer – DevilMayCare JeTaime
*Arms Open Wide – Artistic Fimicoloud
*Fairy Dust – Poppy Zabelin
1.15 pm SLT: Close of Dedication Ceremony at Memorial Garden with the following readings:
*A Time to Live and a Time to Fly – LadyKay Gable
*Poetic ending – Estaban Graves
*Pueblo Blessing – Pips Fetid
*Closing speaker – Wysdom Wise
2 pm SLT: "Fashion Fights Back" – A fashion show featuring designs from Relay For Life and sponsored by the Metaverse Messenger and Second Life Magazine
2.30 pm SLT: Grand Gala "Celebration of Life" with live music featuring Second Life artists FinalSago Sodwind, Kim Seifert and Silas Scarborough
Written by: rikomatic
Gone Gitmo Launches on Monday, September 17th at 10:30 AM PST
USC Institute for Media Literacy and the Seton Hall School of Law will be launching on Monday a “Virtual Guantanamo” to focus on public policy issues surrounding the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. The first in a series of monthly discussions about various political, legal and ethical questions surrounding the detention center, the program on Monday will center on constitutional questions relevant to Guantanamo. It looks like this will be a mixed-reality discussion, taking place both at Seton Hall and in-world at a simulated Guantanamo detention center.
Rik Riel has a great write up with photos and videos.
That’s this Monday, September 17, beginning at 10:30AM PST at IML sim (teleport SLURL).
Written by: kanter
Kiva in Second Life: Interview With Official SL Volunteers
Second Life kiva.org volunteer: Julles Boucher
Kiva.org, a micro-finance organization, has funded nearly 17,0000 loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries and last week crossed the $11 million rank. Kiva.org has already had a very big year, funding about $9 million worth of loans so far, and having been featured in the mainstream media including the Wall Street Journal and on ABC News. With the assistance of dedicated volunteers, Kiva also maintains a presence on different social networking sites and has recently established a presence on Second Life through the Techsoup Nonprofits Commons Project.
I discovered this when I clicked on Skeeboo Tammas’s profile while chatting with him in Second Life. His profile said.
Do good at Kiva.org! For $25, you can help fund a small loan to someone in need in a developing country. Kiva is not a charity. You get repaid and e-mail updates as the business succeeds! From there you can withdraw your funds or lend it back out. You can also donate Lindens to one of our Fundraisers, or drop it into the donation box at our virtual office here on Second Life. Click on the Picks tab above to teleport there! For more information about this amazing social lending network, visit Kiva.org
That’s only one method they use to help educate Second Life users about Kiva’s work.
Skeebo Tammas
Skeeboo Tammas (or Joe Alamo in real life), a volunteer who also runs KivaFriends.org, Kiva’s MySpace page, their Change.org profile and created the kiva.org browser bar. that the staff does not have time to manage.
Julles Boucher or (Julia Bailey, PhD) serves as kiva.org’s Second Life Coordinator on a volunteer basis. She entered Second Life because of her relationship with kiva.org, but has purchased land and operates a shop called Garb the World. She is scientist in real life and a self-described philanthropist who has invested $5,000 plus in kiva.org. She is interested in technology and is an owner of an Internet-based business.
I sat down with to learn more about their efforts on Kiva’s behalf in the virtual world.
What is kiva.org doing in SL?
Expanding marketing and awareness. We had an office a while back that someone donated but it disappeared, so we got a booth at 1st Life Aid, a few other places and we are just starting to set up a presence with the Nonprofit Commons Project. We think it is a good idea to be located with other nonprofits.
Why do you think Second Life is important for nonprofits – particularly fundraising?
Second Life is a good way to disseminate information. There is a large audience and it has been very helpful for other volunteers to work on kiva.org projects in here. For example, one morning I worked from my home in California with Joe in NY and a volunteer in Belgium in setting up an information booth. We also had help from the preson who runs the booth and who is in South Africa. It’s exciting to meet other people in world who care about kiva.org and work together.
What are your goals for having a presence in SL with an office?
Exposing the Kiva organization to new people in this interesting digital world and raising money to fund loans. The strategy is kind of loose at the moment for us as we feel our way around this world. We’ve set up a booth and got 15 loans (at $25 each), but donations really started pouring in when wwe got the first Life Aid booth. Mostly we’re attending events and doing virtual guerrilla marketing. There is another group that has raised $300 USD for Kikiva on Second Life and we also work with them.
Given your experience with managing kiva.org’s presence in other social networking sites like myspace, how do virtual worlds compare in terms of the ROI?
Second Life is 3-D and very interesting in things can be done in terms of virtual marketing. It can go beyond a standard web page and we’re taking advantage of that. I think it’s been very good. Kiva has had it’s biggest year ever and our digital marketing has had a big role in that. Maybe not as big as Oprah, but still …
What advice would you give to nonprofits just starting off in second life?
Start a team to figure things out, invite your volunteers/donors to help and empower them as the Official Second Life volunteer, look for gamers who are already familiar with these virtual worlds. Attend lots of meetings and talk to people and ask questions and get help. There are lots of people in Second Life who want to help and there are many users here hanging out who would love to volunteer for a non-profit.
Written by: kanter