Member Assembler FAQ No. 1: How do I collect balances from a subscriber that owes me money?

Does one of your customers have a remaining balance that you'd like to remind them about (and receive?!) It's easy to send payment requests through Member Assembler. Here's how:

1. Head to Member Assembler in your Control Panel and click on Accounting / Payment Request.

2. Click on Add New Payment Request in the yellow bar.


3. Walk through the questions.
- What Type of Payment Request is this? Is this a set amount? (do you need a customer to pay set amount such as $100?) or is this a percentage? (would you like your customer to pay a percentage of their remaining balance such as 50%). If you want them to pay all of their remaining balance, use 100%.
- User Must Have Type: Did you want this payment request to go out to everyone? (No Member Type Narrowing); or just to your ½ shares? The pull down menu will populate all the member types you offer.
- Payment Request Email Subject: Enter in the subject title for the email (For example: Remaining Balance info for your CSA
Now it's time to draft what the email will say. You’ll see some crazy looking variables (like this: %%primary-member-name%%) Don't delete these. These will populate for each of your members.
For this example, your member's name will be populated between the %%)) There a number of different variables you can add:
%%primary-member-name%% - The name of the primary user in the membership.
%%payment-request-amount%% - The amount of the payment request.
%%current-balance%% - The balance of the membership before any payment has been made.
%%cc-payment-url%% - A unique link to your website for the member to pay online with Paypal or Member Assembler payments (Authorize.net). Remember to delete this variable if you are not using credit card processing.
%%member-id%% - The unique number that identifies a particular member.

When you're asking for a request for payment, you could enter this into the body of your email:
%%primary-member-name%%, We are requesting a payment of %%payment-request-amount%%. Your current balance is %%current-balance%%. Click the following link to pay online with your credit card: %%cc-payment-url%%
Sincerely,

Your Farm Name here.

4. Click on Save and Select Users


This next screen, you'll get to see a preview of what your message is going to look like. If you see anything you'd like to change, click on "edit this payment request" in the yellow box. The final step is to select the members that should receive the payment request. This list should be populated from your “User Must Have Type:” section, from the previous screen. Simply click on the box to 'check' it, next to any of the names you'd like the email to go to.

Click on Send Email to send the email.

Still need help? We're happy to answer questions. Give us a call at 412.567.3864 or email us at support@smallfarmcentral.com.

We're Sponsoring a Screening of the Greenhorns October 6th

I know not too many of you are in Pittsburgh, but we're putting together a screening of the new documentary about young farmers called 'The Greenhorns' on October 6th at the Melwood Screening Room. I've met Severine (the creator of the movie) at various farm conferences over the years -- I think everyone at these conferences meets Severine. She has the kind of personality that meets everyone.

"The Greenhorns documentary film, completed after almost 3 years in production, explores the lives of America's young farming community - its spirit, practices, and needs. It is the filmmaker's hope that by broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, we can build the case for those considering a career in agriculture - to embolden them, to entice them, and to recruit them into farming." -- from the Greenhorns website.

The screening will include a happy hour featuring local food & brews and proceeds will benefit Grow Pittsburgh.

Here are details about our screening.

Here is the trailer:

For more information on the Greenhorns, visit http://www.thegreenhorns.net/. There are screenings going on around the country this fall, so maybe there is one in your area.

A CSA-Inspired "Iron Chef?"

You probably won't be surprised to learn that everyone at Small Farm Central gets a CSA share each week. Not only do we love to support our local farmers, but we all enjoy meeting the challenge of creating delicious meals that feature whatever seasonal treats might show up in our vegetable boxes.

Our new web developer, Mike Cuccaro, especially loves playing "Iron Chef" with his CSA box every week, where he tries to quickly use everything in his share and not much else in preparing his food for the week. He thinks it would be fun to stage an "Iron Chef" type of event where two or three chefs are given the same CSA box, with two hours to prepare a meal that features everything in it.

An event like this could be a great way to raise money for a local charity, while providing an innovative way for farmers to connect to their communities.  Have you ever hosted any kind of food or cooking event on your farm? Tell us what you think!

New *Free* Map & Directory Service for Farmers Markets

We are excited to announce the latest tool in your farm marketing toolbelt; Farming Faces allows farmers markets (and other groups of farmers) to quickly create an online directory & map of their vendors and farmers.

Your site might look a little bit like this:

View this site in your browser: http://pittsburghpublic.farmingfaces.com

Why is Farming Faces Special?

• Mapping and Vendor Directory. The ability to easily create a map and directory of farmers within a market or a group using Google Maps so that customers can visualize where their food comes from.
• News Feed. Auto updating news feed aggregates farmer updates from Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and Small Farm Central sites to keep an up-to-date news area without farmers having to manually update it.
• One farm, one profile. As markets and organizations create Farming Faces sites and farmers are joined to different groups, there is only one profile for each farmer to manage. An update on one site is copied to all of the other sites a farmer is joined to, which means a minimum amount of management for farmers, and maximum reach when marketing effort is made.
• Free. Farming Faces is free for farmers markets and smaller organizations to set up a basic Farming Faces site. Small Farm Central will charge a nominal fee for larger organizations, and for advanced features as they are added in the future, but the core service will remain free.

Sign up for a tour today!

Sign up on this page:
http://www.smallfarmcentral.com/farmingfaces

..and we will contact you to give you a tour of the service. If you like Farming Faces, we'll create a site for you and show you how to use it!

Forward this email on to your market manager!