The MacArthur Foundation has expressed in the past the potential it feels virtual worlds hold for philanthropy and education. As part of over $50 million earmarked for digital media and learning initiatives, it recently announced a year-long exploration of those possibilities with a $550,000 grant to the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication. Now, it continues in that vein with the announcement of a new grant, in an undisclosed amount, to the New York-based nonprofit GlobalKids.

GlobalKids, which focuses on educating students in underserved communities about international and public policy issues, will use the grant money to foster discussion around the use of virtual worlds to support philanthropy. Along with fellow grant recipients Common Sense Media, which provides entertainment media ratings for kids, the students will add a special panel to each track of the upcoming Second Life Community Convention, focusing on the increasing presence of social justice organizations in online worlds and how these organizations are using the medium to extend their reach.

“Virtual worlds are already a burgeoning frontier for business and entertainment, but the public sector has been slow to get involved,” said President Jonathan Fanton of the MacArthur Foundation, which recently announced a year-long exploration of virtual worlds. “From MacArthur’s recent experience, it is clear that residents of virtual worlds are hungry for ‘in-world’ opportunities to engage on serious social issues and to act on their philanthropic impulses.”