Testimonials

Tell us How the NPC Community has helped your nonprofit organization achieve its mission or organizational goals in some way...

We are a very small local history museum with extremely limited facilities and resources. Our presence in the NonProfit Commons area of Second Life has provided three significant benefits.
1) It has provided us with space to experiment with exhibit ideas and develop prototypes.
2) It has provided us the opportunity to meet and network with other museum professionals around the world.
3) We have developed potential collaborative opportunities with non-museum organizations that we never knew existed.

--Dave Dexter
Neenah Historical Society
Neenah, Wisconsin USA

From: Buffy Bye, Technology Advisor and Member of Executive Board of Directors, Bridges for Women Society, Victoria BC Canada 1/16/09

In RL, our small non-profit organization called Bridges for Women Society (__www.bridgesforwomen.ca__) could not function without TechSoup Global as we rely on them for reduced-priced software and support for our business of employability training for women who have suffered abuse.
When I joined Second Life in August 2006, I was not aware TechSoup had established a presence in-world and just as I was about to sign off and delete my account, as there were just darn too many instances of bullying and harassment for my liking, I met an avatar with the TechSoup office in their Picks. I zoomed off to their place right away. Wow I thought, this is an organization I know and I was curious to see their office. I had often thought of thanking TechSoup for providing such a critical service that we depend upon, so followed their instructions for dropping off a notecard and left a note of thanks on behalf of Bridges. Glitteractica Cookie (RL = Susan Tenby) responded, inviting me to join the SL TechSoup group, which in turn led to Bridges joining the Nonprofit Commons (NPC) as one of the first thirty-two non-profit organizations to take advantage of the free office space offered. Needless to say, I would not dream of deleting my account now as the NPC continues to expand to a community of non-profits from around the world! Recently when I asked Pathfinder Linden about where I could find a complete list of all non-profits in SL he directed me to Susan. She and TechSoup are the glue that bring meaning to SL that it is a platform for collective thinking and collaboration for one voice for the good in life for all.
With Susan’s leadership and support, it is no surprise the NPC has tripled in size in 16 months. When the negative press regarding the AgePlay in SL hit the news, it prompted one of our students to complain that Bridges should not be associated with SL and is harmful to our reputation. It was only because of Susan and her team that I could convince the Bridges executives it was worthwhile for Bridges to remain in SL. The positive press Bridges has received about being an innovative non-profit by having a SL virtual office, the exposure of our program to visitors in SL we would have never otherwise reached, and the opportunity to stay current with a technology that will be used by future generations are important benefits, but it is the connection to like-minded people for information sharing and collaboration on joint projects which is the unexpected bonus that will make a real difference in the people we serve.
Bridges are participating in one such joint-initiative called “Transitions – A Place for Dreams” with five other non-profits who met at the NPC. Transitions, among other things, will involve Bridges students being paired up with Arizona State University students in SL for developing business skills. Our plans are to also include the Bridges on-line community resource database in a mashup of global resources where a homeless person – long-time or emergency situation, will have access to critical information to support them to achieve a better life. This was only possible because we met at the NPC, realized we shared a need and were supported by Susan to take it further. Transitions has the potential to make a real life difference in the world, and I strongly believe this is just the beginning of ideas that will emerge as the NPC grows. The NPC continues to make a positive impact and brings a credibility to SL that it is not a game which mirrors the seedy side of life but is a vital tool we will use to make real change in the world.
Thank you Susan for all you do, as your dedication and courage to continually foster the growth of the Nonprofit Commons will be a benefit to future generations in ways we could not have imagined a pink cat could lead us to.


10/23/09 meeting re. Digital Storytelling Event [from text chat]
First of all, a hearty cheer for TechSoup for organizing this event, what a chance to not only learn a new tool for Bridges communication plan, but a personal one for me as well. I feel very honoured indeed and am still walking on a cloud. The support from TechSoup was what prompted me to submit one for Bridges, and it occured to me that it wasn't about the prizes, it was about the learning and the opportunity for spreading awareness about Bridges.And that's exactly what happened. I attended all the webinars, followed the questions on the TechSoup support web page, asked questions, and then just played with ideas.
Things I learned were to keep it simple, know what message you want to leave with the viewer, and plan out a story board. So that's what I did. I send around my idea to my board and got the ok, than off I went.
I learned I don't have the tools for making a video or the knowledge to make a machinima in such a short time. I needed some pics from my office, and whammo! realized I could set up some shots and use SL pics - and that's how I ended up with my submission, because if anyone has seen the Bridges office, it's a bit dreamy :)
Thanks again TechSoup, and all the team behind the scenes to make this dream I had possible - walking down a red carpet :)
I know there were a lot who just couldn't find the time, most of us are here off the side of our desk, but I hope next year we can collaborate on a submissin for the Nonprofit Commons.
So if you haven't seen the entries, not just the winning ones, have a look - I learned about all sorts of organizations I've never heard off, and I know many have learned about Bridges. What a glorious contest indeed!

