From: National Leadership Team
Subject: Tax-Aide Leader Comm 10-10-2025
Leader Communication – October 10
NEW VOLUNTEER PORTAL LANDING PAGE IS NOW LIVE!
We’re excited to announce that the new Volunteer Portal landing page launches today. The volunteers.aarp.org URL takes you to the new landing page, which contains helpful resources. Click the log in button to access the page that everyone is familiar with, then sign in as usual. If you have any questions or feedback, please email us at volunteer@aarp.org OR taxaide@aarp.org.
JOAN GONG RECEIVES NATIONAL DIRECTOR AWARD
R0-1 Regional Administration Advisor, Pam Gong, received the National Director Award for her above and beyond service impacting Tax-Aide at the national level. The longtime, MA1 volunteer works tirelessly and creatively on behalf of the program, most recently led critical data initiatives that are enhancing our ability to allocate resources strategically and assessing the impact of leadership actions on key aspects of program continuity, particularly volunteer recruitment, training, retention, and site operations. Her work is poised to have a national impact, significantly strengthening our leaders’ ability to guide their teams with clarity and confidence.
DEBRA GRANT RECEIVES AARP FOUNDATION LEADERSHIP AWARD
MS1 SC, Debra Grant, received this year’s Foundation Leadership Award. The award is given to a volunteer who leads with compassion and through collaboration to solve the biggest hurdles facing our program, reduce volunteer burden, and serve unreached taxpayers. Debra was nominated for this award by a volunteer she leads, which is a testament to her leadership style. She volunteers hundreds of hours each year as a state coordinator and serves as a local coordinator and tax counselor during tax season. She travels during tax season to assist sites across the state facing issues and leads program awareness and recruitment events while looking for new sites. Debra has a unique capability to communicate with emotional intelligence when dealing with disgruntled taxpayers and struggling DCs and LCs and bends over backwards to assist candidates struggling to complete their training. Debra was also instrumental in setting up a new site in a rural community last year, giving access to Tax-Aide’s services to a previously unreached community and has led her team in adding or reopening five new sites since 2021.
NATIONAL MEETING
The National Meeting – which brought together 120 Tax-Aide stakeholders – wrapped up yesterday in St. Louis, MO. During the meeting state and national volunteer leaders, staff, and program partners came together for networking and learning. State coordinators walked away with the resources, strategies and connections needed to run their state meetings and prepare their teams for the upcoming tax season. Foundation leadership reconfirmed their commitment to the Tax-Aide program and will continue to elevate the powerful partnership with the volunteer leaders whose experience and wisdom is invaluable. We are deeply grateful for our volunteer’s time and dedication.
