Marketing Your Program

What You Need to Market Your Program:

Logo: It is fun to create the look/image of your program! Utilize a creative volunteer to come up with a logo and design for program materials.
Mission Statement: Create a mission statement for your program to communicate your program’s goals or what the program does specifically in your community.
Flyers: Create flyers that catch the eye of your future volunteers! If you don’t have any gleaning photos as a first year program, take a trip out to a local farm and take some photos to share with people how beautiful these settings are and work them into your marketing materials. Many people do not get the chance to experience agriculture first hand, so try to create a visual of what this experience will be like for future volunteers!
Website: If possible, create a website with your host site. It is helpful to use an already established organization’s website so there will be more traffic on the website! This is a great way to spread the word as well as create a space for volunteer registration. Here is a link to Project Harvest’s website through Volunteers of America Western Washington.

Marketing Tips:

Post flyers for program in food banks, around town, garden stores, co-ops, anywhere you can think of.
Connect with key members of agriculture community for guidance how to reach out to local growers.
Connect with groups and local service organizations: Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy/Girl Scout Troops, Future Farmers of America, 4H programs, Summer Camp Programs: Send an email, offer to meet in person or connect with group meetings to share about organization.
Groups are great, but many gleans are small and rely on motivated individuals with flexible schedules; individual volunteers are reached through tabling events, flyers, volunteer recruitment websites (volunteermatch.com, United Way, idealist.org).
Learn and connect with agriculture organizations, community gardens, fruit societies, extension offices/master gardener programs, to learn about what they are doing and find see if there are opportunities to collaborate.
Be prepared for tabling events: a quick way to display your program goals as a new program is to utilize gleaning photos: borrow photos from another gleaning organization and hang them on a poster or string them up like a clothesline. Have a few handouts prepared to direct future volunteers how to get on board, a volunteer signup sheet, and volunteer position descriptions (here are links to the On Call Field Gleaner Position and Farmer's Market Recovery Position).

Volunteers of America Western Washington

Website

http://www.voaww.org/projectharvest

Project Harvest is a first year gleaning program at Volunteers of America Western Washington, providing local produce to the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition. Volunteers of America Western Washington is the home of the Snohomish County Distribution Center, a centralized warehouse which distributes food to the 20 partners of the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition before it is given to families and individuals in need.

In the first year of program development, Project Harvest worked in collaboration with RFH, VOAWW, and the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition to develop new relationships with local farms and create volunteer gleaning opportunities. The first year of the program was focused on spreading awareness of the program’s mission, building partnerships, developing gleaning best practices, and hosting gleaning events to supply Snohomish County food banks with more farm fresh produce. Within the first year of the program many volunteers jumped on the opportunity to harvest produce on local commercial farms, the local Port of Everett Farmers market, and backyard fruit trees!