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Empowerment Fund of Honolulu at a glance

· Private foundation

Empowerment Fund of Honolulu

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$58k
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$38k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0186% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.

Health$57kEducation$24kEnvironment$8kCommunity Improvement$5kReligion$3kPhilanthropy$3kScience & Tech$2kOther$0
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $20k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $38k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
KAPIOLANI HEALTH FOUNDATION$37,500
IOLANI SCHOOL$5,000
MALAMA MAUNALUA$5,000
PUNAHOU SCHOOL$5,000
FOUNDATION OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HONOLULU$2,500
LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY$1,500
LIVING LIFE SOURCE FOUNDATION$1,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%PUNAHOU SCHOOL: $5k → 9%CYBER SAFE INC: $2k → 7%LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY: $2k → 14%PUNAHOU SCHOOL: $2k → 9%LEUKEMIA SOCIETY: $2k → 14%PUNAHOU SCHOOL: $2k → 9%DAIHONZAN INTERNATIONAL ZEN DOJO: $2k → 9%LIVING LIFE SOURCE FOUNDATION: $1k → 9%IOLANI SCHOOL: $5k → 9%IOLANI SCHOOL: $5k → 9%IOLANI SCHOOL: $5k → 9%HUI ALOHA: $5k → 9%HUI ALOHA: $1k → 9%MALAMA MAUNALUA: $5k → 9%MALAMA MAUNALUA: $3k → 9%NORTH SHORE EVP: $5k → 9%KAPIOLANI HEALTH FOUNDATION: $38k → 9%WORDS 4: $3k → 9%FOUNDATION OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HONOLULU: $3k → 9%STRAUB FOUNDATION: $1k → 9%HUI POHALA: $15k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

34%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$38k · 4 repeat orgs$72k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
7

Total granted

$38k
$30k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+33%

Still filing today

75%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 26% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $43k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’22’23’24
HealthEducationCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • 'S
    'IOLANI SCHOOL
    3× · 2022–2024 · $15k · revenue +16%
  • PS
    PUNAHOU SCHOOL
    3× · 2022–2024 · $9k · revenue +20%
  • MM
    MALAMA MAUNALUA
    2× · 2023–2024 · $8k · revenue +103%

Funded once

  • HP
    HUI POHALA
    one grant, 2023 · $15k
  • NS
    NORTH SHORE EVPgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +37%
  • WI
    WORDS4 INC
    one grant, 2023 · $3k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
University of Hawaii Foundation

To unite donors' passions with the university of hawai'i's (uh) aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing investments to benefit uh, the people of hawai'i and our future generations.

Education
2
E Kupaku Ka Aina - the Hawaii Land Restoration Institute
Environment
3
Pali Momi Foundation

The mission of pali momi foundation is to create a healthier hawai'i.

Health
4
Hawaii - American Nurses Association Foundation
Environment
5
Kapi'olani Medical Specialists

Kapi'olani medical specialists (dba hawai'i pacific health medical group) is a multispecialty provider group dedicated to providing world-class care for adults and children across hawai'i and the pacific region working in partnership with…

Health
6
Pohaku Pelemaka

Our mission is to protect, perpetuate, and enhance: the intrinsic qualities of the lower puna area, native hawaiian wellbeing, and the transmission of intergenerational knowledge and practices in partnership with county, state, government,…

Human Services
7
Hualalai Ohana Foundation

Scholarships and awards are granted to the hualalai community employees, their spouses, and their children. medical awards cover expenses incurred beyond medical insurance, and educational scholarships are for preschool through college,…

Education
8
Kalihi-Palama Health Center (Hale Ho'ola Hou)

To provide quality, integrated health and social services to our community and all others in need of health care.

—
9
The Queen's Medical Center

The mission of qmc is to fulfill the intent of queen emma and king kamehameha iv to provide, in perpetuity, quality healthcare services to improve the well-being of native hawaiians and all the people of hawaii.

Health
10
Hoa Aina O Makaha

Hoa aina o makaha (land of makaha shared in friendship) is more than a destination farm or nonprofit organization. the embrace of a sanctuary is felt by whoever enters the gates and a sense of belonging usually follows. once a barren piece…

Unclassified
11
The Hawaii Pacific Foundation Inc

To empower hawaiian communities by supporting programs that improve access to opportunities for success to the socio-economically disadvantaged.

Science & Tech
12
Aloha Foundation
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kapi'olani Health Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Blood Cancer United Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 15 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Kapi'olani Health Foundation: $37,500 · HealthKapi'olani Health FoundationHUI POHALA: $15,000 · HealthHUI POHALA+3 more: $3,500 · Health+3 more'IOLANI SCHOOL: $15,000 · Education'IOLANI SCHOOLPUNAHOU SCHOOL: $9,000 · EducationPUNAHOU SCHOOLIndividual grant recipient: $6,000 · OtherIndividual grant …WORDS4 INC: $3,000 · OtherWORDS4 INCFOUNDATION OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HONOLULU: $2,500 · OtherFOUNDATION OF THE…CYBER SAFE INC: $2,300 · OtherCYBER SAFE INCDAIHONZAN INTERNATIONAL ZEN DOJO: $2,000 · OtherDAIHONZAN INTERNA…LEUKEMIA SOCIETY: $1,500 · OtherLEUKEMIA SOCIETYMALAMA MAUNALUA: $7,625 · EnvironmentNORTH SHORE EVP: $5,000 · Community Improvement
Health$56,000Education$24,000Other$17,300Environment$7,625Community Improvement$5,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKapi'olani Health Foundation: $37,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budget'IOLANI SCHOOL: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPUNAHOU SCHOOL: $9,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMALAMA MAUNALUA: $7,625 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNORTH SHORE EVP: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetFOUNDATION OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HONOLULU: $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetStraub Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Atherton Family Found…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Atherton Family FoundationHI13.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Atherton Family Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Empowerment Fund of Honolulu funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Empowerment Fund of Honolulu. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Empowerment Fund of Honolulu?

    Find your warmest path to Empowerment Fund of Honolulu through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 15 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Empowerment Fund of Honolulu’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
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    The regranting layer
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    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
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