by Jeanne Brei, F. Andrew Taylor & Don Svehla
To anyone outside this expansive but small in scale, tight-knit industry….the EDPAF is just an acronym, one of many hundreds of thousands of seemingly obscure associations (CEIR, UFI, JMIC, etc.) representing the interests of its members.
But the Experiential Designers & Producers Association Foundation is so much more than just an acronym—the Foundation has been changing lives since it was founded in the spring of 2001. It is a foundation led by executives from all segments of the tradeshow and meetings/events industry that have a common goal: the heartfelt desire to reach out to peers in their time of need.
As the EDPA Foundation website explains, “The EDPA Foundation exists to help our industry… We believe it is our calling to provide support for our industry members and their families through financial assistance during crisis, through scholarships for creative thinkers and leaders, and through education of our people.”
EDPAF board member Mark Johnson remembers when the Foundation was formed: “Some 25 years ago, a group of us (including Gene Winther, Ray Montague, Bill Haney, myself, Norm Frierich, Robert Laarhoven, Rob Cohen, Gwen Parsons, and Dave Walens–the elders of this industry–met in my office. It was mostly a group of past EDPA presidents asking themselves how can we go from being on the board and helping our members to a higher level of truly helping the industry on a much greater level–along with how do we help educate people to come into this industry? It started as a thought of having insurance with EDPA being a beneficiary to give away as scholarships. And then we created a 501(c)3 with Rob Cohen as our legal counsel for the Foundation. I applaud Gene Winters and Ray Montague for being the initial visionaries. Norm, Gwen and I went to FIT to start the tradeshow industry program–same thing with Bemidji.” He adds, “In the beginning we gave out every dollar we brought in–and then we started The Grantors Program by saying, ‘Would you as a grantor commit to three years of pledging money in order to have a million dollars so we can have the endowment last forever?’ This is what really keeps charities going long-term–our scholarships are multiple year scholarships. Bill Haney has always been the first to give individually on top of his company. We run it as a business–we were tracking our goal each year and how much we were trying to raise. The majority of the money was raised by the Grantors and the silent auction raises anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 in a year. We had close to 100 Grantor companies in 2022–its heavily supported by the industry and a record amount of money was given away to students this year–well over $100,000 is given away each year and the schools get $25,000 each. We supported an engineering program for a one-time program at an Ohio school. Norm Friedrich heads up the school program.”
The Foundation is the charitable arm of the EDPA and has three primary ways of giving and has added contributing to the EDPA advocacy initiative during these challenging times. It supports the design programs at Bemidji State University in Minnesota and The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York by donating money used for scholarship programs. The Foundation also is a major supporter of the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic, which helps families in the exhibition industry who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses. Each year, the EDPAF donates $50,000—the largest single donation—to the Randy. Finally, the Foundation has a scholarship program that it awards annually to members of the tradeshow industry or their children. The studies supported by the scholarship do not have to be related to the tradeshow industry.
The Foundation was reorganized and revitalized just a few years ago. In 2005, when Exploring, Inc.’s CEO/President Dave Walens first came on as the chairman of the board, there was no board and the Foundation needed a fresh start.
“We set a goal to get one million dollars in an endowment which would be invested in the market,” says Walens. “The Foundation would then be funded by the annual profits from the endowment which would sustain the Foundation’s good works forever. That’s the legacy that would be given by those of us in the industry.” He adds that, “Personally I saw a path to achieving the goal from the beginning. I always knew we could reach this goal. And 2019—the year we knew we would reach our goal—was exciting because the finish line evident and lined up with our annual EDPA meeting.”
Walens credits the Foundation’s board with coming together in the early days and helping build credibility and establishing the Foundation as an organization that could do good works. It also developed the programs that raise all of the funds necessary to do those good works.
“When we started, our funds were close to zero,” Walens told ECN back in early 2019. “The chances were really high that we would not get there, but the industry rallied around us. We’ve been working on that for over 10 years and we’re really close to nailing it.”
During Walen’s initial run as chairman from 2005-2013, he built the committees that make the operation run. He was followed by Bill Haney, who Walens says helped transform the organization. It was Haney who came up with the Foundation Grantors Program in 2013, which really kickstarted the March to One Million. Haney continues as the chair of the investment committee while The EDPAF Board has complete oversight and approval of all investments. Robert Laarhoven, EDPAF chair of the Randy and the lead on the RSMGC is the liaison between the two boards of directors (The EDPAF Board of Directors is separate from the Randy Board—see sidebar). Walens says that although many EDPA members have contributed invaluably to the EDPAF, he is immensely grateful to the EDPAF Board, explaining that they never wavered in supporting and reaching the $1 million goal.
