Think Beyond Plastic Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823886116
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2019, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Carmel, CA, USA
Phone
9088271091
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Pollution Abatement and Control Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$84,726
Expenses
$235,205
Assets
$77,121

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIELLA RUSSO (President)

People named in this filing

  • DANIELLA RUSSO (President)
  • GREGORY BAXTER (Secretary)
  • LINDA JACKSON (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

Think Beyond Plastic Foundation is a non-profit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes, specifically to start, support and advance a global wave of innovation for alternatives to conventional, non-fossil fuel based plastic materials.

What it reported doing in 2024

Academic Program: An essential part of our activities includes training students in developing a systems view of the plastic pollution problem and incorporating this view in graduate programs at universities. In collaboration with Middlebury Institute at Monterey, we have produced classes and educational programs to facilitate this learning. The class explores the Innovation Ecosystem as a concept for addressing global challenges and uses plastic pollution as a case study. In collaboration with UC Santa Cruz, we have developed programs for graduate students on sustainability. In collaboration with UC San Diego, we have produced training and participation in forums educating students and the public on innovation. We educated on plastic pollution student coalitions at University of Eugene, and University of Washington, Portland State University, Cal State Monterey Bay.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 57% for direct work, and 43% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 95
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 10
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87

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: -177.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -29.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -18.6% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 5 filed program accomplishments · $205K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.