Habits of Waste

“A draft return was reviewed by the president, current executive director, current treasurer, and organization's outside bookkeeper. 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.”

“In 2020, at Crayon Collection, our most important accomplishment was that we pivoted our Crayon Recycling Program as we could not rely on crayon donations from restaurants in light of the pandemic and donated 40,000 crayons to 5,000 vulnerable families that were affected by the stay-at-home orders. As we all remember, overnight, children's worlds around the country changed when they had to leave school and stay at home. So many students in the most vulnerable communities around the country that didn't have access to crayons, a critical learning tool for early writing and drawing as well as creativity and expression which is so valuable especially for kids experiencing trauma, which the abrupt change and the fear of the pandemic brought. We also shared our art education program, which is available as a free resource to the families that received the crayon donations to supplement learning last Spring. In addition, our environmental efforts continued to flourish via our Habits of Waste programs and campaigns. Our #CutOutCutlery campaign, started in 2019, gained incredible momentum in 2020, as more people did not want plastic cutlery with their take-out meals. We successfully encouraged over 660 advocates to send emails requesting that delivery services change their default settings so that cutlery was only provided upon request. Postmates reported that in 2020, they were able to keep 122 million pieces of plastic cutlery out of the waste system and save restaurant partners over $3MM due to committing to #CutOutCutlery. We also launched #reThinkTap educating individuals that they have the right to safe tap water and that they can get information from their local cities about the status of their water. Finally, we introduced our latest campaign, #8meals in November, inspired by a study stating that decreasing our animal protein intake can make a significant difference in the fight against climate change, encouraging individuals to swap 8 meals a week for plant-based meals as doing so for a year is the equivalent of driving a hybrid car in carbon offset.”

“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. While 2020, required that we pivot, we continue to be committed to ensuring all children have access to crayons and an education that includes art. 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 working with more cities to ban single-use plastics, educate individuals about their rights to clean and safe tap water, take action to decrease their animal protein intake and get informed about simple individual actions each of us can take that collectively makes a big impact.”

“program consultants: Program service expenses 36,858. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 36,858. other contract services: Program service expenses 6,177. Management and general expenses 266. Fundraising expenses 772. Total expenses 7,215.”