The Genesis of the Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference

THE SEED:

ShareKnowledge Inc. is owned by Moncton businessman Tony Hebert. A native of Saint John NB and for the past 26 years, a Greater Moncton citizen and advocate. He has been involved with community non-profit organizations for more than 33 years. Beginning in 1976 with his membership among the over 400 members of the Saint John Kiwanis Clubs, he understood community responsibility. Besides his many successful entrepreneurial ventures, he has lead multiple million dollar fundraising campaigns including United Way and Moncton Boys and Girls Club. He also assists many non profit and volunteer groups by serving on their board of directors, committees and fundraising drives.

Through his involvement with the non profit sector, Tony came to appreciate the difficulty of marketing a non profit volunteer organization and its volunteer recruitment and retention challenges. That enticed his consulting company to think about ways to improve that situation and lend a hand to help non profits grow. His idea was reminiscent of the vision he had when he started his pharmaceutical publishing business with his brother in 1990. He used his sales and marketing skills to convince the majority of Canadian pharmaceutical companies to believe that working together could save time, money and increase the value to their stakeholders by joining his PPS Buyers Guide initiative.

In October 2007 ShareKnowledge coordinated a second sell-out event to celebrate volunteerism and raise funds for the Moncton Boys and Girls Club. With the success of that second event, the seed was planted for the development of other ways to increase awareness about volunteerism.

Over a period of a few months, ShareKnowledge researched the non profit sector and current and potential volunteers in Greater Moncton and elsewhere and found some obvious and interesting conclusions. Non profit and volunteer organizations work very hard to overcome the struggles that they face on a day by day basis with finances and the effective delivery of their services. Yet ShareKnowledge uncovered something at the root of a management problem…Marketing. Non profit and volunteer organizations simply had little or no financing to execute a marketing plan to increase their volunteer capacity. Yet if volunteers are the essence of why a non profit exists in the first place, why were non profits not paying attention to this essential business need? Conclusion: We need to help them center some marketing efforts on why they exist at all; volunteers and the strength of their volunteer organization!

The first step in our Hand Up! plan was to develop a “COMMUNITY” event to act as a catalyst for volunteering. There are car, motorcycle, trailer and lifestyle shows, why not a “Volunteer” show. Research for the Hands Up! Expo uncovered these answers when people were asked: “Why don’t you volunteer” and “What are you looking for in a volunteer opportunity?
· “I'd love to volunteer but I don't know how or where."
· "I want to volunteer but I don't know which organization needs me the most."
· "I a li others?" help to time or skills my share I can How live. place great it’s community, about care really
· "I've never volunteered before, what do I do to get started?"
· "I don't have much time but I do want to help. Where are the volunteer opportunities for just an hour or two a week?"
· "I'm looking for an opportunity to find ways I can involve my teenagers to help in our community."
· “I’m a student and I’m looking for some volunteer experience to list on my resume.”

As the result of the research, ShareKnowledge identified early in the planning of Hands Up! that they would concentrate on three objectives.
1. To become a marketing partner and channel “middle man” for all Southeastern New Brunswick non profits and volunteer organizations by planning, organizing and executing a non profit Exposition and educational conference;
2. To provide numerous and valuable electronic and conventional marketing tools to increase access to communication and educational opportunities for their stakeholders and;
3. To organize and supply social networking events with other non profits to celebrate volunteer relationships and share knowledge of each others needs and successes.

ShareKnowledge brought its concept for the genesis of Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference to the United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeastern NB Region Inc. and the Volunteer Center of Southeastern New Brunswick Inc. to request their support. They did not require any convincing and acted as organizational partners for the first Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference in Moncton NB.

Why the Hands Up! Expo and Conference Will be Successful
ShareKnowledge Inc. offers it's management and expertise in areas such as publishing, printing, creative, website management and business planning. The company has the capability to lead a community volunteering recruitment project. It is able to act as producer and lead investor and also to provide the expertise and communication services necessary to educate non-profits and their stakeholders on how to engage the public to increase volunteer capacity.

ShareKnowledge brings much-needed operational, management and personnel resources. All financial risk for the organizing and operation of the Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference is the responsibility of ShareKnowledge. Funding for the successful delivery of the event will be achieved through the sale of exhibitor booth space, sponsorships, advertising or in-kind donations.
During a Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference, free-will donations collected from attendees will be returned pro-rated to the non-profit groups participating at the show to help defray the cost of their booths.

We are confident that many sponsors, friends and volunteers will come forward to assist with a Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference initiative in any community.

About ShareKnowledge Inc.
ShareKnowledge Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is a privately-held, for-profit company. Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference is owned and operated by ShareKnowledge Inc. Hands Up! Volunteer Expo and Conference is under copyright registration # 1056867 and has formalized its trademark #1391912 as per the copyright and trademark act of Canada. Its US trademark serial number is 77589966.

The ShareKnowledge business objective is to operate Hands Up! as a profitable and sustainable business opportunity. This will ensure future investment for the Hands Up! Expo in the delivery of its services to communities in Canada.