Habits of Waste

“A draft return was reviewed by the board chair, president, treasurer, and organization's accountant. Any comments will be discussed with outside CPA and any necessary changes will be made to the return prior to filing.”

“During the year, all board members signed a written statement that they have read the conflict of interest policy and have disclosed all possible conflicts.”

“Outside comparibility data was obtained as a base to determine the exeuctive director's salary that was appoved by the board. Line 15(b) of Part VI is answered no as there were no other officers or key employees as defined in Form 990 instructions who were compensated.”

“The organization's governing documents and conflict of interest policy are available upon request.”

“At Crayon Collection our most important accomplishment was that we expanded our Crayon Recycling Program. Through our partnership with Penguin Random House we were able to provide 3,000 new branded boxes to send to new restaurant partners all over the United States. These new boxes allow children to contribute their crayons while dining out instead of the restaurant staff making the Crayon Collection effort. This gives many more restaurants incentive to participate. In addition, we have downloadable materials for schools and libraries to start their own Crayon Collection, which include the same characters as the boxes. This way there is no limit on who can receive the branded artwork. Users simply download the page and adhere to any box or bin they have so they can start their own Crayon Collection. In addition, we have also expanded our art education program to support after school programs nationwide. Our environmental efforts have also grown significantly through our newest program called HoW (Habits of Waste). We successfully convinced Uber Eats and Postmates to change the default settings in their applications so that plastic cutlery is only available when users request it. In addition, McDonalds in Australia have also committed to no longer provide plastic cutlery to their patrons. This is thanks to our campaign called #CutOutCutlery.”

“The mission of Crayon Collection is to use the collection and reallocation of gently used crayons to inspire a commitment to environmental consciousness and infuse art education into underfunded schools. Our model is simple but powerful: we ask restaurants and hotels that offer free crayons to children when they dine, along with community-based groups, to collect gently used crayons and then we redistribute them to the most vulnerable schools across the U.S. Given that teachers spend an average of $900 out-of-pocket for basic supplies, our repurposed crayons meet a crucial need for both classroom supplies and art resources, and help redirect millions of crayons from landfills. Through the simple act of saving a crayon, we seek to create a new "eco-normal" consciousness that inspires families, children, and communities everywhere to be stewards of the environment and nearby communities in need. We take the crayons one step further by challenging professional artists to offer us deep thinking project ideas using the crayon as the main tool. Next, our volunteer educators create lesson plans using these projects so that teachers in underserved classrooms nationwide can download and teach these art projects that have lined up with the stem curriculum. We have further expanded our environmental efforts after spearheading the plastic straw and cutlery ban in the City of Malibu so that we can continue creating new systems within society to teach and advocate for environmental consciousness. Through our HoW program, we are able to teach inner city youth and work with more cities to ban single-use plastics in addition to other "habits of waste" that are harming our planet.”