Free Tax Preparation Program

Program Mission Statement:

(self-reported)

Baxter Community Center, in collaboration with Kent County Tax Credit Coalition and AARP, offers free tax preparation assistance to low-income families and individuals in Kent County.

Goals of the program include the following:

• Helping to meet a community goal that all residents have access to tax preparation

• Increasing access to the Earned Income Tax Credit, Home Heating Credit, Homestead Tax Credit/Renter Rebate and Child Tax Credit.

• Following up with clients offering them budget-counseling programs, emergency needs services and other services.

• Generating economic activity.

• Encouraging volunteerism in the community.

This continuum, which moves from meeting basic needs, to accessing additional financial resources, to offering a safe and trusting place for financial goal setting and learning, helps to empower our local residents to meet their family financial goals and to achieve greater self-sufficiency.

Score Summary

Overall Score:	Good
Practice Principles:	Better
Faith Related Elements:	Good
Outcome Measures:	Excellent
Change Process:	Good

Program Facts

• Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 1
• Program Participants Last Year: 1720
• Meets about 1 time(s) with each participant per month
• Participants remain in the program for 1 months

Board Activities

Funding Overview

(self-reported)

	This Program	This Organization
Organization Budget: $1,000,000 Program Budget: $46,350
Foundation Grants	9%	24%
Government Grants/Contracts	0%	19%
Individual Gifts	8%	9%
Business/Corporate Gifts	8%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	8%	7%
Dues/Fees/Income	0%	5%
Other	67%	28%
	Average Program Funding From All Samaritan Programs	Average Organization Funding From All Samaritan Organizations
The next charts display the average funding sources for all programs currently in the Samaritan Guide for your comparison. Average Organization Budget: $3,820,907 Average Program Budget: $417,789
Foundation Grants	19%	18%
Government Grants/Contracts	6%	8%
Individual Gifts	37%	33%
Business/Corporate Gifts	9%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	10%	10%
Dues/Fees/Income	8%	9%
Other	9%	11%

It is important to maintain diverse income sources for your programs and for your oganization as a whole. Doing so provides long-term financial stability to your organizations and programs. It is also important to note that government funding often comes with stipulations and restrictions. More information is available in the Raising Resources Toolkit - pdf.

Score Details

Program Focus
Program Mission	Clarity and specificity of the program's mission statement.	Excellent
Target Population	Clarity and specificity of the programs target clientele.	Excellent
Eligibility Criteria	Clarity and specificity of the program's eligibility criteria.	Good
Program Requirements	Well defined requirements for client participation.	Good
Referrals From Other Organizations	Do other organizations recommend this program to their clientele.	Good
Referrals to Other Organizations	Does this program recommend other programs to their clients?	Good
Volunteer to Staff Ratio	Are volunteers effectively incorporated into the program?	Better
Past Participant Recruiting	Are past program participants recruited as volunteers?	Excellent
Evaluation and Practice Princples
Practice Principles	How supports and resources are provided to increase outcomes.	Better
Outcome Measurement	The ability to measure stated program outcomes.	Excellent
Change Process	Specific and measurable statement of the program's goals.	Good
Faith Related Elements	Integration of faith related elements.	Good
Measurement Frequency	Frequency of measuring client outcomes.	Better
Program Evaluation	Level of the budget allocated to measuring client outcomes.	Good
Institutional Stability
Organization Age	A measure of the organization's durability.	Excellent
Board Oversight	How involved in the program are the members of its board?	Excellent
Program Duration	Average duration of a clients participation with a program.	Good
Finances
Budget Diffusion	Diversity of the programs funding sources.	Good
Government Funding	Does this program accept little or no government funding?	Excellent

Program Score Details

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Outcomes & Measures:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide at least three clear and specific outcomes with corresponding measures in which a relationship is shown between outcomes and measures.

Outcome 1: During the 2008 tax season, 1,500 low-income local residents will have their taxes completed at no cost.

Measure Used:
The number of taxes filed are logged daily (each day the tax program is in session) into a computer database program by a program volunteer.

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Outcome 2: During the 2008 tax season, refunds generated for low-income local residents utilizing the Free Tax Preparation Program will equal at least $1,000,000.

Measure Used:
The refunds are recorded daily (each day the tax program is in session) using a computer database program by a program volunteer.

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Outcome 3: During the 2008 tax season, trained volunteers who will serve as tax preparers of the program from the previous year will be retained, and new volunteer tax preparers will be recruited and trained to help with the program.

Measure Used:
Volunteers are asked to log in at the beginning of each day they work. Using this tracking system, the names and amount of volunteers from last year will be compared to this year as a way to monitor retention and recruitment. This will be measured at the conclusion of the tax season.

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Outcome 4: During the 2008 tax season, volunteer hours for the Free Tax Preparation Program will equal at least 2,000 hours.

Measure Used:
Volunteers are asked to sign in and log how many hours they volunteer using our volunteer log at the beginning of the workday. Each month, the Administrative Assistant at Baxter enters these data into the Baxter volunteer database.

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Change Process:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide clear, measurable, client-focused stages of change based on participant participation.

End Notes

Incomplete Applications

Significant decreases in certain scores may indicate failure to comprehensively complete certain sections of the Samaritan Award application. Please be sure to fill out every question in the Samaritan Award application.

Relative Scoring

Total program scores are partially computed against other programs from within the same pool of applications and so are not cumulative.

Additional Reference Material

More information on scoring and methodology may be found on the Samaritan Guide and Award website.

Acton Institute Relationship

The Samaritan Guide and Samaritan Award are projects run by the Acton Institute. Inclusion in the Guide does not signify endorsement by the Acton Institute. More information on why the Acton Institute runs this project is available online.