To assist in growing your site(s), VITA/TCE partners offered the following best practices. Volunteer recruitment and site marketing Place notices seeking volunteers and/or clients in local newspapers and church bulletins. Include site hours of operation. Work with banks’ employee volunteer recruitment program. Collaborate with other nonprofits that have similar interests to recruit volunteers and obtain taxpayer clients. Ask local employers, unions, and retail stores to post your marketing flyer. Work with your community’s transit authority to post advertisements on their buses. Work with a local food bank to distribute flyers. Make use of social media and bulletin boards. Financial education and asset building Offer education and encouragement of tax-time savings to prepare for unexpected emergencies. Use a short questionnaire to identify clients who are interested in other services to help them become more financially stable. Ensure volunteers receive thorough training on how to split refunds into savings accounts. Use role-play scenarios and other techniques to practice communicating with taxpayers about saving. Begin conversations about savings while the taxpayers are making appointments and integrate it into every part of the VITA appointment thereafter. Send email and text correspondence to prior tax clients with savings related marketing materials. Specifically target clients who chose paper checks last year and encourage them to open bank accounts to be prepared for direct deposit during tax time. Connect those without a checking and savings account to local credit unions before the tax appointment.