--Buffy Bye
Bridges for Women, Canada


Why would a nonprofit want to be in Second Life? Why Sierra Club is (potential fodder for funding proposals, etc.) [from text chat}
From Sierra Club in SL Gabrielle Knipper 1/30/09:
My main goal is providing education about the club.
With education I hope to bring more members to the club.
More members = funding.
With education also brings more traffic to the Sierra Club webpage.
We are introducing ourselves to a different target audience in Second Life.
I want to also set up an online Sierra Club Second Life Chapter.
The Sierra Club does obtain some funding from Second Life through donations. (Lindens convert to Dollars)

[On 8/14/07 Mixed Reality Event] Lyre Calliope (Timothy Moenk): I thought that the engagement of the SF and SL communities was much more seemless for this event then other mixed reality events I've attended. At least from the perspective of SL. Having meatspace speakers from and in the community definitely makes the experience way more enjoyable!

[From 9/14/07 meeting] Docent Alturas(John Grozik from the Digital Campfires Foundation): SL contacts have resulted in RW donations of
surplus equipment. Currently serving more than 200 locations in Wisconsin. Digital Campfires Foundation has connected with SL folks and as a result local corporations have donated almost a semi truck load of monitors and computers. We are working with SHAREwi.org in Wisconsin to technology equip and train folks at more than 200 food distribution sites throughout Wisconsin.

[10/12/07] Second Life has given America's Second Harvest the opportunity to increase the awareness of the organization and hunger in America. Our first introdocution to Second Life was through a partnership with Kraft Foods. The Nonprofit Commons provides a community to discover how to utilize the virtual world to forward our individual organization's missions. As a result, we have appeared in news articles. The organization supports these efforts and recognizes that virtual philanthropy is still in its infancy.
--Dan Michel, America's Second Harvest






[10/12/07] Bridges for Women Society have received a few small donations, and have nearly 200 visitors since we opened in August, that's 200 people who have learned about our program we would have never reached. We have yet to realize the full potential of incorporating Second Life into our existing on-line program due to lack of computers but the amazingly amount of press Bridges have received just by participating in this pilot has been a real bonus we didn't expect. We believe we will only continue to benefit by the publicity. This is our 20th year assisting women who have been abused to return to the workplace and the opportunity provided by the Nonprofit Commons to maintain current with technology is priceless!
--Buffy Beale/Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women



[11/14/08] Awesome. Thank you. I wrote a paper last week about using SL for nonprofits... when I came across the techsoup articles. We use Techsoup here, and so I was familiar with it. So I came out to check everything out. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people and the entire meeting. Thank you! :)

Tacita Meiklejohn


[11-17-08] Buffy Beale: One of the key benefits of joining the Nonprofit Commons that I didn't expect has been meeting other like-minded people and learning about their organizations. Just being at one of our Friday morning 8:30 AM meetings makes me feel good being in the presence with so many terrific people all wanting to make a difference. And I say "being with" because that's how it seems.
In my early wobbly days, if someone had asked me if I felt there would be a real world impact on Bridges for Women from this virtual world, it would be a much different answer than I have now. This world has offered more than I could have ever dreamed.

TechSoup have been a saving grace for us; imagine trying to train women to return to work on old outdated software! To most of our students computers are a mystery. The reduced prices TechSoup Global offer for nonprofits enables us to keep our classroom, training lab, drop-in and staff computers current, a critical success factor for our service. Long live TechSoup Global!
[I would just like to say again Glitter, it was my lucky day when I fell into techsoup place, dropped the note are you replied. Thank you again, the Nonprofit Commons is only going to continue to grow

Ozma Malibu: as our mission is universal access, SL has linked us up with likeminded groups from whom we learn and with whom we grow and with these partners we've shared information and created plans that are actually rather universal in scope--all this without ever having met in real life. Which brings us to the impact in real life, plus we've learned about the technologies that can manifest them - as when Amulius and I attended the Google hackathon to ask questions (for sometimes we do meet in RL!)
And when I entered the chaotic world of SL I was SO glad to see TechSoup, such good organizers all around!

