Human Resources

SUSTAINING YOUR MARKET’S HUMAN CAPITAL

Farmers Market managers are the face of the market to vendors and shoppers. Most shoppers, vendors and stakeholders do not understand the myriad details that go into creating a successful farmers market. Given the wide range of duties and demands, supporting training and professional development for farmers market managers is essential.

Hiring for Farmers Market Success

This is an overview of the best tips on hiring staff to work at farmers markets. Written for vendors, it also offers helpful tips for any hiring at farmers markets.

Steering the Ship: Market Boards and Advisory Committees

Farmers Market Boards and Advisory Committees come in all shapes, sizes and names. Their job is to provide governance to the market organization. As with any business, a farmers market goes through different ‘life stages” that require different expertise and roles for the board members to effectively govern the needs of the changing organization.

Farmers Market Volunteers

Volunteers donate untold hours, days, and seasons to making Hawai’i farmers markets possible. They are especially crucial for new and small markets, but can play significant roles at markets of any size. Planning ahead to formally train and recognize volunteers can bring long term benefits to the market.

THE MIGHTY MARKET MANAGER

The Market Manager is a vital role for any farmers market. She sets the tone and represents the market both internally to vendors and externally to shoppers and other market stakeholders. This overview covers typical duties and job descriptions, market manager training opportunities, and market managers compensation.

The Mighty Market Manager (Sept 2016)

Market Manager Job Announcements & Descriptions

Market Manager Contracts

Port Orchard FM Manager Contract-2012

If you would like your market’s market manager announcement, description, or contract added or updated, please contact your Technical Assistance Coordinator at HFMA.

Market Manager Training

The New York Federation of Farmers Market has a 200+ page “Farmers Market Manager Training Manual” that covers everything from “basic roles” to “building a community.”

Payroll Resources

There is a easy-to-follow overview of Payroll on the Governor’s Office for Regulatory Innovation and Assistance. It includes a reporting and tax responsibilities; record keeping; paycheck information; estimating payroll; and a payroll calculator.

Access “Payroll Your Business” by clicking here.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rules went into effect on December 1, 2016. This change will affect many nonprofits and small businesses. Wayfind has created a resource page on their website with links to resources and trainings on the new rules.

BOARDS AND ADVISORY COMMITTEES

By Suzanne Briggs, Colleen Donovan & Karen Kinney

Updated: 10-31-2016

As with farmers markets, there is no “one-size-fits-all” for market boards and advisory committees. Formal or loosely organized, working or governance only, the role of the board is vital to the immediate and long-term success of the market. As volunteers, board members dedicate their time, talents, and treasure to making a market run and grow smoothly. When too little attention is dedicated to board leadership and development, markets can suffer, drama happens, and personal wounds linger for years.

Part of the challenge is that farmers market boards, like markets, are a unique hybrid – part mission-based nonprofit, part small business incubator — that doesn’t always have off-the-shelf governance and operational models to follow. Fortunately, there are thousands of amazing people working behind the scenes so that farmers markets can serve their vendors, shoppers, and communities.

Market Structure and the Role of the Board

How a farmers market is incorporated generally drives its governance structure – whether an elected board of directors, an advisory committee, or ad hoc group. What entity oversees a market and who is eligible to be part of these groups should be spelled out in a market’s by-laws. As the market’s needs change over time, its organizational structure can and should change too. However, all changes need to be codified in the market’s by-laws.

The key distinction between a board of directors and an advisory committee is one of governance. In a nonprofit organization, in exchange for getting public tax benefits, the elected boards of directors are responsible for representing public interests. This includes explicit duties such as:

Governance, abiding by by-laws, and legal regulations of nonprofits;
Fiscal oversight, including approving a budget and paying taxes;
Determining and/or upholding the market’s mission, strategies, and programs;
Creating and reviewing Market Policies and Rules;
Hiring a market manager or executive director; and
Rolling up your sleeves and serving on committees, helping on market day, and representing the market to vendors and the larger community.

