Second Life and the Social Sector

Thanks everyone for all of the great resources and links. Susan and Beth really know there stuff and are doing some really groundbreaking work in this new arena...should we call it virtual reality for good?

For those of you who are new to all of this, it takes a while to get your mind around it (trust me, I'm still trying). The notion of having a virtual presence for your nonprofit/NGO is not something that, on the face of it, seems to have much merit for people who are primarily concerned with direct services and concrete, reality-based results. But as Beth said, 3D immersive worlds WILL be one of the most important Web platforms of the future. So how does one get started...???

1) Get on Second Life and try it. Talking about it is like dancing to describe  architecture. This is an EXPERIENTIAL medium and therefore is best experienced before trying to make to much sense of it.

2) Get help. When you actually in Second Life (this is called "in-world") there is a life help function under the help menu at the top of the screen. Second LIfe also offers phone and email support, and has a variety of Frequently Asked Question forums at http://secondlife.com/community/support.php

3) Check out some of the places where people are already using Second Life in the social sector and beyond. Better World Island is a good place to start.

4) If you decide that this is something that interests you, join the Google Group Susan mentions above: http://secondlife.com/community/support.php and stay tuned...if all goes well there will soon be a free location (nonprofit office compex) and voluteer programmers to help get you set up on Second Life.

Question: Can those of you who are real experts on Second Life share some of your favorite places and activities there, including links? I liked the fact that singer Suzanne Vega gave a concert within Second LIfe, and people as different as author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and U.S. Presidential hopeful Mark Warner have appeared there.

Cheers,

Paul

p.s. Please note that Second Life is pretty graphics intensive and without a fairly robust graphics card and Pentium 3 (for PC users) and G4(for Mac users)performance can slow considerably.

Jade: Thanks so much for sharing the details of your Relay for Life event - very impressive all around! Curious, but how much time did you and your "average volunteer" committ to the event? For someone without much experience doing this sort of thing, what kind of time commitment is involved? Also, what other interesting nonprofit/NGO fundraisers and awareness raising events on Second Life have you and others seen or heard about? I know, for example, that some Second Lifers participated in the UN's "Stand Up Against Poverty" campaign this month.

Thanks,

Paul (Jumper LeSuere)

Kenzo: Great stuff...thanks for sharing!

Paul

Rik: Thanks for the reality check! Yes, there is certainly alot of hype out there surrounding Second Life. Another example is the fact that although Second Life claims to have over a million users, only 10-15,000 users are active on any given day, and it is difficult to say how many of those are interested in involving themselves with or gaining awareness about social issues.

Some people have also raised legitimate concerns about geeks and early technology adopters -and not social benefit providers (and the real people the serve) themselves - setting the agenda for how Second Life will be used in this space. That's exactly why discussions like these are important.

For me, realizing that Second Life is very new and untested in the social sector space, I am curious to see where we can go with this, and what new opportunities can be discovered - for doing good. As you mention, education, cross-cultural communication and exchange are just the beginning. No, Social Life probably won't change the world, but how often do we have a chance to create an entirely new one of our own making?

BTW, really like your blog, and some of the activities you mention there are may be of interest to others:

Cheers,

Paul

Thanks to all those in this discussion who know the reality of what can and can't be achieved for NPOs in virtual worlds - at least at the moment.  FightHunger.org is a division of the UN World Food Programme set up to help end child hunger by 2015.  We are very interested in tapping into the SL community but it would be impossible for us to ask for funding.  Also I personally don't think it right -   WFP's core mandate is getting food to hungry people and it shouldn't be risking its money in untested waters. 

However, if with personal funds and community support, a case can be made that SL is a valid place to raise awareness and raise funds then the balance would tip. Although the 40K raised by the ACS is impressive, how repeatable is that kind of fundraising? Also it has to be noted that it was the "American" Cancer Society - I don't know the real world demograhics of SL avatar owners but my guess would be that a lot of them are from the US so that anything "American" would have their money more quickly than anything global.

Cordelia

www.FightHunger.org

Ending child hunger by 2015

As Susan and Rik have pointed out, Second Life is not a good channel for primary fundraising at this point. Perhaps it is best to think of it as one of many emerging fundraising channels that an organization or institution can try  - with a very particular online and tech savvy audience. As the platform becomes more mature and gains greater exposure, it could become a more robust fundrasing tool...

If other folks have information or stories to share about fundraising experiences past or in the works, please do share...

But I think it is important to remember that Second Life was not built as a fundraising tool (unless of course you are Linden Labs:). It is primarily a community building and creative expression tool.

Visit our web site http://www.croppgm.net on the World Wide Web to see our out- of-the-box newdeal proposals to end Poverty and Conform to Almighty Gods requirements on us as his children.

