NPSL: Nonprofits in Second Life

Hi, NPC & TechSoup Members - Happy New Year!

Here are some articles I found on things to watch out for in 2009, including virtual charity, virtual socialzing/therapy and Giving Circles...enjoy!

SmartMoney (December 24, 2008)
The New Way to Give: Virtual Charity by Reshma Kapadia
http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Budgeting/The-New-Way-to-Give-Virtual...

SmartMoney (December 24, 2008)
The New Way to Give: Be Your Own Charity (become a Giving Circle)
http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Budgeting/The-New-Way-to-Give-Be-Your...

This is an interesting blog post from University Affairs about the perceived ups and downs of Second Life as discovered by Loyalist College, the first Canadian college to have a presence in Second Life. The post cites the learning curve to truly understand SL and computer hardware requirements as drawbacks to educating in the virtual world. The college does believe that SL offers the most opportunities for educators.

FULL STORY

We started tracking traffic on the nonprofitcommons on March 20th, 2007. It was a trickle at first--10 or 12 visitors a day. I thought it might be of interest to give an overview of what we look like as a community. How many of us have come? What have we been using? How long do we stay?

A couple of weeks back, I started doing an analysis of the past two years. I thought it would be interesting give a brief over view of traffic and where that traffic has come from.

Many thanks to Draxtor for this most excellent video!

Here is a great post from Rik Riel...

OneClimate.net broadcasting live coverage of UN Climate Change Conference into Second Life

Enjoy!

Join us before you head off to the Common Ground meeting on Plush.:)

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GimpGirl Community Festival
This is an online, international event that will be held in Second Life, but is accessible to those not on Second Life via IRC chat. See below for details.

On Wednesday December 17, Scenarios USA and Global Kids will be hosting the virtual premiere of the three youth-written short films produced by Scenarios on the subject "What's the Real Deal about Masculinity?". Taking place on both the Teen Grid and Main Grid of Second Life, both youth and adult residents will be able to watch excerpts from the three films, listen to a live interview with two of the youth writers and Rob York of Scenarios, and ask questions about the films.

THE DETAILS:
WHEN: December 17, 2008, 12:30pm PST / 3:30pm EST

Imagine if you had one of your family members disappear, then you found out there are many unidentified bodies with no procedures to find out who they are.

One could be your loved one and you would never know it.

Project Jason has worked for years to get better procedures in place to help. Now there is a chance to get this matter some attention.

The MacArthur Foundation recently put out this press release regarding RezEd.org and their first report on ethics and virtual worlds.

Amira Fouad: RezEd.org Releases First Seasonal Report on Ethics and Virtual Worlds

You can download the report here.

Nonprofits are finding that one of the major benefits of Second Life work is alliance building. I had the pleasure of attending Monday's panel on virtual world partnerships and collaborations.