--Buffy Beale/Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women
--Ozma Malibu/Sandra Andrews, Floaters and Transitions Project
11:53 AM Dec 10th, 2008 via Twitter from Association for International Cancer Research (AICR):@TechSoup excellent video - glad to see our experience of Second Life is shared by others. Corporate might not get it but nonprofits do.

Successful Uses of Second Life (SL) Resulting in Real World Benefits for Nonprofits: Case Studies

• Counseling and Support Services: Through Second Life people dealing with sensitive issues like addiction, HIV, sexual and physical abuse, can connect with one another in an environment where their anonymity can be guaranteed.
  • One of the original Nonprofit Commons (NOC) tenants, Preferred Family Healthcare, seeks to provide information about substance abuse, addiction, and mental health issues. During September 2009, Preferred Family Healthcare sponsored activities to promote National Substance Abuse Recovery Month to promote awareness of recovery from substance abuse and support those who have made the choice to become sober. Another goal of their Second Life work is to promote awareness of self-help groups, such as Twelve Steps, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. for use to aid the recovery process. Preferred Family Healthcare has donated a portion of their sim for use by groups for meetings, gathering, and social interaction for the self-help groups and community within Second Life. Individuals also have the ability to contact Preferred Family Healthcare in-world if they are looking for assistance in their real life communities, and be provided with resources in or near their home community to access real life services.
  • Preferred Family Healthcare currently is working with the Missouri Foundation of Health through a grant to provide substance abuse treatment services to adolescents who are coming out of residential substance abuse treatment. This project is being provided through the Open Life Grid currently to provide the confidentiality of the clients being served. This provides a unique opportunity to use the technology of virtual worlds to aid in their treatment process.

• The Transgender Resource Center is another support services nonprofit that effectively uses the relative anonymity of avatars in Second Life to allow folks to explore identity issues and receive support in a safe space, and locate support resources in their real life area. A touching testimony of the importance of Second Life in dealing with transgender issues can be found here: http://bit.ly/2cWPIh

• Collaboration and Networking: All nonprofits who find networking to be beneficial were seeking to find, bring in, and collaborate with others focused on their same cause.Through in-world meetings, people from disparate parts of the globe can chat (by text and voice), share documents and information, work together on virtual projects, build communities around their causes, and counsel and support members and users.
  • Transitions: A Place for Dreams: Several representatives of nonprofits with similar missions (Community Voicemail, Floaters, Bridges for Woman) and nonprofit technologists who all met in Second Life, are working together with on a virtual project that exists only in the Second Life. Together they are working on creating a set of individualized learning experiences and avenues for assistance for homeless or anyone else wanting to create a new life for themselves. Forthcoming is the publication of their academic paper "Transitions: A Place for Dreams -- Second Chances in Second Life", which describes the outcomes of participation in the curriculum for one student. In addition, Sandra Andrews of Floaters is the co-author of a book chapter coming out that describes the progress of a student through the Transitions curriculum in terms of art in Second Life.
  • Other nonprofits, such as Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), providing farmers and communities in the tropics with long-term assistance implementing environmentally and economically sustainable technologies, were interested in collaborating via communities such as NPC to promote their cause, learn and leverage resources and capabilities. SHI noted that “Being involved in NPC has been great to see how other nonprofits make use of the virtual world.”

