Why Offer Donation Shares? | Methods of Offering a Donation Share | 1. 'Add-on' Donation Share | 2. Sliding Scale Shares | 3. Donation Location | 4. Donation 'extra item' | How to get Setup
Why Offer Donation Shares?
- Farm shares and local food can be inaccessible to low income populations
- This is a great way to give back to your community
- Members want to give back to their community as well and are willing to sponsor other shares
- Sell more produce!
Methods of Offering a Donation Share
1. 'Add-on' Donation Share
Case Study: Against the Grain Farm
Against the Grain has a donation add-on that members can add in addition to their main share.
Some farms do this as a one time add-on ($100 up front) and others offer it as a weekly add-on share (ex. $5 per week).
2. Sliding Scale Shares
Case Study: Rainwater Farms
Rainwater Farms offers a sliding scale share so that some members can opt to pay more for their shares to cover the cost of other members.
3. Donation Location
Case Study: Harvie Farms Pittsburgh
Instead of a member putting their share on hold for a week and never rescheduling, you can offer a donation location. Harvie Farms Pittsburgh tried this for one week and had 40 + held shares rescheduled! That's a lot of held revenue recovered.
You can either do this as a weekly rescheduling option or do this once at the end of the season.
4. Donation 'extra item'
Case Study: Harvie Farms Pittsburgh
Offer an extra item as a line item in your delivery that people can purchase on a week to week basis. 
How to get Setup
1. Brainstorm/ reach out to community partners who are working in the food donation space
2. Use the support button in your dashboard to reach out to Harvie
3. Your account manager will follow-up with a setup form and any next steps
4. Promote your donation share-
- If it's the middle of the season, send out an email about a new add-on and include your signup link
- Highlight any organizations that you're partnering with
- Educate your members if necessary (ex. how to reschedule into a donation location if they are out of town)
5. Pack donation boxes and support your community!
Considerations
- Make sure that you are partnering with an organization that is intentional about where the content goes.