Second Life?! I have enough trouble in my first life!
Those were the words I uttered when our Digital Diva, Ursula, first mentioned Second Life to me. In fact, I blatantly ignored her rationale for what a cool site it is and its possibilities in the nonprofit world.
I’ve never been on the cutting edge of trends.
At this year’s NTEN conference, I realized how behind I really am when it comes to the Internet. Sitting in a presentation on online fundraising, that first conversation about Second Life flashed back to me when one of the presenting organizations mentioned they had raised $40,000 in the virtual world.
Before we get to the $40K, let me back up and give a little background on this thing they call Second Life. Basically, it’s an online world. You create an avatar, or virtual person. You can change the appearance of the avatar to suit your needs, and then you’re free to explore. Second Life has a currency, Linden dollars, named for the creator, Linden Labs. At this time, 1 Linden dollar is equivalent to 31 cents, but it changes – just like the value of the dollar changes in Real Life. You can explore for free, but if you want to participate in the economy by buying clothing, land, household goods, etc., then you’ll need to fork over a bit of cash.
Then, it literally is like living in the real world. You can build a house, drive a car, go shopping, attend a concert (yes…a virtual concert), check out a support group (perhaps an AA or GLBT group suits your fancy), or participate in a charity event. Want to attend a carnival to fight cancer with me?
I could go on and on, but this is the part where my head starts spinning. How can you attend a concert on the computer? How can you run a charity race on the computer? I know, I know, it’s insane to think of and I'm still wrapping my head around it. But what it comes down to is that you really can live a full life - a Second Life - online. Profound.
More than 1.76 million people have actively participated in Second Life in the last two months and nearly 7 million people are registered. And just in the last 24 hours, $1,756,228 has been spent in the virtual world. That’s cold, hard, American dollars.
Which brings me to the point at hand. If there are millions of people willing to spend their money in this virtual world, don’t you think they’re also willing to support nonprofits in Second Life? Several nonprofits are already tapping this market, including the American Cancer Society. Last year, they raised $40,000 by running a virtual Relay for Life in Second Life. Their goal this year is $75,000. Amazing for something that most people dismiss as one of those “out there” online things.
American Cancer Society believes that they have engaged a group of people who probably wouldn’t run the relay in the real world – but they still want to be involved in the fight against cancer. The same could be said about United Way. There are people in Second Life who may not show up to one of our annual volunteer events or participate in a workplace campaign – but are looking for ways to give back through new and innovative methods.
After hearing all of this, I came running (well, flying) home from the NTEN conference with renewed spirit. I was going to start a Second Life campaign at UWSEM. I had no idea how I was going to do it (I still don’t), but by golly, I was going to do it. Some issues with that:
Issue 1: Can’t access Second Life at work.
Solution: Power up the personal laptop and get started. I now live a Second Life as Megs Beerbaum.
Issues 2, 3, 4 AND 5: Find the hook for United Way so that: A. we have a legitimate and engaging campaign that interests Second Lifers and B. United Way will find enough value in it and spend some money in the world to build our brand – and let me access it at work so I can live my real life after 5 p.m. and not just my Second Life.
Solution: Working on it. American Cancer Society and other nonprofits with a presence in Second Life are national organizations. UWSEM is focused on the local area. I doubt there are enough local Second Life members to make a campaign worth our while. Can we partner with our national organization and make something happen? How would the fundraising work? United Way has some great programs around Civic Engagement (Alternative Spring Break, 10,000 Hours) but how would we make them fundraising opportunities? Do we even need to have a fundraising opportunity or can we build our brand in Second Life through volunteerism? I’m sure that if we engage people in the virtual world, they may be more likely to get involved (and give) in the real world.
Those last issues are tough. I’m still mulling them over in my head. Honestly, it took me a week to get off the virtual world’s Orientation Island. And I’m still orienting myself; so don’t look to me as the expert.
That’s where I need you. Do you think this can work? How can United Way make it work? Hey, are you in Second Life already? Come out of the woodwork and admit it. For one thing, I need friends. For another, I can’t do this alone.
I’ve never been on the cutting edge of trends.
At this year’s NTEN conference, I realized how behind I really am when it comes to the Internet. Sitting in a presentation on online fundraising, that first conversation about Second Life flashed back to me when one of the presenting organizations mentioned they had raised $40,000 in the virtual world.
