Contributing Author: Gentle Heron
Virtual Ability, Inc.® was the first organization that began as a Second Life® community and then became a legally chartered nonprofit corporation. At the time the Virtual Ability community was forming in Second Life, a wide variety of nonprofit corporations from the physical world were coming into Second Life to do awareness, outreach, and fundraising. They formed a group called NonProfit Commons, sponsored at that time by TechSoup®. Virtual Ability became an early active corporate member of the NonProfit Commons (NPC) group in Second Life.
In addition to attending weekly meetings (Friday mornings at 8:30am Pacific), Virtual Ability members have given presentations, greeted newcomers to the NPC, mentored about virtual worlds and nonprofit functioning, and assisted several Second Life groups to apply for nonprofit tax status.
The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community of practice for nonprofits and those doing social-good, cause-based work to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize these unique environments to achieve their missions. NonProfit Commons is now peer governed and funded.
This Friday, August 25, NonProfit Commons is celebrating its tenth anniversary in Second Life. Find out more about NPC's history at http://nonprofitcommons.org/content/about-nonprofit-commons or join the parties at 8:30am or 5pm Pacific in the NPC Amphitheater on Plush* (SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/98/127/25 ) in Second Life.
Please email any questions about NonProfit Commons to mentors@nonprofitcommons.com.
Editor's Note: Plush is a virtual location in Second Life with a special kind of link to get there. You will need to create an account and an avatar to use in the environment. If you are entering Second Life for the first time, visit this page to get started.
Image Credit: Rhiannon Chatnoir
From Elder Voices, Inc a 501(c) (3) Charity
ReplyDeleteKara Bennett, PhD/Avatar Dancers Yao
The Nonprofit (NPC) community is a special place to experience new possibilities for understanding how to express humanitarian values in our 21st century global society.
For example, Elder Voices, brings human rights to health care with education, prevention, and intervention. Founded in 1996 by health practitioners, (Kara Bennett, PhD and Susan Patrice Weiner, MD, MPH), we support the World Health Organization concept of health as “a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
In addition to our work in the real world, because of the opportunity to have an office space at the NPC in Second Life, we have been developing new ways for people to learn problem-solving abilities that encourage respect for human rights. As Avatars in a virtual world, a person can try out different ways to think, look, feel, act, and make choices about the kind of character one wants to be. From this virtual experience, a person might also discover how to express their individual diversity and universal values in the real life community.
A summary of this work is available as a book Chapter entitled; Learning Problem-Solving Strategies in Virtual Worlds that Encourage People to Respect Human Rights, in Integrating an Awareness of Selfhood and Society into Virtual Learning. Edited by Andrew Stricker, PhD, Cynthia Calongne, DCS, Barbara Truman, DCS, and Fil Arenas, EdD. (IGI Global Publishers 2017) For sample excerpts see http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/learning-problem-solving-strategies-in-virtual-worlds-that-encourage-people-to-respect-human-rights/174812.
For further information about Elder Voices, email Kara Bennett PhD, at eldervoices@aol.com, or contact us through www.eldervoices.net