Non Profit Commons

Second Life is not all sex, music and fashion, there are those among us who are in SL to educate others and to do their bit for charity and to raise awareness for issues that plague us out in the big bad real world.

One such place is the Non Profit Commons, where a collection of really lovely people meet in SL to promote RL charitable programmes. The Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is sponsored by TechSoup Global and is a programme of Caravan Studios and the TechSoup Global Community & Social Media team.

A week or two back I paid a visit to the commons to see what it was all about.

 Rhiannon Chatnoir welcomed everyone to the week's Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting.

The Agenda for this particular meeting was the following:

 • 8:30 am Introductions

 • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

 • 8:45 am Mentors Central - Ozma Malibu

 • 8:55 am Featured Presentation: PY1, Monique Richert (Chayenn in SL), Ricky Davis (Liltank Tibedeau in SL), Jacques Macaire (jacmacaire humby in SL)

 • 9:30 am Bernhard Drax (Draxtor Despres in SL)

 • 9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

The featured presentation at this meeting  was by PY1 a nonprofit organization -  Protect Yourself 1 (PY1), represented by Executive Director Monique Richert (Chayenn in SL), Social Media Director Ricky Davis (Liltank Tibedeau in SL) and Sustainable Development Director Jacques Macaire (jacmacaire humby in SL), who will discuss their innovative performance, social media and virtual projects focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and environmental awareness.  Jacmacaire Humby  aka Jacques Macaire, PY1 Sustainable Development Director, joined PY1 in 2012 to develop the BE A PROTECTOR Campaign.

PY1 is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate people about HIV/AIDS and related diseases. Exploitation of the environment has led to increased human exposure to disease. To protect ourselves from this exposure, we must increase our awareness of threats to animals and our ecosystem. Protecting ourselves means creating new models for healthy living. The interdependence between Health, Wild Life and Environment is a priority at PY1.

PY1 is a media-driven agency with a focus on providing HIV Awareness, Education and Prevention in innovative ways. PY1 has a history of development and implementation of social marketing media campaigns and services in Baltimore, Maryland and nationally.

In 2011, Sarvana Haalan convinced PY1 to join NPC /Second Life, Techsoup donated a space, Hydra Shaftoe built PY1 office on NonProfit Commons, and many avatars-friends contributed to PY1 virtual presence….  To have created a virtual office gave an opportunity to PY1 to network, collaborate, create events, fundraise, entertain, educate and promote its programs and services. Thanks to TechSoup, PY1 is exploring and utilizing the virtual world, Second Life, to forward its mission: HIV and STD Awareness, Education and Prevention, globally.

Director Ricky Davis (Liltank Tibedeau in SL) and Sustainable Development Director Jacques Macaire (jacmacaire humby in SL) proceeded to give their respective presentations.

For more information about PY1 :

 • http://protectyourself1.org

 • http://twitter.com/Py1US

If you are interested in participating in nonprofit charitable programmes take a look at the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

- Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

- Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com

- Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

- G+ Community: https://plus.google.com/communities/114212078390326305687

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

- Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

- http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

- http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

- http://flavors.me/techsoup