“The grantors are companies who have contributed and made a commitment for three years,” says Walens. “Those grantors that contributed in the first year are our Founding Grantors, a title they retain forever.”
To participate in the Grantor Program, companies pledged a three year commitment to donate funds based on their gross sales: Companies over $250 million in sales pledged $20,000 per year; $100-250 million pledged $10,000 per year; $25-99 million pledged $5,000 per year; $10-24 million pledged $2,500 per year; and companies less than $10 million pledged $1,000 per year.
In return, supporters receive recognition on the Foundation’s website, in printed material and at Foundation national events; a plaque for their offices and authorization to use their supporter status on company websites; and internal and external marketing materials. Larger contributors receive special recognition as the industry’s largest supporters.
As Dasher Lowe, executive director of EDPA, explains, “The EDPA Foundation Endowment was established as part of the EDPA Foundation Grantors program. With the ongoing support of these grantors, EDPA Chapter fundraising efforts and the generous contributions of EDPA members at the annual EDPA ACCESS Gala, these fundraising efforts were able to reach the $1million endowment goal within six short years. The Foundation Grantor program as been by far the largest source for the Foundation’s Endowment. The Grantors have donated over $900K in funds since the inception.”
Ray Montague kept the program running as chairman following Haney. In August of 2018 he stepped down and Walens returned to the role, just in time for the 65th anniversary of the founding of the EDPA and the 25th anniversary of the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic. The Foundation announced at ACCESS 2019 in Tucson that the March to a Million was successful and that it reached the $1 million dollar mark in just six years.
They had set the goal in 2012 and at ACCESS 2013, corporate magician/emcee Scott Tokar, who was dressed as a pirate, challenged the audience to kick off the March to a Million by having 25 people join him on stage and each donate $1,000 to the cause. Dave Sterne, CEO of The Inside Track, remembers how enthusiastically the EDPA members embraced the cause as many jumped up on stage and pulled others up too. Michael Boone, director of international business at Coastal International Exhibit Services, remembers thinking that you should never trust a pirate but how grateful he is that Coastal’s CEO, Bruce Green, not only jumped up and volunteered Coastal to be a Founding Grantor, he also donates annually to the local EDPA fundraising for the Foundation as well.
The March to a Million was made possible by the passion and caring of many EDPA members and it continues to this day. Walens says, “many of the regional chapters structure their charity events in support of the EDPA Foundation. As an example is the amazing Las Vegas chapter. Their EDPAF Scholarship golf event is 100 percent in support of the Foundation. This Las Vegas event is supported mostly by local companies and individuals and the proceeds they raise go directly to EDPAF. They have been doing this event since 2005, I believe, which started with John Chadwick and is now supported by the chapter.” And Las Vegas is just one of many EDPA regional chapters that hold fundraising events for the EDPAF. This year at EDPA SouthEast’s Rally at the Alley, Eagle Management’s Reid Sherwood won the 50-50 raffle and he donated his $400 winnings back to the Randy to be added to the money raised by the event.
Back in 2019, Walens said, “This is just the beginning. If we have enough, we’ll have a lot to give away. Once we’re no longer funding the endowment, any money raised can go directly to funding our good works. We may be able to increase our charitable budget by four times or so, if everything works out the way we hope.”
When asked how the lockdowns affected the EDPAF, Walens says, “What COVID and the downturn in the market did was shine a bright light on the purpose and importance of the Foundation. Due to the endowment and thanks to the many Founding Grantors, Grantors and contributors over the years, the Foundation continues to support all the current programs we had in place—the RSMGC, the Scholarship program and the Universities program. In addition to help our industry in whole, we contributed significantly the EDPA advocacy initiative. COVID did temporarily affect the dollars being contributed to the Foundation but even that picked back up by companies who were able to contribute.”
Rob Cohen, chairperson of the Grantor Program, adds, “As we wind down this year’s campaign, I am pleased to report that 38 companies have committed their continuing support for the Grantor Program raising over $100,000 in 2022. This is a great show of support as we emerge from the pandemic. The final results of this year’s campaign will conclude at EDPA ACCESS where some additional companies typically choose to join in this effort and some individuals contribute as well. Anyone interested in being a part of this program is encouraged to contact me for further information (rcohen@dslgroup.com).”
He adds that “DS&L was a founding Grantor company along with so many other companies who believed in the need to give back and find a way to keep our industry strong through our collective investment in its future success. Along with representatives of other companies and all members of EDPAF Board, we reached out to other companies in our industry to talk about leadership in this endeavor by committing to donate funds and demonstrating their commitment to the wellness of this industry and its members for many years to come. The annual Silent Auction at the EDPA ACCESS conference originally spearheaded by MaryBeth Geiser (Hamilton Exhibits) and now for many years by Amanda Helgemoe and Matthew Little (Nuvista) has also been a significant contributor to the success behind raising these funds.”
