Bits: MacArthur Foundation Opens ‘Second Life’ Island

May 21, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute

United Way of America and the American Human Development Project have created an online tool that calculates how an increase in high-school-graduation rates and other educational achievements could improve social problems, such as poverty and unemployment rates, life expectancy, obesity levels, and voter turnout. The Common Good Forecaster can gather data at the county level. To get there: Go to http://liveunited.org/forecaster.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has opened an island in the virtual world of Second Life. The Chicago grant maker plans to use MacArthur Island to educate charities and foundations about the potential for philanthropy in virtual worlds and to allow its grantees to showcase their work and connect with new audiences. For more information: Go to http://www.macfound.org/virtualworld.

About the Author

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.