Nonprofit boards go through different “life stages,” making a key distinction between being a “working board” or “organizing board” and a “governing board.” Laura Pierce has a helpful graphic about “Life Stages” that she adopted from Karl Mathiasen (www.boardsource.org). With a few key exceptions, most farmers markets in Washington have working boards that are very involved and needed to keeping markets running.

Market Incorporation

Governance Structure

Nonprofit corporation incorporated in State of Washington only.

Required to have an elected or appointed board of directors.

Nonprofit corporation with federal tax-exempt status: 501c3, 501c4, 501c5, or 501c6

Required to have an elected or appointed board of directors.

Projects of nonprofits (e.g., farmer groups, chambers, downtown or main street associations)

The market typically has a “market committee” or advisory group dedicated to the market. The “parent” nonprofit has an elected board.

Project of government or public entity (e.g., City Parks Department, Public Development Authority, Port)

Typically, markets have a dedicated committee or advisory group, but not a board. They are governed by the policies of the City, Department, PDA, Port, or other agency running the market.

For-profit business or project of a business (e.g., sole proprietorships, LLC, or S-corporation)

Most markets in Washington that are businesses are incorporated as sole proprietorships which do not require a board of directors but may opt to create an advisory group of some sort. If a for-profit market is a S-Corp or LLC, then it will have a board comprised of shareholders or owners following its incorporation with the Department of Revenue.

One simple but important step is to create (and update) an organizational chart for the market that clearly shows the governance structure, any committees, and their relationship to the market manager (and any staff) and volunteers. Since there are so many different ways that farmers markets can be organized, it is especially important to have ways to show how your market is structured so that everyone is on the same page. Being clear about roles and responsibilities goes a long way to aligning expectations.

Above all, the “chain of command” must be clear to everyone. This isn’t just a matter of assigning people jobs, but also being very clear and consistent about who has the responsibility and authority to make specific types of decisions[1].

Vendor-run vs. Community-run Boards

A farmers market board may be run comprised of vendors, community members, or a mix of vendors and community members. Which model the market follows tends to be rooted in how the farmers market first started. If farmers came together to create a market, then the board tends to be vendor-run. If a community member started a market to bring fresh produce to a food desert, for example, then it would be likely run by a mix of neighborhood and public health stakeholders. Here again, there is no “right” way or one-size-fits-all for farmers markets. The mix of board member types should fit the market mission and community.

As markets mature and operations become more complex, they should evaluate the make-up of its membership to make sure the board has all of the specific skills it needs. This becomes especially important if a market decides to pursue federal grants, including the USDA’s Farmers Market Promotion Program, or offer SNAP and incentive programs. As the market is managing public money, these programs require formal internal controls and sophisticated accounting systems.

Board Recruitment

The suggestions are from Suzanne Briggs and her extensive work with farmers markets in the Pacific Northwest.

Serving on a farmers market board is basically taking on a job, for free, that can be an exciting journey of learning or a roller coaster of dysfunction and frustration. To create the former and avoid the latter requires that the leaders recognize organizational and board development as nonnegotiable market priorities. This can be hard given all the other demands on board members, the manager, and vendors – especially during the market season. But the investment pays dividends as the circle of committed and capable people expands because everyone enjoys being on the market board.

Good Resources

Life Stages of Nonprofit Boards from Laura Pierce Consulting

From the the Hollywood Farmers Market in Portland, OR.

501 Common’s Boards & Governance Resources
Doing Business in Washington State as a Farmers Market, Ch 5
The Farmers Market Coalition’s online “Resource Center” has excellent resources on boards and market governance.
The Best of the Board Café: Hands-on solutions for nonprofit boards by Jan Masaoka (2013).
Understanding the Link Between Farmers’ Market Size and Management Organization by G. Stevenson, Larry Lev, and Linda Brewer (2007). Oregon State University.

[1] Also see discussion of Management Structure in The New Farmers’ Market (Corum et al., pp. 135-136, 2015).

FARMERS MARKET VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers donate untold hours, days, and seasons to making Hawai’i farmers markets possible. This overview covers the types of jobs volunteers do, recruiting volunteers, and administrative tips for your market’s volunteer program.

Farmers Market Volunteers (Sept 2016)