Cohen continues, “The success of this program would not be possible without the vision of Bill Haney (Derse) and Dave Walens (Exploring/Brumark) who were the original people to believe that raising these funds was possible. The members of Board have made great efforts to help reach this goal. Many others have joined in accomplishing the goal of having an endowment of $1,000,000 (and growing) while making sure that the EDPA Foundation was still delivering on its critical work on an annual basis. Under the current leadership of Alex Hill (Taylor), the EDPA Foundation is in great hands to continue to deliver its good works in support of the industry and its member and continue to build on its great foundation.
For more info or to make a contribution to the Foundation, visit edpa.com/edpafoundation.
Since 2001, the EDPA Foundation has:
* Gained 55 Foundation Grantors (39 Founding Grantors)
* Raised more than a million in the EDPA Foundation Endowment
* Awarded more than 80 scholarships to students of industry families since 2004
* Provided more than 150 industry families with financial and emotional support during times of hardship
* Contributed significantly to the EDPA advocacy initiative
The EDPAF Scholarship Fund was created in 2004. Scholarships for higher education are awarded to industry members and their families to help pursue university-level of study. Any immediate family member of an individual working anywhere in the exhibition industry, who has graduated or will graduate high school and has accepted attendance at a post-high school educational institute, is eligible to apply. To date, more than 100 scholarships have been awarded.
Here’s a list of the companies who have been EDPAF Grantors over the course of the program; the asterisks denote the 39 Founding Grantors from 2013.
Access TCA*
Acer Exhibits & Events*
AFR Furniture Rental
Agam
Art Guild*
AV Dimensions*
beMatrix*
Bowman Design Group
Brumark*
Champion Logistics Group
Classic Exhibits*
Coastal International*
CORT*
CREW XPDeckel and Moneypenny
Derse*
Diper Exhibitions*
Display Supply & Lighting*
Downing Displays*
Eagle Management Group*
EEI Global*
Elevation3D*
EWI Worldwide*
Excalibur Exhibits*
Exhibit Concepts*
Exhibit Fair International
Exhibitree*
Exhibitus
Expon Exhibits*
Featherlite Exhibits*
Freeman Co.*
Group Delphi*
Hamilton Exhibits*
Highmark TechSystems
Hill & Partners, Inc*
Kubik, Inc
MC2*
Moss*
MSMNimlok*
Nth Degree*
Nuvista Event Services*
Octanorm USA*
OnSite Exhibitor Service*
Poretta & Orr
PRG*
Renaissance Management*
Reveal*
Robert Laarhoven
Sho-Link*
SMT Expo (Glenmore Industries)*
Spectrum Show Services*
Star*
StevensE3
SWX Global Design & Production*
Taylor Visual Impressions
The Inside Track
Vector5
The EDPA Foundation Board of Directors:
● Alex Hill (Taylor Corporation), chair
● Dave Walens (Brumark), immediate past chair
● Bill Haney (Derse), investment chair
● Rob Cohen (DS&L), Grantor chair
● Dan Cantor (Hamilton Exhibits), EDPA liaison
● Mark Johnson (Star Exhibits & Environments, Inc.), treasurer
● Rebecca Thompson (Stevens E3), scholarship chair
● Norm Freidrick (Octanorm), university program chair
● Amanda Helgemoe (Nuvista), fundraising chair
● Robert Laarhoven (retired/beMatrix USA), RSMGC chair
● Ray Montague
● Derek Gentile (EEI)
● Bruce Green (Coastal)
● Mike David (CORT) The Randy Board of Directors:
● Rich Johnson (Renaissance Management)
● Robert Laarhoven (retired/beMatrix USA)
● Sandra Braun (Nth Degree)
● Jim Oberneyer (Hamilton Exhibits)
● Mike Boone (Coastal International)
● Justin Smith
● Reid Sherwood (Eagle Management)
● Alisha Williams (Kubik Global)
● Jim Wurm (EACA)
● Les Bunge (Laser Exhibitor Service, Inc.)
● Ben Lewis (MC2)
● Jack Berenato (Nth Degree)
Estimated yearly totals for the March to a Million:
2014 = $139,000
2015 = $148,000
2016 = $163,000
2017 = $168,000
2018 = $187,000
2019 = $195,000 $1,000,000
Endowment goal reached at ACCESS Gala event in December 2019
