August 11, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
American Farmland Trust, an advocacy group dedicated to preserving farm and ranch land, knows that the 8,000 farmers markets around the country offer a bounty of potential supporters.
To help find those donors, the trust last summer introduced a campaign called I Love My Farmers Market Celebration, a call for consumers to go online and pledge to spend money at their local markets. About 13,000 people made nearly 26,000 pledges, and the trust collected roughly 4,300 new email addresses.
“The campaign contributes to our list growth in a valuable way because we know that people who shop at farmers markets will care about our mission,” says Susan Sink, vice president for development and external affairs.
In an email thanking people who took the pledge, American Farmland offered to send its signature bumper sticker, which says “No Farms, No Food.”
Ms. Sink declined to say how many requests the group received for the sticker, but it has been a popular item, she says, and a way to draw in new donors through the group’s website.
American Farmland is running the pledge campaign again this summer, expanding its promotion efforts, making the pledge process simpler, and getting more markets involved. Key to its success, Ms. Sink says, will be having local markets continue to encourage their customers to participate.
“Farmers markets are our natural partners, and shoppers at local farmers markets have a real stake in protecting farmland from development,” she says. While the I Love My Farmers Market event “is a national celebration, it goes viral locally.”
