Proposal for a Charity Avatar Program

[Cajsa Lilliehook]

Charities in Second Life do so much good, raising thousands for cancer research, relief work, animal protection and dozens if not hundreds of worthy causes. In spite of all the good work that is done by many successful fundraising events, a few unworthy people have exploited the charitable impulse to raise money under false pretenses and pocket the funds, even going so far as to forge false receipts  When this happens, even the legitimate efforts are damaged as people become suspicious and ware of participating. 

Linden Lab could easily address this ongoing problem with a Charity Avatar Program admistered by them. Although there may be details that need ironing out, I see the process working something like this. 

 

1. Fundraising committee identifies a charitable organization they wish to support. The gather contact info for the charity, including name, address, phone number and national charity registration number or national business number. For example, in the United States, the Federal Employer Identification Number.  
2. Fundraising Committee identifies any anticipated expenses they will request be compensated after the event. 
3. Linden Lab reviews the organization to ensure it is a charitable organization that they are allowed to fund (not a prohibited organization). Linden Lab also reviews the organization to ensure it does not violate their own standards as defined in TOS (promoting hate, racism, homophobia, violence, etc) 
4. If the charity is one meets their criteria, Linden Lab creates a charitable avatar that has a Linden or Charity last name to set them apart and make the easily recognizable to all residents. Names could be as generic as Charity001.Linden or more specific with names like HumanSociety.Charity. 
5. Vendors and donation boxes pay all or portion of all funds sto the charity avatar directly. There is no need for charity avatar to be active in the world, but merely function as a bank. 
6. When the event is over, the Fundraising Committee informs Linden Lab and provides receipts from transaction history of any event-related expenses that were included in the event application. If the event does not raise enough to cover expenses, the Fundraising Committee will not be fully reimbursed. 
7. Linden Lab deducts a sponsorship fee that defrays the cost of the Charity Avatar Program - about 3% or so. 
8. Linden Lab writes a check directly to the charity and posts a notice to the fundraising committee chair. 
9. For ongoing fundraising via donation box, the Lab could simply write a quarterly or annual check. 

There are special reporting requirements for LL when it donates to charities outside the United States, but so long as they do not donate to any organization on the list of prohibited organizations, the reporting is not onerous. The information needed to fill out their reports would all be provided in the initial application by the Fundraising Committee. 

This seems a fairly simple way for Linden Lab to support the charitable work in Second Life. It will help foster community aand charitable giving by removing any suspiciion about its legitimacy. With a program for approval that is simple and automatic so long as requirements are met, there will be no implicationt hat LL endorses one particular charity over another. 

Are there other steps that should be part of the process? Any anticipated difficulties? Would this solve the problem? 

I am hoping a bit of community consideration and debate could massage this into a solid proposal for the Lab's cosideration. I think it would work and could make charity fundraising so much easier. 

[161488303349]

can see what you saying. is all good the idea

just make some comments

i dont see why linden should get involved to the level you have outlined

i think that all is required is for linden to allow a real world charity to make a charity account

like:

redcross.charity, greenpeace.charity

or alternative to .charity a .donations account

amnestyinternational.donations, childrenshospital.donations, cancersociety.donations

the realworld charity or hospital or society, school or club even, can then make a group with with their .donations/.charity account name as founder and can then invite, as they like, sl users to their group as officers/members to make committees/do good works/raise funds on their behalf

we can know that is a realworld charity/org bc has an official lastname tag, like .charity or .donations. so can know that they getting the money direct. or at least paid by us into their sl official account

linden only need to be involved in the validation of the account at creation. after that is up to the charity/org how they want to do stuff, pay their costs, etc

is up to the realworld charity/org to protect their good name inworld. not linden

linden cutting themselves in for a piece of the donations action is not good. linden should only get payments for services provided. like tier, lindex fees, etc. like any other normal account activity

[Cajsa Lilliehook]

Absolutely, and a few charities already do that and they could continue to do that. For example, Relay for Life and Doctors Without Borders have charity avatars and include information on the Second Life fundraiser on their organizational web site. 

However, some charities don't understand the potential of SL or how easy it would be for them to have a charity avatar. That's the more common occurence and one that I think would be addressed by having a LL Charity Avatar Program. As to the fees for LL, since they are the Lab, they don't need to pay themselves Lindex fees. However, they wlll have some bookkeeping and IRS reporting compliance costs - which the 3% would cover since they would not get Lindex fees. 

[161488303349]

i think the main key to linden acceptance of an official charity programme is them not having to get involved in the RL compliance issues on an ongoing basis

is possible that linden may waive lindex fees when funds is transferred to the charity/org paypal. dont know that is a good idea to make this a condition of the programme tho

linden the company has to meet its own costs and be seen to be fair. they not subsidise education/schools anymore. so dont think is fair to ask them to subsidise charities/orgs now (lieu fees). even if they do good works

if linden the company wants to make charitable donations, like lots of companies do, then they can do that separately. i just dont think is a good idea for them to be expected to do that as a normal course of their business

tbh i cant see them doing anything if that was expected of them

+

if was me then i would just go for the .charity/.donations official account name tags and let each charity/org that gets one of them organise their own inworld affairs. is simpler for linden and will be more easy to get a programme off them i think

like you say when is an official .nametag then is easier for residents to trust and also easier for rl charities/orgs to go: yes we want one of them

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

I am not sure such a program is needed.  Already most fund raisers create a specific avatar for holding collected funds that is controlled by the charity or its appointed agent.  If the donor has any doubts,it is easy enough for them to check it out themselves by contacting the RL charity for verification.  Your suggestion just add needless layers of bureaucracy expense and record keeping and doesn't add any more assurances or security.

If there has to be a program, Linden Lab's role should only be to issue a charity avatar to a charity that presents the documentation required by RL law, not Linden policies,  that they are a legal charity perhaps in return for getting a very small fee to cover the expense.  They should not receive a dime of the money raised other than the normal cash out fees.