Form 990 for tax year 2024

Totals

Total revenue

$8,241,301

Total expenses

$8,360,518

Contributions and grants received

$8,190,458

Grants paid

$2,233,147

Program service revenue

$12,200

Investment income

$28,596

Other revenue

$10,047

Total assets, end of year

$5,426,804

Total liabilities, end of year

$1,741,618

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$3,685,186

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$7,181,606

Management and general expenses

$816,698

Fundraising expenses

$362,214

Program service expenses (Part III)

$7,181,606

Program services were 85.9% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2024

• GLOBAL PROGRAMS: GAIAs movement-building network model empowered members to build their own capacity, facilitated international solidarity, and coordinated collective research and initiatives around the issues of waste, pollution, climate and the environment, building critical linkages at local, regional and global levels. Zero Waste: Zero Waste Month activities in January 2025 engaged more than 46,000 people, 104 organizations, 92 cities, and 20 countries in efforts to advance real solutions together, with 72 schools integrating zero waste learning while 86 government entities engaged in meaningful dialogue and commitments. GAIA facilitated member engagement, capacity building and cross-programmatic and cross-regional learning through a variety of international and regional webinars and events. Notably, GAIA and member Nipe Fagio organized the International Zero Waste Cities Conference in Tanzania in July 2024, the first time this event was held in Africa.Climate: GAIA increased awareness of zero waste as a strategy for reducing methane emissions from landfills through improved organic waste management, organizing a Methane and Justice Summit to foster deeper alignment among GAIA members and key leaders at local, national, and international levels, yielding tangible commitments from an increasing number of government representatives, civil society organizations, and key partners. In October 2024, GAIA Asia Pacific organized the First Congress on Organics and Climate, with over 200 participants attending in person and more than 1,400 joining online. GAIA brought a 35-member delegation to COP29, and remains deeply engaged in the LOW Methane initiative, leading or co-leading (with members) LOW-M coordination of activities in 13 jurisdictions. GAIA Africa supported work in 11 countries on reducing methane through better organics management. Plastics: In work toward a global plastics treaty, GAIA has always understood that the treaty negotiations are a vehicle to galvanize action on plastics, and we and our members have maintained and built on regional and cross-regional coordination of members. At INC-4 and INC-5 negotiating sessions, we coordinated delegations of 70+ civil society participants from 30 countries. Our delegations built on the extensive efforts of regional working groups. We released a range of briefing papers and other resources, as well as contributing to significant academic articles related to plastic pollution issues. At INC-4, our robust communications efforts secured over 200 media mentions with a reach of 404 million. At INC-5, we secured over 220 media mentions with a reach of up to 2.22 billion.Waste Incineration: GAIA continued to support global information-sharing and solidarity around ending wasteful and polluting waste incineration, with notable work addressing incinerators and incinerator proposals in Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, and the U.S. During 2024, GAIA helped to mobilize and support civil society from multiple regions in strong advocacy around the Asian Development Banks draft Environmental and Social Framework, in the context of its role in supporting waste incineration projects. We also held a webinar, Rethinking Waste-to-Energy Investments: Economic Considerations for Policymakers highlighting the costs of incineration across the Asia-Pacific region in January 2025.Batteries Lifecycle: Both in the U.S. and globally, GAIA has helped to shape the conversation to address lifecycle issues of batteries that are playing an increasing role in energy transition, through webinars and brief publications addressing key issues.

  Expenses $2,390,778 · Grants $401,472 · Revenue $4,250

• UNITED STATES/CANADA REGIONAL WORK: GAIA supported members across the U.S. and Canada through technical support, regranting (including both larger grants and microgrants), skill-building and networking to challenge waste incineration and advance zero waste solutions with notable successes. Our Failing Incinerators Project, a multi-year cohort program aimed at building grassroots capacity to advocate for replacing aging incinerators across the U.S. with effective zero waste systems, celebrated two more incinerator closures (one led by a cohort member in Oregon and the other by a cohort affiliate in California). Another cohort member successfully advocated to change Maryland state policy so that incinerators could not qualify for state renewable energy tax credits. GAIA co-created a mini-documentary on another cohort member city, Breathing Free: Detroits Journey to Zero Waste, which launched in January 2025. As we wound down the Failing Incinerators Project, GAIA advanced new cohort work, seizing the energy of the Methane Moment to focus on organic waste management as a critical part of both zero waste and climate work. We supported frontline communities facing waste incineration proposals (including a new push from Canadas federal government) and questionable EV battery recycling facilities. We also raised concerns regarding proposed state and federal policies that could increase pollution or reduce oversight.

