Fresh Table Market Match

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Executive Summary

Fresh Table Market Match is a nonprofit in Michigan that helps families with low incomes buy more fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets, and puts that money directly into the pockets of local farmers. When a family spends food benefits at a participating market, we match what they spend on fresh produce with extra market tokens, up to a daily limit, so a ten dollar purchase can bring home twenty dollars of fresh food.

The idea is simple and both sides gain. Families with tight budgets can afford the vegetables and fruit they want. Farmers sell more at fair prices. Markets draw more customers. Neighbors see a market that welcomes everyone.

Our work has four parts. We run a market token system at partner markets. We pay the match to farmers through the market, never as cash to shoppers. We train market staff and vendors to explain and use the program. We help families learn about the program in the places they already go, with translators and simple flyers.

With this grant we will serve about 600 households in Year 1 at 4 partner markets. We do not make nutrition or health claims, and we do not handle anyone's benefits ourselves. The market's own system processes benefit purchases, and we add the match. We make no promises about any family's health. We promise to run the program fairly and report honestly.

Our Year 1 budget is about $199,000, growing to about $250,000 by Year 5 as we add markets and households. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 2 full-time staff and 2 part-time market ambassadors in Year 1.

We are asking the Lakeshore Health Foundation for $65,000 for our Program Coordinator and for incentive funds paid to farmers through market tokens, for July 2027 through June 2028. Health systems, grocery partners, businesses and neighbors also give, so this grant is one part of a shared funding plan.

I am Andre Coleman, the Executive Director. The numbers in this proposal are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end, not promises.

Company Description

Fresh Table Market Match is a nonprofit organization in Michigan. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget the board reviews.

Our mission. Everyone in our community should be able to buy fresh, local food, and local farmers should be able to earn a fair living selling it.

What we do.
- Match food benefit dollars spent on fresh fruits and vegetables with extra market tokens at partner markets, up to a daily limit our board sets.
- Pay the match to farmers through the market, never as cash to shoppers.
- Train market managers, vendors and volunteers to run the program and explain it kindly.
- Share the program with families through schools, clinics, food pantries, libraries, faith communities and neighborhood centers.
- Count what is spent, how many households take part and what farmers earn, and report it to funders and partners.

What we do not do. We do not run the markets. We do not process or change anyone's benefits, and we follow the rules of the programs that issue them. We do not give nutrition or medical advice. We do not require anyone to buy specific foods, and the match applies only to fresh fruits and vegetables chosen by the shopper. Partner markets must be approved to accept food benefits under the rules that apply.

How we got here. A group of farmers, market managers, nurses and parents began talking about how few families with low incomes were shopping at markets, even when they wanted to. We ran a small pilot at one market during one season with volunteers and donated funds, kept careful records and learned what worked. This proposal asks for support to turn the pilot into a program with a coordinator, part-time ambassadors and steady funds for the match.

Nonprofit status. Our 501(c)(3) determination letter and board list are in the attachments. If your own organization is new, the funding section includes a note about using a fiscal sponsor.

Problem & Opportunity

Fresh fruits and vegetables are among the foods families say they most want and find hardest to afford. For a household living on a tight budget, a market basket can cost more than a similar purchase at a discount store. Even when the produce is better and fresher, price decides.

Farmers markets can seem like a place for people with more money. Signs, prices and habits may make some families feel unwelcome, and many do not know that markets accept food benefits. Some markets do not have the equipment or training to accept them. Some shoppers do not know where to find the market or how to use it.

Local farmers feel the other side of the problem. A small farm needs steady customers at a fair price. If many neighbors cannot shop at the market, the farmer loses sales, and the market becomes harder to sustain.

What we hear.
- A mother of three says she would buy more vegetables if she could stretch her benefits further.
- A retired man says he is not sure if the market takes his benefit card or how it works.
- A vegetable farmer says that when the match is running, sales go up on market day and he plants more the next season.
- A market manager says she would like to accept food benefits but needs training and equipment.

What is missing. Families need a way to make their food dollars go further, markets need training and systems and farmers need steady sales. No single organization in our region connects all three.

We do not claim that a market match will solve hunger or change anyone's health. We believe it can help some families eat more fresh food, help some farmers stay in business and make markets more welcoming to everyone.

Products & Services

Our program connects families, markets and farmers through a simple match.

