Happy New Year! 🎉
Cozy up with some hot cocoa🍵…
it’s time for the OFN Newsletter!
We’re ready to ✨dazzle✨ you with the coolest conference updates, share the news of new reports, and update you on the new pricing model change.
A little note from Laurie📜:
Hey happy new year! Gina has put together some news for you from around the community, and this issue also introduces our new suggested contribution plan (aka “pricing” for short). At the bottom, you’ll find our list of ways to contribute so we can keep bringing you open-source tools from the most beloved open-source food-oriented e-commerce platform in all the universe (honest, your contributions keep OFN alive and are a great investment in the future of community-based food security). Whatever you can contribute, We appreciate you - you help us make the change that creates a fairer food system for all.
Please let us know how we can help - we do what we do because of you!
New Contribution Model & Contribution Reminder ⚠️
Haven’t paid for your last season or year? Slip your mind? Here’s your chance to check it off your to-do list! Make sure you contribute your fair share and help us keep making great features to support our changing food system.
Speaking of changes… we’re rolling out a new suggested contribution model for 2025 based on monthly sales. We think this will be more responsive to your business, more transparent, and waaaay easier to figure out for you and for us. We’ll contact you at the end of every month and suggest a fair contribution based on this formula:
As usual, when you are ready to pay, just head to the OFN Donation Shop and pay with Paypal, a Credit Card, or let us know you are sending a check, or contact us to send us money using Venmo, Zelle, CashApp, or whatever magical money-sending tool you like best.
New Pay Suppliers report!
Shout out and a big thank you to the flower farms in Canada who supported funding for this improved feature!🌻🌷🪻
The Pay Your Suppliers report has new column options, such as Order Number, Order Date, and Order Cycle, making tracking and managing payments to suppliers easier. Many Hubs find it especially useful to download the report as a spreadsheet and add custom notes—like check numbers—for streamlined payment tracking. This update is a great step toward simplifying workflows and supporting transparency with producers.
As best described by our friends at the OFN United Kingdom Instance in their recent newsletter:
The report, called Pay Your Suppliers, can be accessed from the Reports screen and gives a breakdown of products purchased within the period you specify. The price columns specifically break down the amount owed to suppliers for sales; if the supplier has added a fee (i.e. on the incoming producers screen of an order cycle), this will be shown in the total fees column. Ditto if the supplier is tax registered, tax will be shown in the total tax column. This report excludes fees and tax charged by the hub, which are still shown in other reports. We hope this will help simplify the admin process for paying your suppliers!
As always, make sure you check the OFN User Guide for an overview, and reach out via email, visit Kent during office hours or make a visit to Hylo to ask any questions!
Conference-Palooza!
Catch our team members in action advocating for change.
Gathering for Open Agricultural Technology (GOAT)
OFN Project Manager Amber Subers took the stage during the panel, "What is ‘Appropriate’ Digital Technology?” exploring how technology can truly meet the diverse needs of farmers, ranchers, and producers. She shared valuable insights from her experience working directly with farmers, highlighting their challenges and triumphs in adopting open-source tools to support their businesses.
Minnesota Farmers Union
Minnesota Farmers Union’s 83rd Annual Convention was attended by our favorite User Support Specialist - Kent Lorentzen! Kent is active as a Delegate from Aitkin County MN where he farms along the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota. Pertinent connections were made with farmers and leaders in the community to strengthen and protect Minnesota’s food systems and share tools and resources like the Open Food Network.
If you’ve attended a conference this year or have information or ideas to share you think could help others in the fair food community, don’t forget to post on Hylo! Collaboration is our jam 🙂
Giving Tuesday
We appreciate your contributions!🌟
Thank you to all who participated in Giving Tuesday last month! We are grateful for the support to keep fighting for what we believe is right and fair within our food system; OFN couldn’t do this without the people who give their time, and monetary support, and provide OFN the platform to share our mission with others.
We welcome contributions in the spirit of giving all January long. Giving Tuesday is over, but we work towards our mission of fairer food every day.
Join us this month by adding donations to your shop front for:
Open Food Network
Charities of your choice (food banks, shelters, etc)
Your shop or hub
Hey, Change Makers, Help us out:
There are lots of ways you can support us all year round, moolah or nah we appreciate every type of contribution! But money works better to pay for server fees of course. Here's how to help:
Make an old-school donation : Every contribution counts, and every dollar goes directly to supporting OFN. To contribute at our shop, you choose your own donation "product", and our gratitude gets delivered right away. Are you more modern than credit cards and Paypal and checks in the mail? We’ll happily accept your contribution via Venmo, Zelle, or CashApp ($ofnusa) too. Just drop us a line to see how to do that.
If you are an OFN hub, you can add a donation "product" to your shopfront and invite your customers to contribute. Check out Grand Rapids Farmers Market Hub's shop to see it in action.
Buy some OFN swag : These union-made t-shirts and hats remind you and everybody who looks at you what OFN does: support everyone in a community. It also firmly establishes you as one of the cool kids...and $5 of every purchase comes to OFN as a donation!
Spread the word🗣️: Share our mission with friends, family, and colleagues to amplify our impact. Gina's our social media genius, and if you're not following OFN on at least two social platforms, you are missing out!
Contribute what's fair 🫱🏼🫲🏼: For your use of OFN: We don't gatekeep access to our software - that doesn't mean it's free for us to create, maintain, or support. It means we're trusting you to contribute at a level that works for you, knowing that our suggested amounts can work out to about a quarter of what you'd expect to pay to use another platform with similar functionality. When you contribute at higher levels, you help us support other folks who are just starting out or are in historically excluded communities.
Volunteer👩🏽: Are you motivated, communicative, fun, and good-looking? You'll fit right in! Get involved in our community and contribute your skills and time to further our cause.
Let's work together to shape a future where everyone can access fresh, local, and ethically sourced food at a price that's fair for everyone.
Don't be a stranger.
With love and warm wishes to you and your community,
From your OFN USA Team
Don't forget to share this newsletter with a friend using the social media links down below!