The NonProfit Times - December 15, 2007 - (Page 5)

Second Life Continued from page 4 Hot Nonprofit Auctions Teamwork and partnerships paying big dividends By Craig Causer and Marla E. Nobles Ride Fundraising Conference held in New York City this past May. REAL COSTS Building the space in SL would have run ACS between $35,000 and $150,000 per region, however the virtual office was donated and created by Infinite Vision Media (IVM), a Boston-based media firm that works exclusively in the SL “Metaverse.” The costs to ACS are thus relatively minor, including the standard land rental/ownership fees for a nonprofit, approximately $1,900 down and a $175-per-month maintenance fee. For last year’s SL Relay for Life,ACS incurred only the $10/day fee for each of the 12 squares of land. All other costs were underwritten by SL residents and ACS supporters, many of whom also build out the space. “Second Life is an incredible laboratory for human behavior,” said Moss, who said Linden Lab has hinted that its SL demographics are “older and more rural than you’d think, a lot of suburban moms who don’t work, skews slightly male.” For now, awareness seems to be the most obvious benefit of being on SL.“We are able to reach a whole new audience with our health awareness messaging and offer our services to a plethora of new constituents.” Just as Phil’s Supermarket is a source of information about food and not an actual retail operation, A2H’s food bank will be a vehicle to disseminate An interior shot of Phil's Supermarket on Second Life. The avatar is Phil Lempert, "The Supermarket Guru,” and to his right is the customer service. information about the organization and its mission. And as with the market, Second Lifers will also be able to donate to A2H via the food bank. “Really, the benefits are unknown,” said Paciero. “There is just such a limited presence and understanding of what the opportunities are in Second Life for nonprofits. At a minimum, it’s great awareness about hunger and the relationship that Kraft has with the hunger community.” According to Paciero, Kraft, a 20-year supporter of A2H that has donated more than $23 million to A2H food banks, approached the charity with the idea of establishing a presence on SL. Kraft and Lempert provided the funds and man hours required to create the billboards, avatars -- SL characters -- and signs representing A2H during the virtual check presentation and opening of the market. A2H simply created a landing page on its Web site for SL members to link. Amina Dickerson, senior director of corporate community involvement for Kraft, said the company approached A2H because it saw a great opportunity on SL, in both awareness and fundraising. “There’s something like 30,000 people at any one time who are on Second Life,” said Dickerson.“And there’s just an amazing amount of money that is exchanged. It’s our hope that if they go see Kraft, they’re going to go see our partner,America’s Second Harvest.” NPT DECEMBER he NBC show Heroes flaunts a lot of power -- a Japanese comic book geek who can bend time, a cheerleader with the ability to spontaneously regenerate from any injury and a nurse who can mimic the powers of others. The key to the program’s success has been the characters’ various interrelations and how they have attempted to team up to save the world. Much like in the fictional show, nonprofits are realizing that when SPOTLIGHT ON NONPROFITS it comes to online auctions, finding MissionFish has been helping effective partners with which to nonprofits sustain money-generatteam can provide a significant boost in revenue. Charitable auctions raised more than $16 billion for meaningful causes during 2006, according to a report by the National Auctioneers Association. That number stands to grow, according to the report, which found a steady increase in total sales year over year from 2003 to 2006. Jon Carson, CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based online charity auction provider cMarket, predicts more growth in the charitable auction market, particularly online. “We The NBC television show Heroes generated auction excitement for charity. see a bunch of anecdotal data points in the market that sug- ing auctions for years,but the orga- wake of Hurricane Katrina colgest there’s a shift from an early nization has created a blueprint lected a record $601,554, of adopter stage to the next phase, that targets the varying segments which only about 10 percent which is generally referred to as of the eBay community to raise came from high-value, celebrityearly majority,” said Carson. even more money for charity. donated items, Lorenz said. Of course,it never hurts to have Dubbed “Spotlight on…” camThe New Orleans Area Habitat a real hero come to your aid as was paigns, they are intended to make for Humanity was one of many the case with the Landover, Md.- the most of what eBay does best -- nonprofits that benefited from based Epilepsy Foundation. connecting people around things the Holiday Dreams exposure. Actor Greg Grunberg plays a about which they are passionate. “The thing about the eBay commind-reading police officer on Themed promotions have munity is that there are not a huge Heroes but off screen he was a been organized around issue number of sellers, as I look at the significant force behind the suc- areas that are relevant to the eBay spreadsheet,” said Bob Marye, decess of the recent NBC Heroes community, including spotlights velopment and church relations Auction to benefit the Epilepsy on Breast Cancer Awareness, Holi- coordinator at the New Orleans Foundation. day Dreams (Katrina rebuilding), Area Habitat.“But there are sellers “Heroes came about because World AIDS Day, National Mentor- that are consistent in their sales Greg has been involved with the ing Month, Healthy Hearts, Arts for Habitat. Roughly 846 transacEpilepsy Foundation in California Education and Saving Our Envi- tions have taken place during the because of his son,” explained Kim- ronment. last 10 months and I’d say of those berli Meadows, director of public “This is the first year we’ve probably 15 sellers count for 90 relations and media outreach at done these Spotlights, so we have percent of that total.” the foundation. “We connected been experimenting with every with him through our affiliate and aspect of each campaign,” said SAINTLY SUM from there it has just taken off. He Clam Lorenz, director of operaStudies show that K-12 schools, then called and told us about this tions at MissionFish. “However, public and private, is the number Heroes auction, which means that what’s constant in each one is one category of adopters of auche engaged NBC.” that we’re engaging a cross-sec- tions, followed by arts organizaGrunberg was able to secure tion of our users to coordinate tions, faith-based groups, and four pieces of artwork that are es- their actions for a specific period higher education. The best items sential to the show’s general of time. For example, in our up- were found in some studies to be, mythology. Auctions were held at coming ‘Spotlight on Saving Our Hot Auctions, page 6 15, 2007 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com 5 T www.nbc.com/heroes on March 26 and April 2 and each featured two full-size, autographed, limited edition prints by artist Tim Sale and drawings of artwork used in the show. Each auction lasted two days. The auctions brought in more than $50,000. The NBC.com site brought the auction added traffic, as did Grunberg cutting 10-second promos about the auction that aired during the show. “The costs for us were extremely minimal,” Meadows added.“It’s more sweat equity than anything else.” Environment,’ we’ll have coordinated activity at every level. Our high-profile item sellers will organize some of their big-ticket auctions around environmental groups and eBay is promoting ‘Spotlight on Saving Our Environment’ (and the participating nonprofits) across a range of their buyer-facing channels.” One of the first spotlight campaigns was held in October 2006 and highlighted breast cancer awareness.The event rounded up $101,992, a 137-percent jump from 2005 when the non-spotlight breast cancer campaign gathered $43,042. At the end of 2006, the Holiday Dreams campaign to aid rebuilding in the http://www.nbc.com/heroes http://www.NBC.com http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - December 15, 2007 Say Hello To 2008, Kissin’ Cousin of 2007 Scandal Ensnares Red Cross CEO Contents Nonprofits Getting A Second Lease On Life Hot Nonprofit Auctions Is It $10, $25 or $100? The World’s Best Fundraisers Turbo-Charged Web Use Help Wanted: 640,000 Open Positions Focus On Community Impact Has United Ways Changing Donor Migration - North Putting That Spark In Your Script NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - December 15, 2007

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