How the match works.
1. A family shops at a participating market. They visit the market's information booth and use their food benefit card to buy market tokens.
2. We add a match. For every dollar a family spends on market tokens, we add up to a dollar in matching tokens that can be used only for fresh fruits and vegetables, up to a daily limit set by our board.
3. Shoppers use tokens with vendors. Shoppers choose the produce they want. Vendors collect the tokens as payment.
4. Vendors are paid. At the end of the market day, the market redeems the tokens, and we reimburse the market for the match. The vendors are paid by the market. Nothing is paid as cash to shoppers.

What we add around the match.
- Training. We train market managers and vendors on how the token system works, how to explain it kindly and how to keep good records.
- Outreach. Market ambassadors, who come from the neighborhoods the markets serve, spread the word in the places families already go and offer information in English and Spanish.
- Welcome. Simple signs and a friendly information booth make clear that everyone is welcome.
- Simple records. We keep count of how many households use the program, how much they spend and how much goes to farmers.

Rules we follow. The match is available to anyone who shops with food benefits at a participating market, under the rules that apply to those benefits. The match can only be used for fresh fruits and vegetables. We follow the rules of the programs that issue benefits and the market's own rules.

What we promise. We will pay the match to markets on time, train their teams and report honestly on what happens.

What we do not promise. We do not promise any health result. We do not promise that every market will take part, and we do not promise that the match will be available at every market on every day if funds run out. We set a monthly budget and explain this to shoppers plainly.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Households that use food benefits or that have low incomes and shop for fresh food at farmers markets, and the farmers and markets that serve them. Anyone who uses food benefits at a participating market may use the match, under the rules that apply to those benefits.

How we estimate need. We cannot count exactly how many households could use the match, so we plan from what we know. In our pilot season at one market, a small number of volunteers and a small fund brought in households who had never shopped at the market before. Partner markets have told us they would like to take part if they receive training and equipment. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 600 households at 4 partner markets. By Year 5, we plan to serve about 1,400 households at 8 partner markets.

Where households come from.
- Schools, clinics, food pantries and libraries.
- Faith communities and neighborhood centers.
- Benefits offices and workforce centers.
- Market information booths and word of mouth.

Who else benefits. Farmers benefit from steady sales. Markets benefit from more shoppers and a stronger community reputation. Local grocers and health systems benefit when neighbors have more access to fresh food.

What the numbers mean. Every household in our count is a family choosing food for the people they love. We keep our early counts modest and honest so we can learn and improve.

Competitive Landscape

What exists today, and how we are different.

1. Food assistance programs. Food benefit programs and food pantries are essential, and they serve many people. They are not designed to connect shoppers to local farmers. Our match works alongside them and does not replace any of them.

2. Other market incentive programs. Programs that match food benefit dollars at markets exist in some places. Where a program already exists in our region, we will partner with it and avoid duplicating its work. Where it does not, we fill the gap.

3. Grocery store promotions. Some grocers offer discounts on produce. They can help, and they do not support local farmers directly.

4. Community gardens and food box programs. They are valuable and serve different needs. We refer families to them.

5. Doing without. Many families buy less fresh produce than they want because of price. This is the group we most want to help.

What makes us different.
- We pay the match to farmers, so the money reaches the people who grow the food.
- We train market teams and vendors, which helps programs last.
- Market ambassadors come from the neighborhoods the markets serve.
- We keep clear records and share what we learn.
- We work with markets of different sizes, including small neighborhood markets.

We have spoken with markets and other organizations to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. Their letters of support are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How households, markets and farmers will find us.

Reaching households.
- Market ambassadors. Our part-time ambassadors, who come from the neighborhoods the markets serve, share information at libraries, schools, clinics, food pantries and faith communities.
- Flyers and signs. Simple, plain-language flyers in English and Spanish. Signs at the market that say clearly: Food benefits are welcome here, and we will match your purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Partners. Clinics, social workers and benefits offices that tell their clients about the program.
- Word of mouth. Many households will hear from a neighbor. We thank them and never pressure families to share.
- A simple website and phone line with a text option.

Reaching markets and farmers.
- Contact market managers directly and invite them to apply to join the program.
- Hold a training session for each new market and a refresher each spring.
- Meet with vendors at the start of each season to explain the token system.
- Share results with markets so they can see how the match helps their sales.