For a copy of our first in Pennsylvania human rights class action law suit send and email to cadreof lawyers@yahoo.com.

Jasper Jones, Executive Director, CROP Action Team

Charles: Thanks for sharing Henry Jenkins's thoughts on a some parameters for a participatory environment that might be developed here on Social Edge or in other places promoting social interactions with a social benefit. Good stuff! I would  suggest some additional clarification of the above, to include:

A successful environment of this type would/should include the ability to track one's own contributions and the contributions of others in a cummulative way and the ability to visualize the results of those contributions. the ability to "see" results or impact, in my mind, is critical for members to "believe that their contributions matter." Right now the best we seem to be able to do is track and aggregate the number of comments people contribute (for example, here on Social Edge). But what about determining the type and quality of the actual activities of those contributors, and a way to visually link those activities and not just talk about them in text format or at conferences?

Jeska, any thoughts on how Linden Lab and SL is currently and could contribute further to the above? BTW, great to have you here, and the fact that Linden Lab is engaging on the social sector front is wonderful indeed!

Jasper: Jeska is perhaps better positioned to answer your question, but to my knowledge there is no "government spending" in Second Life because there is no government. Any "taxes" that are collected are property and virtual object sales fees split between the owner/creator and Linden Lab.

Your suggestion to collect revenue for such things like Individual Development Account Trust Agreetments, or IDATAs, is something that you might be able to experiment with yourself by setting up your own space within second life and directing whatever revenue you generate from land or virtual object sales toward IDATAs?

Hi Rik

FightHunger.org and Food-Force.com are both WFP outreach initiatives and we're partnering on targeting the education sector.  We plan to recreate the Food Force characters and scenario in SL so that it can become more of a community thing as you suggest

Budget is our only constraint... the Food-Force.com game recreates the on-the-ground challenges that WFP faces in getting food to hungry people all around the world.  Not sure if such conditions would have to be recreated in SL or if there is an easier way.  I know that Camp Darfur is well established in SL... has the Darfur is Dying game been brought in?

As for the demographics of fundraising...  to project the likelihood of raising funds from international SL residents we would need to have more information.  For example we would need to know the countrys as some cultures (such as the UK) give far more easily online than others (such as Italy where I live). 

It would also be interesting to know what percentage of the 50% international SL residents are using "paid for" SL accounts rather than free accounts or convert real world currency into Linden Dollars.  From my experience once people have taken the step of paying for something it's much easier to get more money out of them! 

cordelia

Cordelia: Not sure about whether the Darfur is Dying game has been brought into Second Life (Jeska?). As for your question about what percentage of the 50% International users are using paid accounts, again Jeska may have the statistics on International users, but generally speaking all accounts are "free". In other words you can get an account and go pretty much anywhere in Second Life you want. I believe it is only when you wish to purchase virtual items such as clothes or land that you need to pay, and convert to Linden Dollars.

From reading your various messages and from the understanding I've developed about Second Life, this does seem to be an innovative way to build support for a charity or a cause.  It seems to me the challenge is to find time to learn how to use this, and to get involved.

My solution to lack of time has always been to recruit volunteers or partners who would do what I cannot do, but for for a shared purpose.

I'm hosting a Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference in Chicago on Nov. 30 and you can review its goals at http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com.  I've posted messages in various forums to recruit bloggers who will blog about the conference topics during December, with a goal of creating a larger network, a greater understanding, while influencing year-end donors to seek out tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and other cities for holiday and year-end contributions.

I'd like to find volunteers who might take this messagbe into Second Life.  These volunteers could be people already involved with tutoring/mentoring, or people who want to learn to use Second Life to support a cause. 

If anyone is interested in taking on this role, or if you're already doing it, please introduce yourself to me by emailing tutormentor2@earthlink.net or by posting your web address on my http://tutormentor.blogspot.com blog.

You can also add your address to the LINKS section at  http://www.tutormentorconnection.org

The goal is not to help one single tutor/mentor program in onw neighborhood of a big city get the resources it needs, but to help every volunteer-based tutor/mentor program, in  every high poverty area, get a more consistent flow of the resources they need to grow from good to great in helping kids who live in educationally and economically disadvantaged environments.

 Dan: I would encourage you to post your request on Techsoup's Google group for Second Life. Lots of good folks there who are actively volunteering to get nonprofits involved with Second Life:

http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

Folks: SL has been in the news quite alot these days. Here is an interesting story done on National Public Radio in the U.S. yesterday...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6431819

One of the businesses that helps companies and organizations get on Second Life is interviewed.

Funny trying to imagine this as people are using it and talking about in on the radio...