Habits of Waste

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463314343
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
310-383-1011
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Recycling Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$270,939
Expenses
$515,093
Assets
$580,065
Liabilities
$198,239

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • SHEILA MOROVATI (FOUNDER, DIRECTOR, PRESIDE): $106,870 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to create collective change and impactful policies, with a focus on waste reduction, for a healthier, more sustainable future.

What it reported doing in 2025

Crayon collection program: in the wake of the 2025 los angeles fires, we launched banners of hope (boh) palisades. Boh is a trauma-informed creative arts model to help children process fear, displacement, and grief caused by the fires. This project provided an opportunity for young people struggling with ongoing stresses caused by the fires to find healing and support through creative art expression via an in-school curriculum and a community art-installation. We worked with 11 schools from the pacific palisades that burned down; each created artwork to reflect the process of remembrance and looking ahead. They selected three words of hope to reflect their community and hope for the future. We printed each artwork and words on 120 large, light pole banners and displayed them across pacific (continued on schedule o) palisades and parts of brentwood.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 69.8%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -90.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.7%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 12 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 69.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $360K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.