Californians Against Waste

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942466279
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$120,302
Expenses
$139,549
Assets
$102,727
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mark Murray (Executive Director)
  • John Davis (President)
  • Teresa Bui (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Mark Murray (Executive Director)
  • John Davis (President)
  • Leslie Lukacs (Secretary/Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

A) To promote the common good and welfare for the people of the community by encouraging and promoting waste reduction, material re-use, and recycling. B) To educate the public on subjects beneficial to the community that would minimize waste, reduce litter, and conserve natural resources C) To advocate for the attainment of such objectives by promoting the adoption of or rejection or adoption of ballot referenda, legislation, regulations, and judicial decisions. and by direct communications urging the general public to contact their elected representatives concerning issues related to the goals of the organization.

What it reported doing in 2024

Prevention and reducing landfill methine emissions. CAW succesfully advocates for policies and programs that reduce methene emissions from land fills

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 62% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.2%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 47.8%; rating input score 48

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -16%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 34.5% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 33.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 30.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.2% of revenue deployed · 47.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $67K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.