Before we get to the $40K, let me back up and give a little background on this thing they call Second Life. Basically, it’s an online world. You create an avatar, or virtual person. You can change the appearance of the avatar to suit your needs, and then you’re free to explore. Second Life has a currency, Linden dollars, named for the creator, Linden Labs. At this time, 1 Linden dollar is equivalent to 31 cents, but it changes – just like the value of the dollar changes in Real Life. You can explore for free, but if you want to participate in the economy by buying clothing, land, household goods, etc., then you’ll need to fork over a bit of cash.
Then, it literally is like living in the real world. You can build a house, drive a car, go shopping, attend a concert (yes…a virtual concert), check out a support group (perhaps an AA or GLBT group suits your fancy), or participate in a charity event. Want to attend a carnival to fight cancer with me?
I could go on and on, but this is the part where my head starts spinning. How can you attend a concert on the computer? How can you run a charity race on the computer? I know, I know, it’s insane to think of and I'm still wrapping my head around it. But what it comes down to is that you really can live a full life - a Second Life - online. Profound.
More than 1.76 million people have actively participated in Second Life in the last two months and nearly 7 million people are registered. And just in the last 24 hours, $1,756,228 has been spent in the virtual world. That’s cold, hard, American dollars.
Which brings me to the point at hand. If there are millions of people willing to spend their money in this virtual world, don’t you think they’re also willing to support nonprofits in Second Life? Several nonprofits are already tapping this market, including the American Cancer Society. Last year, they raised $40,000 by running a virtual Relay for Life in Second Life. Their goal this year is $75,000. Amazing for something that most people dismiss as one of those “out there” online things.
American Cancer Society believes that they have engaged a group of people who probably wouldn’t run the relay in the real world – but they still want to be involved in the fight against cancer. The same could be said about United Way. There are people in Second Life who may not show up to one of our annual volunteer events or participate in a workplace campaign – but are looking for ways to give back through new and innovative methods.
After hearing all of this, I came running (well, flying) home from the NTEN conference with renewed spirit. I was going to start a Second Life campaign at UWSEM. I had no idea how I was going to do it (I still don’t), but by golly, I was going to do it. Some issues with that:
Issue 1: Can’t access Second Life at work.
Solution: Power up the personal laptop and get started. I now live a Second Life as Megs Beerbaum.
Issues 2, 3, 4 AND 5: Find the hook for United Way so that: A. we have a legitimate and engaging campaign that interests Second Lifers and B. United Way will find enough value in it and spend some money in the world to build our brand – and let me access it at work so I can live my real life after 5 p.m. and not just my Second Life.
Solution: Working on it. American Cancer Society and other nonprofits with a presence in Second Life are national organizations. UWSEM is focused on the local area. I doubt there are enough local Second Life members to make a campaign worth our while. Can we partner with our national organization and make something happen? How would the fundraising work? United Way has some great programs around Civic Engagement (Alternative Spring Break, 10,000 Hours) but how would we make them fundraising opportunities? Do we even need to have a fundraising opportunity or can we build our brand in Second Life through volunteerism? I’m sure that if we engage people in the virtual world, they may be more likely to get involved (and give) in the real world.
Those last issues are tough. I’m still mulling them over in my head. Honestly, it took me a week to get off the virtual world’s Orientation Island. And I’m still orienting myself; so don’t look to me as the expert.
That’s where I need you. Do you think this can work? How can United Way make it work? Hey, are you in Second Life already? Come out of the woodwork and admit it. For one thing, I need friends. For another, I can’t do this alone.
And just for fun, here's some actual screen images from Second Life:
Looks a bit like Paradise to me!
Perhaps you'd like to go dancing in Second Life? Join these members. (I'm the one in the green shirt!)
Relay for Life recently held a fair here, this is what's left of it. Notice the donation kiosk that is still accepting money. The fair featured rides, games, and performances by Second Life members.
Megan Bracket
Copywriter
United Way for Southeastern Michigan
Copywriter
United Way for Southeastern Michigan
posted by Megan at
9:18 PM
2 Comments:
Just want to say your not the only uw employee who has a secondlife. I been on it since April and there is so much potential to tap into making this work for nonprofits.
By
Anonymous, at 2:58 PM
I'd love to stay in touch with you on this. We've talked about it here, and are discussing many of the same issues: do we focus on volunteering or giving? how do we attract enough people when we're a local organization? how do we justify the time and resources we'd be using on a very time-intensive initiative?
Keep in touch.
By
Kate Kromann, e-comm. director at United Way of Greater St. Louis - kate.kromann@unitedway.org, at 12:49 PM
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