If you are looking for a way to try to incentive tax time savings among tribal citizens, one option is to promote the Doorways to Dreams (D2D) Fund SaveYourRefund campaign.  D2D is a nonprofit that works nationally to help people save their money at tax time. 

What is the D2D Fund SaveYourRefund promotion? 

SaveYourRefund is a national tax-time savings promotion that encourages consumers to save a portion of their refund through cash prize drawings. The SaveYourRefund promotion is available to anyone (over 18) who splits and saves at least $50 of their federal tax refund.  Promotion participants can save their $50.00 in a savings account or CD, IRA, savings bond, prepaid card, 529 college savings account, or in an Individual Development Account.  

For 10 weeks, during the tax season, there will be weekly drawings where participants could win $100.00 each.  The drawings will occur every Friday from February 6th through April 10th.  D2D will also award one grand prize winner from their photo contest (the award is $25,000).  Winners are chosen through random selection.  (Information courtesy of D2D Fund).

Why is tax time an important time to promote savings? 

Tax-time savings are powerful for low- and middle-income (LMI) consumers.  Tax refunds represent up to 20% of household income for LMI families. (Information courtesy of D2D Fund).

What if your tribe or Native nonprofit wants to work with Doorways to Dreams to share information about this promotion? 

It is easy and free to sign up as a partner.   Training and marketing resources are available to all at SaveYourRefund.com.  Through January 15th, sites are able to sign up directly with D2D Fund using this link. Marketing material is available at: https://saveyourrefund.com/promotional-materials-2/.  (Information courtesy of D2D Fund). 

What else is ONAC doing to try to promote tax time as asset building time? 

Beyond sharing information about this D2D Fund promotion, ONAC has partnered with the IRS and has agreed to post a link to MyFreeTaxes on the ONAC website homepage (http://www.oknativeassets.org).  If an individual is filing a simple return, and has a gross adjusted income level of $60,000 or less, they are invited to file their state and federal returns for free by using the MyFreeTaxes link.  Please note: ONAC is not in a position to answer tax filing questions or to prepare returns for taxpayers. 

As an additional resource, here is a list of Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites in Oklahoma.   

During this busy tax season, ONAC wishes all of our constituents, who are administering VITA sites and/or promoting tax time savings, the best!  For those who are newer to sharing such information with those you serve, we hope that the information above may be useful to you.