Your one-stop source for blog posts and news from the world of non-profit organizations making a difference in Second Life

Great Strides Charity Auction Event - Sat. 8/9/08 - 11 - 2 pm SLT

Come party and get some great deals!

Great Strides Charity Auction

When? Sat 9 Aug - 11:00 AM SL Time for 3 hours (No Cover Charge)

Come bid on a yacht (from Trudeau), a tour of the Elven lands, horses (AKK Stables and more), artwork (from Annah DeCuir, Ronnie Rhode and more), jewelry, buildings (from Oldrome Yer and others), and much more! All proceeds will benefit Great Strides, a RL charity.

Great Strides mission is to promote emotional healing and growth in partnership with horses. Learn more at: http://www.GreatStrides.org.

Relay for Life Second Life

For the fourth consecutive year running, the American Cancer Society held their annual Relay for Life Second Life. 2008 was the most successful year yet for this virtual relay to raise funds to fight cancer.

NPC Nonprofit Awareness Night=A Great Success

What do you get when you have 65 NPO's, Live entertainment, dancing, and a whole bunch of people in the main square at NPC Aloft?
The answer..... an awesome Nonprofit Commons Awareness night!

SL singer Vienna James put on an amazing performance, helped promote our NPO's and toured the sim after her performance.

Using the Event Calendar

As you may have noticed, there has been a little event calendar on the site for the last few weeks. We've been ironing out some issues and there are still other elements that we may add in the future, but it is ready for folks to start making use of.

Synopsis from Avatar on Duty Meeting

Host: Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University
Facilitator: 2020Vision Obviate
Attendees: Windy Schor, Fayandria Foley, Petro Bellic, Stingray9798 Raymaker, Jarhead Euler, Patt Bravin, , Sue Bazar, Reece Llewellyn, Glitteractica Cookie, Penguin Kuhn, Muse Carmona, Rez Messing, Coughran Mayo
Date: July 28, 2008

Synopsis:

Why Second Life?

Today I attended the Avatar on Duty session at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership office on Aloft Nonprofit Commons. 2020Vision (Ashima Saigal) moderated the session and she was joined by several other Johnson Center staff, along with a sizeable crowd of interested avatars. We were all there to discuss a key question for those involved with working with nonprofits in Second Life: How can nonprofits find long-term sustainability in Second Life and better translate into real-world action towards achieving their missions?

The session gave us opportunity to brainstorm and discuss this topic in an open forum. One of the first issues we discussed was what nonprofits hoped to gain by having a presence in Second Life. Many avatars saw Second Life as a way to engage a wider audience and bring awareness of their organization's work. Others mentioned the benefit of having a common meeting space and a way to network and collaborate with other nonprofits doing similar work, as well as connecting with organizations they might never have had the opportunity to meet. Jarhead Euler of Uptown Shelter gave the example of how his organization only heard about Community Voicemail through Second Life and now is meeting with several other organizations to discuss implementing this tool for their real-life work.

How Can Nonprofits Create Sustainability in Second Life

Wondering about how your nonprofit's work in the virtual world can make real-world impact? Then be sure to check out the regular Avatar on Duty Sessions at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership office on Aloft Nonprofit Commons.

The next session, Mon. July 28th, at 10 AM PDT/SLT will focus in particular on how nonprofits can find long-term sustainability in Second Life and how to better translate this into real-world action towards achieving their missions. Join in the conversation with philanthropic advisers and community builders in Second Life.

Please send a message (IM) to 2020Vision Obviate (Real Name - Ashima Saigal) or email her at saigalas@gvsu.edu if you have any questions. Come ask your questions and they will do their best to help you to grow your organization's mission.

You can teleport directly to come join the session.

Talk on stopping the genocide in Darfur with UN Rep today at Intl Justice Center

On Monday, July 21, at 12PM SLT, the GK International Justice Center will be streaming a conversation on the situation in Darfur with Dr. Francis Deng, the UN Secretary Generals’ Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide. Dr. Deng is a Sudanese national and has served as a human rights officer at the United Nations since the 1960s as well as his own country as Minister of Foreign Affairs and ambassador to several countries.

After Dr. Deng's short speech, Global Kids will facilitate a Q&A with a group of Global Kids teens present with the advisor, teens on the teen grid, and adults in the Justice Center.

Please go here to RSVP.

Relay for Life returns to Second Life

Avatars representing survivors, caregivers, their families and the millions of passionate supporters engaged in fighting cancer worldwide will take center stage virtually, July 19-20, when the American Cancer Society conducts its fourth annual Relay For Life® event in the Second Life virtual world. The 2008 Relay in Second Life will celebrate the “heroes” who epitomize the Society’s global mission and who represent this summer’s virtual world event theme.

Citizen Government

The recent extraordinary death of a mentally ill person in a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital emergency room is quite ordinary in some ways. Many of the mentally ill on the streets of major cities are ignored. Things are slowly changing however. The public wants to protect Medicaid, care for veterans and give parity to mental healthcare and is taking notice and action.

Perhaps for the first time, thanks in part to electronic communication, we have true democracy. So use your power - the power and potential of "citizen government" - to make comments, write letters and engage with others on the Internet.

On a brighter note (really, you gotta laugh) look at this new machinima video. It's a reminder that regardless of of age or ability or disability, we once were little, laughing and loving children.

Little Pink Hearts from Gale Beckwith on Vimeo.

 

Many thanks to Brownrice Internet for hosting the NPSL site.

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