• Raising Capital: Human Capital and Fundraising and Marketing:
  • The American Cancer Society has had tremendous fundraising success during the last four years it has hosted its virtual “Relay for Life” in Second Life, raising over US $200,000 in 2009
  • Kiva.org has had some success with donation box but also the impact of the Linden currencies raised with their donation boxes. Kiva raised approximately US$1,000 as of May 2008 (after one year of operating the donation box), which it converted from Lindens into U.S. dollars and then re-invested in microfinance projects throughout the developing world. While the amount is relatively small, Kiva achieved impact via those donations, helping to fund 60 microshe started as a volunteer inside SL, but later expanded her volunteer
    activities and took on assisting in SHI’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs of
    corporate sponsors (i.e., she helps get businesses interested in supporting SHI). As a result,
    while starting out as a SL volunteer, she now has two roles with SHI, in both SL and in real life.
    SHI is pleased because it is a way to work with other nonprofits and do fundraising in SL while
    benefiting from the corporate fundraising in real life.finance projects.
  • However, for most nonprofits, the value of Second Life hasn't been the dollars raised, but rather the indirect benefits including increased awareness for their organization, networking, grant opportunities, and increased volunteer base
    • The Digital Campfires Foundation, a private nonprofit that uses computer technologies and software to bridge the digital divide, connected with others in Second Life and received nearly a semi truck load of real-world donated monitors and computers to support their cause.
    • Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), a UK-based nonprofits, got involved with Nonprofit Commons as a result of an interested volunteer for the organization convincing them to give Second Life a try. This volunteer has since expanded her volunteer activities by assisting in real life with SHI’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs of corporate sponsors. A a result, SHI benefits from expanded volunteerism for their cause in Second Life, while also gaining from the corporate fundraising in real life.

Other Benefits of Second Life For Nonprofits:

• Interactivity: Interactive displays and the immersive environment of Second Life enable nonprofits to tell their story in a visually rich and interactive environment not possible in real life. By creating an environment that inspires learning by the community, champions are made of casual visitors and alliances are formed between nonprofits.
  • Community Voice Mail, a nonprofit empowering people in crisis and transition by distributing free, personalized 24-hour voice mail access nationwide in the US built an interactive treasure hunt exhibit in Second Life which helps answer questions about the organization and the importance of its work. By creating a treasure hunt, the office inspires visitors to learn more through participation as opposed to simply reading the information on a website. As a result of this exhibit, Community Voice Mail has partnered with several other agencies around the country to provide services to the homeless and those in transition.
  • Project Jason and Garden for the Missing created a “Families of missing person” experience via interactive posters of missing persons.
  • Bay Area Video Coalition,a nonprofit media arts organization that provides high-quality, industry standard training in video production, video post-production, graphic arts created the "Gone Gitmo" exhibition, allowing viewers to step into the shoes of a Guantanamo Bay detainee.

• Environmental Impact: Imagine the carbon (and cost savings) of participating in a global conference from the privacy of your own computer.
  • NetWorld noted that IBM ran a “training session for project managers using a virtual world built behind its own corporate firewall.” While IBM did not conduct a formal return-on-investment study on the exercise, it “…still found that holding the exercise in a virtual world offered important benefits. For example…it clearly saved the company money [because] it was cheaper to build a virtual auto-assembly shop for training than to replicate one in real life. And there were no airline tickets, hotel bills or meal tabs for out-of-town attendees; everyone participated from their home offices.
  • Our partners at OneClimate's OneWorld Island offer just that with their third annual Virtual UN Summit on Climate Change this fall. Virtual press conferences, presentations, and video streaming of real world summit sessions into Second Life offers an alternative for people to participate virtually in the annual UN conference without the carbon cost of flying.

• Reaching a Global audience:
  • 2 million people from around the world use Second Life.
  • Bridges for Women, a nonprofit dedicated to providing women survivors of any form of abuse with education, training and other supportive programs which will help them break the abusive cycle, sought to use SL to promote their organization and states that a supporting reason “…to stay involved with the NPC is that we realized we need to keep current with technology in order to reach the next generation after reading the Gartner report that 80% of active Internet users will have an avatar by 2010.” They also “intend to investigate other virtual worlds and social media platforms in the near future now that SL has been so successful in terms of expanding awareness of our program.”
  • Coastal Coast Energy Services, a nonprofit organization which provides energy conservation, consumer education & advocacy, home improvement says of NPC: In my case it’s a chance to listen to global events and exchange ideas with a global representation of nonprofits. I recently joined a group of three other individuals; we are creating a web based database of nonprofit organizations including the ability to search for specific qualities or goals. Allowing anyone to enter in a few key words and find a nonprofit that fits their needs, and then find out more information (a web site, a Second Life office, or if nothing else a person to contact). This is one more way they are making global links between nonprofits, creating a global support community, so that we can support our communities with good works.