Society for Free Tax Assistance: VITA Meet-up Notes

Date: August 11, 2026

Topic: Recruitment recap & social media outreach strategy

What’s on Your Mind? Updates from the Field

• The IRS has extended its contract with TaxSlayer as the selected tax-prep software for one additional year.
• A formal decision on whether TaxSlayer continues as the software after the upcoming season is expected near the end of the federal fiscal year (September–October).

Recap: Recruitment Basics (Low Cost, High Return)

• Re-engage last year’s volunteers — aim for at least three points of contact.
• Follow up with anyone who has shown interest or volunteered at least once before.
• Ask current volunteers to refer friends and family.
• Stay in regular contact with your relationship manager — quarterly check-ins, more frequent as tax season nears.

Recap: Targeted Outreach & Non-Prep Roles

• Beyond the basics, review each site’s specific staffing gaps and target outreach to fill them; this takes more effort but pays off for hard-to-staff sites.
• Non-preparation roles (e.g., a “financial guide” role that pairs client support with financial coaching) can make volunteering more appealing and add value for taxpayers.

Social Media Messaging

• A shared set of sample recruitment messages was reviewed (e.g., emphasizing free service, volunteer quality, and accessible certification/training).
• Messages were built using a “messaging triangle” framework; programs were encouraged to adapt 3–4 core messages to their own brand and audience.
• A long-standing shared hashtag, #VITAWorks, helps consistent messages surface in followers’ feeds.
• Adding a short recruitment tagline to email signatures was suggested as a low-effort channel.
• Encouraging volunteers to personalize and share a recruitment message on their own feeds was also discussed.

Platforms in Use

• Facebook — most widely used, often paired with event graphics/flyers from marketing teams.
• LinkedIn — useful for reaching working professionals (accountants, attorneys, bilingual professionals) through articles on the value of volunteering.
• Idealist — functions more like a job/volunteer posting board than a social platform; several attendees have recruited site coordinators through it.
• Handshake and Lightcast — used to reach college students via university career-services channels.
• Nextdoor and Front Porch — hyper-local neighborhood apps; flagged as a possibly underused, very localized option.
• Community listservs — described as one of the most consistently effective channels in the field over the years.

Recruitment Events & Outreach Tactics

• Collect registration/interest info early in the year; reuse the list for roughly two follow-up touches before starting a fresh list each season, to avoid appearing as spam.
• University partnerships help generate student volunteer sign-ups.
• “Interest events” (in person or virtual) held before formal training introduce roles and confirm real interest before investing training time. Views were mixed on whether to hold these separately or fold orientation into training — the right approach depends on the program.
• Large combined tax-prep-and-outreach events can generate press coverage, community-partner visibility, and a recruiting boost for the season.
• Press releases tied to recruitment season and events were noted as an effective, low-cost media tactic.

Working with IRS.gov-Referred Leads

• Experiences with volunteers who sign up through IRS.gov were mixed — follow-through rates varied by program.
• Current guidance is that contact information should be shared so prospective volunteers initiate contact, rather than volunteer information being distributed to multiple sites at once (a past issue that caused duplicate outreach). Programs were encouraged to confirm current practice with their assigned relationship manager, since implementation may vary.

Paid Advertising: Lessons Learned

• One program tested iHeartRadio ads and in-theater ads (featuring a local spokesperson); neither produced clearly measurable results, partly because sign-ups funnel through one central portal with no easy way to trace the source.
• Takeaway: campaigns need a clear, direct call to action (“come volunteer”) rather than general awareness messaging.
• Ways to track source effectiveness: unique tracking URLs per channel, or a brief, low-friction post-signup survey question.
• Reminder: “returning volunteer” and “referred by a friend” will almost always be the top-reported sources — that doesn’t mean other outreach failed.

Messaging Framework (Public Tool)

• A five-step message-development tool, available at CFPB.gov (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) under resources for tax preparers, was recommended: 1) what you’re offering, 2) the action you want, 3) your audience and their benefit, 4) the cost/ask and concrete next step, 5) your audience’s context and the strengths/weaknesses of your ask.
• From there, build three core messaging themes to use consistently — not every message needs to appear in every piece of outreach.
• Small volunteer focus groups (8–10 people) were suggested as a lower-cost alternative to formal surveys for testing which messages resonate.

Bulk Email & Text Messaging

• General support for bulk email/text, kept to a small number of touches (roughly 3 messages over 4–5 months) tied to key milestones: registration opens, training opens, last chance to register.
• Opt-out functionality in bulk tools was noted as important.
• Tools mentioned: MailChimp (possible nonprofit discount, unconfirmed), Email Octopus (free tier up to ~2,500 contacts, includes ads on the free plan), YAM – Yet Another Mail Merge (free from a personal account under ~40 recipients/day, small fee above that), and Constant Contact (nonprofit pricing mentioned).

Next Steps

• This session wrapped up the multi-week recruitment discussion series.
• A possible future session on volunteer-management software was floated for early fall.
• Next session shifts to site management — building a practical toolkit for on-site coordinators that complements required IRS training rather than duplicating it.
• Participants were invited to submit topic suggestions by email.