To get people to our future, we need to understand the social networks of our customers. These people are disenfranchised and some feel entitled to our services. On the upside, these people often have strong family structures, church associations, etc. There are places to reach them. They are often hesitant to ask for help, they have low levels of trust for institutions, and they expect instant gratification. They feel excluded from the American Dream and they feel ashamed and confused.

Today, consumers don't understand the EITC. We need to educate them that they have earned this money -- it's not a government handout. There is some stigma around the EITC among some groups - they think it is only for particular ethnic groups. There are significant barriers to asset building and wealth creation.

In 2012 we expect there to be poor families, larger immigrant populations, and more older people in poverty. We expect more outsourcing to reduce the availability of good jobs.

We need to integrate financial education and services into other programs, including public education.

Our model assumed that our industry still exists in 2012 - we have not been taken over by H&R Block yet. In fact our industry has grown. We will convert, at least in part, to a fee-for-service model. More investors will be interested in working with us. Not every site will offer the same kinds of services. Our income will come from a variety of places -- fees for services, federal, state and local government funding, membership fees from employers, public utilities and hospitals and more. In 2012, we expect about 30% of our revenues will come from fees, 20% from all levels of government, and financial institutions will provide about 40%. We tried to build a model of our current revenue sources, and it was very difficult -- every program operates very differently.

We had a great discussion, but we're not sure if we created any consensus. We looked at the infrastructure in 2012. We may be able to do product development on a national level -- researching new products, doing market research, and negotiating with providers. We can market nationally to develop a stronger brand.

We can develop national partnerships. We would like to nationalize our university programs for recruiting volunteers. We would like to develop national referral programs with banks and other financial institutions. We would like to create instant account set-up and perhaps even instant refunds.

We brainstormed some bricks-and-mortar ideas as well. Could we develop storefronts? Can we offer tax services at bank branches? Can we develop an "Amway" model, where we throw "tax prep" parties in people's homes?

In terms of education, we need to improve our training programs.

In IT, we would like to standardize an Internet-based software program. Perhaps the IRS could offer an instant refund.

We talked about what might change and what will stay the same. There will still be an EITC. There will be greater automation at the IRS, which will accelerate the refunds. Providers will bundle more services. Changing demographics among customers will drive new products and services.

We believe that standardization will increase in the areas of training, centralized IT, quality control, and site operations. We will share more infrastructure. There will be a more formalize coalition, with different members focused on service different groups in the population that the commercial providers will miss. Within the coalition there will be an accreditation process, and the coalition will offer national marketing and branding services. We will partner with more financial institutions. Technology companies will help us to develop our IT infrastructure.

How will we fund all of this infrastructure development? Local and state governments may help fund this out of self-interest. Partnering firms and coalition members will also contribute, but how will local players balance the funding of their local programs with the funding of the national infrastructure?

We identified a best case and a worst case scenario for 2012. In the worst case, there will be no EITC and no replacement in 2012, and a flat tax will be implemented. In the best case scenario, the EITC will be increased and there will be more funding and universal savings accounts.

We feel that the coalition for the future should be multi-model. We think that each site should offer a kiosk where customers and fill in their own tax forms -- this will reduce the lines at our sites. We will also offer an online tool for this. These returns will be checked for quality. These online programs will be facilitated by employers, churches, etc.

We recommend a mixed model for organizing a coalition. There will be one organization that takes the lead in a community. Partners will provide most of the sites and some of the services. The lead organization will provide training, funding, oversight, coordination, data, outreach, etc. We expect this model to work in every major city.

How can we serve smaller communities? We will send a "wealth on wheels" (WOW) bus to each community on a regular schedule. This will provide tax prep and asset building services to smaller communities. We can depend on our Americorps program as well. We need to provide our training throughout the year so that our volunteers are prepared when tax season comes around.

We had a very wide-ranging discussion about operating models, but we didn't write it all down. In six years, we think that the industry will continue to look pretty similar to today. In other areas, there will be growth. We will morph to do more fee-based work that is still consumer-friendly. We will develop a VITA-like model that is franchised and standardized. There will be more self-service centers where people can be facilitated to use kiosks to do their tax prep. We will offer year-round tax prep and financial services.