Without professional support, very few groups will even try to get incorporated. So we established a support center to help them. They set up 8 desks for other smaller nonprofits to rent as their offices. The Center has formed a group of volunteer lawyers, accountants, and other professionals to consult nonprofits. The Center quickly became a hub of grassroots activities in Sapporo.
Many community groups hold meetings here, expanding network among user nonprofits.
The Promotion Conference is an advocacy organization. The Support Center is a service organization. Formed in 1994, the Hokkaido NPO Promotion Conference is one of the oldest NPO advocacy groups in the nation and was instrumental in a campaign to get the new NPO law passed. The executive directors of both Promotion Conference and Support Center are volunteers. The Conference's leader Sato is a manager of an alternative tour travel agency.