This past September, we and 200+ of our favorite tax pros took over the City of Bridges (Pittsburgh, PA) for VITACon’23. After three days of talking nothin’ but taxes, the conference is in the books; however, the work is just beginning.  

Leveraging the wonderful tax minds present at our FOMO-inducing conference, we turned to the future and forecasted the expansion of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly Programs (VITA/TCE) in the next five years. First, attendees were asked to share a future headline about VITA at either the federal, state or local level (read: manifest some more VITA success). After our shared manifestation session, we jumped into how we can make these seemingly lofty dreams happen. What follows is one of my favorite headlines shared during the session and ideas for how we get there: 

“VITA Reports Too Many Volunteers!” 

As veterans of the community tax preparation space know, volunteers form the backbone of any successful program. Those same veterans can tell you that recruiting, maintaining, and retaining volunteers can be a yearly headache if not done properly. So how will we get to the point where VITA reports too many volunteers?  

First, 1 in 4 volunteers will be former VITA clients. Word of mouth from clients is a proven way to bring more people to the doors each filing season. Why stop at outreach? Former clients can provide compassion, expertise, and guidance for clients – especially those who are nervous about the VITA process. Someone who knows what it’s like to be on both sides of the proverbial VITA table is invaluable to better understanding the potential improvements of your program. Beyond the site-level operations, clients turned into volunteers can help develop a more inclusive environment with less of a focus on the provider mentality. Don’t be afraid to leverage your former clients now!  

Second, VITA becomes a part of the financial education curriculum nationwide. By integrating VITA into existing educational programs, more people will be moved to participate in the program at the client and volunteer level. To get the ball rolling now, consider how your program interacts with local educational institutions. Students can form a bedrock of volunteers as VITA can be a part of required community service or class participation hours. Your program will need to make specific adjustments to your training and site production schedule to accommodate student calendars and the constant turnover due to graduation. Despite those changes, consider working with your local educational institutions to ensure that you’re not missing any volunteers!  

The final factor in this abundance of volunteers is the creation of multi-language training within local communities. Through the creation of these trainings, your program will be able to access the local demographics who are not being served by the primarily English-language-focused materials. Using my hometown of Boston, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese language materials are being utilized by local VITA providers. In addition, these materials go beyond training but also reach clients in their own contexts such as local radio stations, PSAs, and community centers. For your program, take this year to examine the potential gaps in your programming language and how you can reach these clients. A handful of volunteers with the same cultural background and language can open a huge vein of potential clients and volunteers for your program going forward.  

While there is a myriad of factors that will shape the next five years of VITA, it’s extremely exciting to hear the brainstorming and energy surrounding the community tax prep field. Even after 50 years, the VITA/TCE program continues to expand and innovate in new and exciting ways. Prosperity Now is committed to our partnership with you and your local VITA stakeholders. For your part, continue to test new innovations, pursue new partnerships, and advocate for the needs of your clients. We highly encourage you to connect with like-minded folks at the Tax Roundtable listserv or join the Prosperity Now community. 2028 will be here before you know it – and we want you to be a part of shaping it!