How we decide which markets join. We look for markets that are approved to accept food benefits under the rules that apply, have a manager who wants to take part and serve neighborhoods where many families have low incomes. We apply the same criteria to every market.

Keeping partners informed.
- A short quarterly update with counts of households and spending.
- A yearly gathering to thank markets, farmers, ambassadors and funders.

What we watch. Households served, token dollars spent and matched, new shoppers and returning shoppers and what farmers report. We use that to decide where to focus our outreach.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the Program Coordinator and market ambassadors, buy equipment, finalize the market and vendor agreements with our attorney and sign partner markets.
- Month 3 (September): Train market teams and vendors. Begin the match at the first partner markets, which operate through the fall.
- Months 4 to 10: Run the match at partner markets, with weekly reports from each market and monthly check-ins with market managers.
- Months 11 and 12: Survey households, vendors and market managers, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Our small office is shared space in a community building. We run the match from each market's information booth.

Equipment. We buy about $5,000 of equipment once at the start: tablets and card readers for market information booths ($3,500) and folding tables, banners and display stands ($1,500). Later years replace or add a few items as we add markets.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Coordinator, paid $38,000 a year, trains market teams, runs reports and manages partners. Two part-time market ambassadors, each paid $12,000 a year, do outreach in the neighborhoods the markets serve. We add a third ambassador in Year 3.

Safety, privacy and fairness.
- We follow the rules of each benefit program and each market.
- We do not collect more personal information than we need. We never ask for benefit card numbers, and the market's system handles card transactions.
- We keep records in a secure system and share only counts, not names, with funders.
- Ambassadors and volunteers are trained to treat every shopper with respect and to protect privacy.
- We never give cash to shoppers. Match tokens are used only at the market.

Payments. We reimburse markets for matched tokens on a monthly schedule. Incentive funds are about $60,000 in Year 1, token and point-of-sale supplies about $6,000, outreach and translation about $5,000 and administration and insurance about $9,000.

Evaluation. We count households, token dollars, new shoppers and returning shoppers. We ask farmers how sales changed and ask households, in a short and voluntary survey, whether the match helped them buy more fresh food. We share results with our board and funders twice a year.

Management & Organization

Andre Coleman, Executive Director. I lead the organization, report to the board and am responsible for budgets, partnerships and reporting. I grew up shopping at a neighborhood market with my grandmother, and I know how much a market can mean to a family. I will learn and follow the rules for each benefit program that our markets accept.

Program Coordinator. The coordinator trains market teams, manages partner agreements, tracks reports and supports the ambassadors. We will hire someone with experience in community programs or markets and strong organizational skills. Paid $38,000 a year, this position is part of our grant request.

Market ambassadors. Part-time staff who share the program in the neighborhoods the markets serve and help families use it. We will hire people who live in or near those neighborhoods, who speak the languages of the families we serve and who are friendly and dependable. Each is paid $12,000 a year.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a vegetable farmer, a market manager, a nurse, a parent who uses food benefits, a banker who serves as treasurer, a lawyer and a community organizer. The board meets every other month, approves our budget and sets the daily match limit. No board member is paid, and members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. Representatives from a health system, a food pantry, a farm association and a state agency give guidance twice a year.

Why we can do this. We ran a small pilot at one market, kept clear records and built relationships with farmers and market managers. We are starting small and growing as we show we can run the match fairly and reliably.

Milestones Narrative

Our goals, how we will measure them and when we plan to reach them.

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Serve about 600 households at 4 partner markets.
- Train all partner market managers and vendors before the match begins.
- Pay every market within 15 days of receiving a correct report.
- Welcome at least 200 households who had not shopped at a farmers market before.
- Hear from at least 85 percent of the households who answer our short survey that the match helped them buy more fresh food.

What we count and how.
- Households served, token dollars spent and matched, from market records.
- New shoppers and returning shoppers, counted at the information booth.
- Farmer feedback, collected twice a year.
- Household feedback, from a short, voluntary and confidential survey.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 800 households at 5 markets.
- Year 3: About 1,000 households at 6 markets and a third ambassador.
- Year 4: About 1,200 households at 7 markets.
- Year 5: About 1,400 households at 8 markets.

