Tag: DustyArtaud

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Candlelight Vigil for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)

Candlelight Vigil for ALS
Sunday, May 16
5 – 7 p.m. SLT
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/94/128/26

Please join The ALS Association in a candlelight vigil to mark ALS Awareness Month. This virtual vigil will follow the RL vigil in Washington DC, so that people who are not able to attend in DC can still be involved.

It will provide an opportunity for each person to raise a candle in memory of loved ones who passed away from ALS and to honor those who continue to live with the disease.

Many custom designed items will be for sale to help raise funds and awareness for ALS. All proceeds go directly to The ALS Association.

The ALS Association fights Lou Gehrig’s Disease on every front by leading the way in global research, providing assistance for people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating care through certified clinics, and fostering government partnerships.

The ALS Association is an NPC tenant and has a presence on Health Commons. For more information, please contact:
Em Ellsmere (Tina Walker in RL, tina@alsa-national.org)

Written by: DustyArtaud

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NPC CommonGround Networking Party May 6th, 5-7PM SLT

What: CommonGround Networking
When: Thursday, May 6 at 5:00PM SLT
Where: slurl to Nonprofit Commons http://bit.ly/bjAvLe

On May 6th, join us for our Splash Soiree water-themed party and costume contest (winner gets to pick the nonprofit that gets the evening’s donations). Our event sponsor is the ALS Association and our DJ is LilTank.

Did you know that May is ALS Awareness month? The ALS Association is the only national not-for-profit health organization dedicated solely to the fight against ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Enjoy networking and dancing, and learn more about what nonprofits, educators, humanitarians, scientists, and artists accomplish in Second Life!

Written by: DustyArtaud

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TechSoup Wins Financial Times 2010 Social Innovation Awards

NPC is happy to share that TechSoup Global won the open-vote portion of the Justmeans/Financial Times 2010 Social Innovation Awards . There were 88 other contenders for this Citizen’s Choice Award, but because your participation, we went from 116 to 1,545 votes . Great work everybody, and we deeply appreciate the help from the entire virtual community.

To win the vote, NPC/TechSoup employees and volunteers sent emails to personal contacts and deployed a grass-roots social media campaign to reach out to supporters around the world.

Volunteers rallied fans to take action through Second Life, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Avatars United, as well as through private email campaigns and on blogs.

NPC’s Layal Rabat wrote a powerful blog post which was tweeted to get folks psyched, and as voters left comments about TechSoup, we captured and tweet-shared these from Tweetphoto .

The response was phenomenal! The tweets went viral, Facebook and LinkedIn groups shared the message with other groups, and residents of Second Life reached out to their constituencies in the nonprofit, education and business communities.

What We Learned from Barack Obama’s Social Media Strategy

So how did we win when we were up against multi-million dollar companies with hundreds of thousands of employees and fancy PR firms?

First, we learned from Barack Obama’s social media strategy. For his presidential campaign his team used email, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and many other platforms to get his message out. He maintained a consistent message for his audience, centering around “Hope”. He connected with specific groups and encouraged supporters. Since his supporters believed that he could deliver on his promise, they actively helped him get his message out.

For TechSoup, the words “Social Innovation” fit naturally with its core mission. This was easily apparent to the members, constituents and partners that engage daily with us on many social media platforms. So when we reached out to our global network to help us get the votes, they were there to deliver and help us get the message out.

Thank you everyone. In both the real and virtual worlds, this was truly a Citizen’s Choice award.

Attachment Size
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Written by: DustyArtaud

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Haiti Relief Benefit Ball

Thanks to all the wonderful participants who donated to Virtual Haiti Relief at the benefit ball last night, and particular thanks to all the volunteers and performers who made this such a success! Special shout out to Brena Benoir for putting it all together!

Written by: DustyArtaud

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Nonprofit Commons Video Premiers on YouTube

TechSoup and the Nonprofit Commons have released a new video created by machinimatographer Draxtor Despres. Filmed both in real life and Second Life, it shows how nonprofits collaborating in the virtual world can make a difference in the real world, one avatar at a time.

Written by: DustyArtaud