  Expenses $1,742,996 · Grants $976,500 · Revenue $450

• HOSTED PROGRAMS BREAK FREE FROM PLASTIC & URBAN MOVEMENT INNOVATION FUND:Break Free From Plastic Global: BFFP, a fiscally-sponsored project of GAIA, is aglobal movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Launched inSeptember 2016, the movement has attracted more than 13,000 organizations and individuals worldwide to call for massive reductions in single-use plastics and push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.Break Free From Plastic U.S. & Canada: GAIA continued as fiscal sponsor of the Break Free From Plastic movement of nearly 200 member organizations in the U.S. and Canada working across the plastics value chain for systemic change. This work includes challenging the petrochemical buildout, pushing for corporate accountability, promoting systemic solutions, building zero waste communities, and leveraging grassroots support to drive plastic pollution reduction policies at the local, state, and federal level. BFFP-U.S. & Canada has worked to shift the narrative about plastic, foster an enabling policy environment, and build a strong, intersectional, and resilient movement, ensuring connections between zero waste strategy and implementation and work addressing plastic pollution. BFFP-U.S. & Canada has sustained working groups focused on zero waste, state and federal policy, extended producer responsibility, petrochemicals and false solutions. Additionally, BFFP-U.S. & Canada has built significant capacity among regional members to work on the global plastics treaty, especially among impacted communities in the Gulf South and Appalachia. The Urban Movement Innovation Funds Convenings Program: GAIA served as host of UMIFsConvenings Program, which supported coordination of UMIF partner gatherings,provided administrative backstopping to enhance the focus of gatherings, andevaluated meetings for impact.

  Expenses $1,731,427 · Grants $198,175 · Revenue $7,500

• INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL: GAIA worked with locally-based staff to directly coordinate regional work in Africa and Latin America and also provided support and collaboration to sister networks in the Asia/Pacific region and in Europe. Africa: Zero waste cities work took off in numerous cities across the continent, with technical assistance and regranting support from GAIA. We sustained regional working groups on climate and on plastics, as well as a Youth Task Force, recognizing the powerful role of youth in environmental movements. We successfully launched the African Journalists Network to provide a deep-dive conversation on a specific issue monthly to support informed reporting. We organized a series of webinars on zero waste cities, enabling practical information sharing between groups in various countries. Co-hosting the International Zero Waste Cities Conference in Tanzania allowed us to showcase successful implementation of solutions on the continent, as well as to learn from experts, practitioners, and policymakers worldwide. The development and publication of our Life Before Plastic report around traditional practices helped to advance the regional conversation about reuse.Latin America & the Caribbean: Regional work included multifaceted support for wastepicker organizing; anti-incineration efforts, including an August 2024 webinar addressing different types of waste burning as false solutions; and work addressing the waste trade and its harmful impact. We supported zero waste cities implementation, national zero waste alliances in multiple countries, and a Zero Waste Academy held in Ecuador in May 2024. Work to harness the energy of youth advocates included the first subregional gathering of zero waste youth in January 2025, bringing together youth from Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala. More than 40 member initiatives benefitted from regranting support. Work with journalists included a webinar on the plastic crisis in October 2024 in conjunction with an Argentinian media partner. Extensive public education was undertaken, including a free, public online course in Spanish addressing plastic pollution, organized in the summer of 2024 in conjunction with a prominent research hub.

  Expenses $1,316,405 · Grants $657,000

As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

• SBCLT

  $145,000

  Research, education & support

• Environmental Integrity Prjct

  $105,000

  Research, education & support

• EYCEJ

  $81,200

  Research, education, and organizing

• GreenLatinos

  $75,000

  Research, education & support

• BLARG

  $75,000

  Research, education & support

• MNEJT

  $72,800

  Research, education, and organizing

• Breathe Free Detroit

  $72,800

  Research, education, and organizing

• Ironbound Community Corp

  $67,200

  Research, education, and organizing

• CURE

  $62,500

  Research, education & support

• Valley Improvement Project

  $62,500

  Research, education & support

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2024

Filed

4 February 2026

IRS schema version

2024v5.2

Source object

202610359349301026

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

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