Learning along the way. At the end of each quarter, the coordinator and the board review the numbers and decide whether we are on track. If we are behind, we will adjust our outreach, our market list or the daily limit before asking for more money.

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 56 percent of our budget, down from about 67 percent in Year 1, as health systems, grocery partners and individual donors give more. We will also keep track of public programs that fund fresh food incentives, and we will not count on them until they are confirmed.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $65,000 from the Lakeshore Health Foundation for a Program Coordinator and fresh food incentive funds paid to farmers through market tokens, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Program Coordinator salary, $38,000.
- Other: Fresh food incentive funds paid to farmers through market tokens, $27,000 (other funds add $33,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 49% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $199,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $6,000 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grants $134,000 (this request plus other grants we are applying for), health System and Retail Partners $40,000; individual and Business Donations $25,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $50,000; program Coordinator $38,000; market Ambassador (part-time) $24,000; fresh Food Incentive Funds (paid to farmers through market tokens) about $60,000; token, Point-of-Sale and Training Supplies about $6,000; outreach, Translation and Mileage about $5,000; administration and Insurance about $9,000; about $2,080 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $13,000 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,500 for tablets and card readers for market information booths; $1,500 for folding tables, banners and display stands; $2,200 for opening stock of tokens, receipt books and bilingual signs; $2,400 for attorney review of the market and vendor agreements and privacy policy; $1,700 for flyers, banners and a simple website; $1,700 for background checks for the first staff and volunteers and first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($13,000), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $960) and a cash cushion of about $48,000, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $62,000. We start with $10,000 from our founding board and $56,000 in startup support from a local community foundation and a health system partner, $66,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $199,000 in Year 1 to about $250,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $134,000, $134,000, $136,000, $138,000 and $140,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: health System and Retail Partners from $40,000 to $66,000; individual and Business Donations from $25,000 to $44,000. Our surplus is planned at about $6,000 in Year 1, about $10,900 in Year 2, about $12,100 in Year 3, about $11,700 in Year 4 and about $12,400 in Year 5. We add a third market ambassador in Year 3 and grow from 4 partner markets to 8 by Year 5.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $60,000, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $7,960 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per household. In Year 1, our total costs are about $300 per household served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more households served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $200 per household.

After the grant. Health systems, grocery partners, businesses and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Farmers, markets and shoppers share their stories, and businesses can sponsor the match at a market by name. We will keep track of public programs that fund fresh food incentives, and we will not count on them in this budget until they are confirmed.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- Funds run out before the season ends. We set a monthly budget, a daily limit per household and a waiting plan, and we tell shoppers plainly.
- A market stops taking part. We keep agreements with more markets than we need and help new markets join.
- A privacy problem. We never ask for benefit card numbers, we use secure systems and we train every ambassador.
- Few households use the match. Ambassadors increase outreach and we adjust where we promote.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.
- A shopper has a problem with a vendor. The market manager handles it under market rules and we follow up.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller: one neighborhood, a handful of participants and a small team, tracked carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach with this proposal:

- Your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current year budget.
- A list of your board members and what each one does.
- Signed letters of support from partner markets, farmers, a health system and community partners.
- Your market agreement and vendor agreement.
- Your daily match limit and the rules of the benefit programs your markets accept.
- Your token system procedures and reporting forms.
- Your privacy policy and ambassador training plan.
- Quotes for equipment.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $134,000 in Year 1, growing to $140,000 in Year 5.
- Health System and Retail Partners: $40,000 in Year 1, growing to $66,000 in Year 5.
- Individual and Business Donations: $25,000 in Year 1, growing to $44,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $50,000; program Coordinator $38,000; market Ambassador (part-time) $12,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: fresh Food Incentive Funds (paid to farmers through market tokens) $60,000; token, Point-of-Sale and Training Supplies $6,000; outreach, Translation and Mileage $5,000; administration and Insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 10% a year.
- Equipment: $5,000 at the start, then $1,200 to $1,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $13,000, paid once from $66,000 in startup money.
- Households served: about 600 in Year 1 at 4 partner markets, growing to about 1,400 at 8 markets in Year 5.
- Match: up to a dollar for each dollar spent on fresh fruits and vegetables, up to a daily limit set by the board.
- About 4% of each year's income is still owed to us at year end.
- Tax: none, as a nonprofit.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and real budget.

Startup Costs