California · Nonprofit
THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION
THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $35,000 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($35,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $85k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $35k
- Net assets
- $77k
What Think Beyond Plastic Foundation does
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.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Innovation Challenges: Think Beyond Plastic Foundation conducts innovation challenges to identify solutions to plastic pollution. We developed the Agricultural Plastics Innovation Challenge, in partnership with Driscolls and other industry leaders. In 2023, as a continuation of these challenges, and in collaboration with the Global Entrepreneurship Center, we launched three calls for innovation with focus on new materials and sustainable chemistry, for agriculture, textile and packaging. The winners of these challenges were enrolled in our Innovation Accelerator.
$63,000 spent31% of program spendingInnovation Accelerator: Accelerating innovation is essential to our mission. In 2023, we launched and trained three cohorts of 20 innovators in collaboration with the Global Entrepreneurship Centre. In collaboration with UCSC, we produced the Blue Pioneers accelerator program, for leaders and innovators who start and grow organizations to overcome ocean conservation challenges around the world. In 2024, in partnership with Silverstrand Capital we produced the Biodiversity accelerator, to identify innovations in plastic alternatives impacting the ocean.
$10,200 spentof which $10,200 as grants5% of program spendingInvestor Forum: In 2023 we hosted our annual investor forum with participation of over 100 investors. This forum explores the role of sustainable chemistry in innovations that achieve the SDGs, the role of frontier capital and blended financing mechanisms to secure the innovation pipeline, and the dynamics of the innovation eco-system. In 2024 we hosted an Investor forum in collaboration with Siverstrand.
$6,200 spentof which $6,200 as grants3% of program spendingInnovation Centers: With the United Nations Development Program, we continued to develop the concept for a Regional Innovation Hub in the Philippines focused on eliminating plastic pollution through innovation and entrepreneurship. We have also developed a concept for a Global Innovation Center with focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Center will provide resources, access to support infrastructure and scale-up guidance to hundred of innovators working towards the SDGs in ocean health, agriculture, clean energy and waste.
$91,407 spentof which $37,100 as grants45% of program spendingAcademic 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.
$34,000 spentof which $34,000 as grants17% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $204,807.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $228k to $77k (−66%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
90% of THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2021: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $25k → $10k.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
100% of THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $35k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION's revenue fell 77% between 2019 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,152 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
22%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION?
- THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $35,000 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($35,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $35,000 in grants to THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $35,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THINK BEYOND PLASTIC FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Think Beyond Plastic →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 1 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing