IMPORTANT ALFN INFO! -Please Read to End-

Dear ALFN Members,

I hope that this finds you all enjoying your week. My name is Tifany Hamlin and I am the current Chair of the Board of Directors for ALFN. The board has been working diligently to lead our organization and we want to update all of you on our efforts and where the organization stands.

One of our core values is transparency. The board is made up of nine highly engaged individuals who love ALFN and have dedicated many hours of time over the last two years to address some of our key challenges. We want to share with all of you what we are facing.

Market membership and sales trends

While ALFN provides several services to the local food community, we are solely funded through the online market’s sales. Since at least 2014, we have witnessed a slow decline in memberships and sales. The board has addressed many issues that we believe may have contributed to this decline: redefining organizational mission, vision, and core values, implementing quality control measures, marketing through online and traditional channels, and building community partnerships. Yet we still have not seen an increase in market memberships or sales. (If you would like a copy of our Customer Analytics report please email Claire at littlerockfoodclub@gmail.com.)

We need your help in promoting ALFN. Below are several ways you can help immediately.
1) Tell your friends about ALFN! Feel free to copy and paste this content for your emails:

Dear friend,

You’ve probably heard me mention the Arkansas Local Food Network before as one of my go-to resources for local foods. I love the ease of shopping online for Arkansas goods like farm fresh eggs, in-season produce, and handmade soaps. In fact, ALFN has the BEST selection of Arkansas produced goods of any other market.

You can try ALFN for two weeks before you pay the membership fee of $7.50 per month. I’d like to invite you to see what ALFN is all about! Here’s a link to their website: https://arkansaslocalfoodnetwork.org/online-market/. Let me know if you have any questions!

2) If you are on social media, please follow ALFN on Facebook and Instagram. Like and share every post from ALFN to your newsfeed.

Facebook: @ARSustainability
Instagram: @ arlocalfoodnetwork

3) We have flyers to share! Please pickup flyers at market pickup and post at your place of work, schools, churches, coffee shops – anywhere that has a community bulletin board.

We want to hear from you.

ALFN is made of people who care deeply about the organization and our commitment to supporting our local community by providing access to locally produced goods. Several of our board members will be available at the Saturday morning pickup on September 9, 2017 in the Library at Christ Episcopal Church.
Please stop by to share your thoughts, concerns, and comments in person. It’s going to take all of us to turn things around.

If you are unable to visit with us in person, please feel free to send your comments to me at my personal email address: tifany.hamlin@gmail.com. I will compile all comments for the board’s review at our next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, September 19.

We are committed to ALFN and ongoing communication.

The board will be implementing regular communication with all members through a Board Update to be sent quarterly from the board Chair.

I believe that we have an opportunity to grow our organization but we have to do it together. The board can’t do it alone. Our program manager can’t do it alone. We have to do this together. I know I speak on behalf of the entire board of directors when I say that we appreciate all of our members and how dedicated you all are to supporting ALFN. We are grateful for all of the efforts you all make to the success of ALFN!

On behalf of the entire Board,

Tifany Hamlin