Dear EITC Funders Network, |
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What a whirlwind of a tax season! As a funder community, this has been our third year of adjusting to grant-making through a pandemic and supporting partners who are working in areas related to awareness, outreach, engagement, policy, research and other activities related to tax credits. We have learned a lot as a field, tried new strategies and confirmed much of what we have known for years.
Together, we continue to support initiatives meant to counteract the inequities in our tax code, help more people get access to free tax prep services in non-predatory setting, advocate for expansions at the federal and state levels, share learning through research and develop solutions for the systemic flaws that persist and make it hard for the most vulnerable people to be informed about and access important poverty-reducing tax credits.
We have been able to convene meaningful discussions, connect partners and share resources. We are so excited about and proud of this ecosystem of funders that is working to improve the lives of individuals and families who have been hit hardest by the financial challenges brought on by COVID-19.
We are incredibly proud of our COOP Fund partners and awardee and our social media campaign aimed at young adults. Now that we have made it to the end of the tax season, the EITC Funders Network is looking forward to working with our members to reflect and identify new strategies for future consideration.
In this issue of the newsletter, we are sharing events, reports, learnings from members and resources. Over the rest of this year, we will be looking to the future and planning for next tax season. Please keep an eye our for opportunities to connect, share, learn and plan with members of this network and our partners.
Thank you all for of the work you did this past tax season, your continued commitment to expanding access to tax credits across the country and for your membership in the EITC Funders Network.
Sincerely,
Ami & Deneisha
EITC Funders Network
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With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the federal EITC was expanded to low-income young adults not claiming children on their taxes. For the first time, many more young adults could get $1500 back into their pockets, but they needed to file their taxes to do so. Understanding this was a very hard-to-reach population, the EITC Funders Network partnered with 1235 Strategies to develop and implement a social media influencer campaign to directly reach young adults through their existing networks during the final weeks of tax season.
At this webinar, we will share the results of the campaign, lessons learned, and advice on how to use social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, to raise awareness of public benefit programs.
This webinar is open to field partners,
philanthropic organizations and philanthropic advisors.
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Interview with a Field Leader |
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United Community (UC) has grown from a small grassroots effort to what is now the leading human services non-profit agency in southeastern Fairfax County, VA.
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Sari Raskin
Vice President of Grants and Community Leadership
Community Foundation for Northern Virginia
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Ivana Escobar
Director of Collective Impact
United Community
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Elizabeth Villatoro
Neighborhood Ambassador
United Community
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Community Foundations play an important role in supporting local economic security initiatives across the country. As a EITC FN COOP Fund grantee, CFNOVA worked closely with US to ensure more individuals and families had access to the CTC and EITC through outreach, engagement and free tax prep services. We are very excited that Elizabeth, Ivana and Sari agreed to a joint interview to share more about their work in this edition of Interview with a Funder.
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Question #1
As a community foundation, why did you decide to support work related to tax credits?
At the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, our community leadership work is led by four pillars aimed at “building a community that works for everyone.” These pillars are inclusive economic growth, racial justice and equity, community resilience and social and economic mobility. Our work invests in communities in Northern Virginia that don’t normally have access to the resources they need to solve longstanding community problems. It is advised by our existing and expanding relationships with diverse community leaders who possess a deep understanding of what works and what doesn’t work in their spheres of influence.
When the American Rescue Plan Act was being implemented last Summer, we had conversations internally and with our partners about how to maximize the funding coming into communities and use them to increase economic stability for families. We asked, “What would happen if we actually gave funding to families?” That is what really started this whole process of exploring how we might support work on tax credits.
We had never done work related to tax credit but saw the research that shows the powerful impact that the CTC and EITC have on reducing poverty. We continued to talk to our partners and examine ways to enter into work on tax credits; and then, the EITC Funders Network announced the COOP Fund opportunity. We jumped at the chance to apply for the grant. It seemed like a perfect fit for the conversations we had been having during the previous months. We also had an existing relationship with a trusted community partner, United Community (UC), who had also been thinking about entering into the work related to tax credits. We were confident that they would be able to connect to community members who are the hardest to reach because they have been doing work to identify and train community leaders.
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Illinois workers no longer excluded from EIC tax relief due to age or immigration status- "The Illinois General Assembly passed a bill expanding the Earned Income Credit tax relief program in April. Now, childless workers ages 18 to 24 and 65 and older along with immigrants who file taxes using ITIN are eligible for relief."
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Nearly half of families with kids can no longer afford enough food 5 months after child tax credit ended- "Five months after payments stopped, many families are struggling to make ends meet. Nearly half of parents who used to get the checks now say they can’t afford enough food to feed their families, according to a May survey of 500 parents from Parents Together Action, a nonprofit. In addition to the increased costs of food, families are noticing rising prices of gasoline, child care and rent due to inflation, the survey showed."
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Options for Reforming the Child Tax Credit- The Tax Policy Center analyzed five options that show how lawmakers could partially restore the expanded 2021 version of the CTC.
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Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Policy Response and Child Well-Being- "The Hamilton Project and the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution gathered scholars with deep expertise to describe specific economic policy responses to the pandemic, summarize the available evidence about the outcomes of those policies..."
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"Children’s HealthWatch is a nonpartisan network of pediatricians, public health researchers, and children’s health and policy experts committed to improving children’s health in America." They have published two reports with data related to the EITC and CTC.
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At this year's Prosperity Summit, the EITC Funders Network will be
hosting our 1st in-person meeting for network members since 2019!
We are so excited to bring this funder community together during the Summit on September 20th from 2-4pm ET. During our session, we will share reflections and learnings from our work over the past two pandemic years, hear insights from our funder colleagues, discuss what it means for our work in the future and share potential strategies for future grant-making. Keep an eye out for additional details and registration information we'll be sending your way.
We hope you can join us!
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Learn More About the Full Prosperity Now Summit
Marching on: Reimagining Economic Justice for All
Every two years, Prosperity Now creates a diverse, energetic, dynamic, and purposeful space for dedicated individuals working to advance economic justice. The Summit has long been a place for our partners in the field to share and learn best practices, discover new solutions, and galvanize around policies that promote financial security for all. This opportunity to convene and mobilize is critically important as we navigate the current health and economic crisis, as well as fight for economic justice and anti-racist policies affecting opportunity and equity for communities of color.
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About the EITC Funders Network
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The EITC Funders Network brings together funders interested in the Earned Income Tax Credit, free- and low-cost tax preparation, and asset building. The Network seeks to increase awareness of EITC-related projects, foster collaboration, share information about the current status of EITC-related work, and help shape the future of the field.
The EITC Funders Network is generously funded by:
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Gates Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Anonymous
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