Habits of Waste
Every Child Deserves a Crayon
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We are a growing non-profit that has created a huge shift in an area that had never been addressed before. The idea of wastefulness among crayons and people not noticing that they could actually donate those crayons was foreign. Our biggest challenge is to tell more people that the model of redistributing those crayons to schools in need of supplies. We know that our model works and can be beneficial to everyone receiving and donating the crayons. We want to share our work with more people around the world to let them know that the crayons they no longer need or want, are treasured by needy children a few miles away.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Crayon Recycling Program
Through our Crayon Recycling Program, we establish partnerships with national restaurant and hotel chains that distribute free crayons to children when they dine. Instead of throwing these crayons away after each meal, we establish a collection process for each location and ensure these gently used crayons are donated to a local school in need.
Crayon Collection Art Education Program
We understand it is more than just a crayon – it is a powerful tool of expression to support learning, development, creativity and imagination in the hands of young minds. So in order to supplement the free crayons we donate to Head Start Programs and Title 1 elementary schools, we invest significant resources in our Arts in Education program, which supports the Art Inspiration and Artist Rotation initiatives.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of lessons taught
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Multiracial people, People of African descent, People of Latin American descent, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Crayon Collection Art Education Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Arts in Education Lesson Plans in cirriculum
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our goal is for every child in America to have access to the most basic art supply as well as an education that includes art. Although the crayon might seem simple, it lends itself to solving a huge crisis in the world of education. Children in schools are being starved of their creative outlet and our solution is to use the free crayons as the main learning tool. Thanks to the doctorate students in Education at Loyola Marymount University, we have developed a Standards Compliant Art Education Program that allows any teacher to teach art through STEM. If restaurants and families in well served communities save the like-new crayons that are being trashed we can provide millions of children with millions of crayons. This alleviates landfills from non-decomposable crayons that are made of paraffin wax. We can be eco-conscious while instilling art programming in schools worldwide.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The great work we do is largely because of all the people that are helping us around the world. Once they hear about our work they are inclined to make a change in their behavior by collecting and donating the crayons they have. The idea is so simple that anyone can participate anywhere. In the US alone restaurants throw away over 150 Million crayons per year. There is no shortage of crayons, therefore people in communities around the country can simply ask their local restaurants to participate and then donate the crayons to underserved schools. Teachers pay about $950 out of pocket for classroom supplies and the Crayon Collection augments this astonishing burden on educators. Then, by word of mouth and social media more people are aware of the Crayon Collection model and can participate. We have been lucky to receive much press as well.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
At Crayon Collection, our team works daily with national chain restaurants such as IHOP and Dennys to get their involvement in all locations. We then pair each location with a school in need. We also partnered with National Head Start Association and Region 9 Head Start to help us pair each restaurant with a school. We also work closely with family friendly organizations and publications to help us spread the word and educate people that crayons that are still good, don't belong in the trash. This greatly increases the community involvement and engagement and everyone gets involved who hears about us.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have collected and redistributed over 22 million crayons so far. We are excited to make this number grow. The children who help us work on collecting and redistributing the crayons are the audience we seek to engage more. We launched a new program in 2018 called the Color Kindness Project. This allows children to write notes of kindness to the children receiving the collected crayons. We ask the children to do this when we sort crayons and re-pack them in small pouches. These are special events we host for more kids to have a hands on volunteer opportunity. The kids feel great and work so hard on sorting the collected crayons. It's as though they create a connection to the children they are preparing the pouches for through the experience of having a crayon. In 2021 we augmented all of our art education lesson plans to include social emotional learning benefits as well and in 2022 we launched an advocacy lesson plan called "Letters for Change" allowing kids to understand the strength of their voices in making change.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Habits of Waste
Board of directorsas of 01/17/2024
Laura Dicterow
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
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Disability
No data