Building Trusted Pathways to Child Savings Through Tax-Time Services

Who Should Apply

Prosperity Now encourages applications from eligible organizations that meet all minimum requirements below:

• Are nonprofit organizations operating an IRS-sponsored VITA program.
• Serve as the lead applicant and fiscal agent responsible for grant funds, reporting, and implementation. Community-based organizations, financial institutions, public agencies, schools, and other partners may participate as implementation partners, but the lead applicant must be an eligible VITA provider.
• Are primarily focused on one or more of the below target geographies:

Eligible applicants should also demonstrate that they:

• Serve low- and moderate-income (LMI) households, including families with dependent children.
  
  Note: For purposes of this RFP, (LMI) means earning less than 80% of FFIEC Median Family Income. Applicants may document, verify, or estimate LMI reach through VITA intake data, income documentation or tax records, self-reported household income, or address-based/census-tract analysis. Applicants should not use HUD or other income-limit definitions for this RFP. Applicants should not submit client-level personal financial information with the application. Prosperity Now will provide final reporting definitions and privacy-protective reporting guidance to selected awardees.
• Have established relationships within the communities they serve.
• Demonstrate readiness to integrate child savings information and support into VITA workflows for the 2027 filing season.
• Have, or are prepared to build, partnerships that can help families learn about, navigate, and access child savings opportunities.
• Are committed to participating in training, technical assistance, VITACon or other cohort activities, evaluation, and shared learning throughout the grant period.

Organizations with previous experience supporting Children’s Savings Accounts, 529 plans, Baby Bonds, Section 530A Accounts, financial coaching, tax-time savings, or other child and family savings strategies are encouraged to apply.

Prior child savings experience is not required.

Organizations that operate only Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs are not eligible for this RFP.

Selection Criteria

Eligible applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Implementation Approach: The clarity, feasibility, and potential effectiveness of the proposed approach to integrating child savings information and support into VITA and tax-time service delivery.
• Organizational Capacity and Readiness: The organization’s VITA staffing, volunteer management, leadership support, project management approach, and capacity to successfully implement the proposed activities.
• Family Reach and Community Reach: The organization’s ability to reach and engage low- and moderate-income families with dependent children, including the volume of tax filers with dependents and use of EITC, CTC, or ACTC as family filer proxies where available.
• Partnerships and Collaboration: The strength of existing and proposed partnerships and how they will support implementation, family education, referrals, and account access support.
• Evaluation and Learning: The organization’s ability to collect and report data, measure progress, use findings to strengthen implementation, and contribute to cohort-wide learning.
• Budget and Feasibility: The extent to which the proposed budget and implementation plan are realistic, cost-effective, and aligned with allowable uses, and appropriate for the number of families expected to be reached.

Awardee Reporting

Awardees will participate in a shared reporting and evaluation process throughout the grant period. Prosperity Now will provide standardized definitions, reporting guidance, and data collection tools to support consistent reporting across the implementation cohort. Final reporting requirements will include both quantitative and qualitative measures and will be calibrated to what VITA providers can reasonably collect.

• VITA staff and volunteers trained and completing required training modules.
• Families with dependent children reached through child savings-related interactions.
• Client interactions that include child savings information, education, referrals, or next-step guidance.
• Individuals who demonstrate increased understanding of Section 530A Accounts and other child savings opportunities.
• Individuals receiving direct support to access or enroll in Section 530A Accounts, where applicable and legally permissible.
• Section 530A Accounts or other child savings accounts opened during and outside of tax season, where awardees can reasonably verify this information.
• Child savings account providers engaged and partnerships established or strengthened.
• The total value of funds held by participating families in child savings accounts at designated reporting periods, where this information is available through account providers and can be reported in an aggregated, privacy-protective manner.
• Changes in organizational capacity to provide child savings guidance and integrate child savings strategies into tax-time service delivery.
• Improvements in the coordination, consistency, or quality of tax-time financial guidance.
• Implementation insights, operational challenges, lessons learned, and promising practices.

Specific reporting schedules, definitions, and data collection requirements will be provided to selected awardees during onboarding.