I Love A Clean San Diego County Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
952566791
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2022
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6192910103
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,915,534
Expenses
$2,640,529
Assets
$2,542,407
Liabilities
$977,898

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Steve Morris (Executive Director)
  • Tiana Austel (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Steve Morris (Executive Director): $161,631 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

I Love A Clean San Diego works to improve the quality of life for all San Diegans by providing environmental preservation opportunities and education through a variety of channels. continues on Schedule O.

What it reported doing in 2025

Waste Recovery ILACSD operates a call center and manages an online database that provide San Diego County residents with convenient, reliable information on waste disposal, recycling, and reuse. Through these resources, individuals receive referrals on how and where to recycle, repair, donate, or safely dispose of hazardous items, helping to divert significant amounts of waste from local landfills and reduce illegal dumping. In 2025, ILACSD responded to 221,155 requests for recycling information through its WasteFreeSD.org platform and 1800237BLUE hotline. In addition to these services, ILACSD offers recycling outreach and infrastructure support at community events, with educational content on topics such as used motor oil recycling. ILACSD also conducts site visits to certified collection centers to ensure compliance with environmental standards. To further reduce waste, ILACSD hosts swap events where community members exchange gently used items, encouraging reuse, and reducing unnecessary purchases. ILACSD also partners with school districts countywide to evaluate and improve camp

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 65% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 90.3%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.4%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82% of revenue deployed · 90.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 9 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.