Skip to content
The Makana Aloha Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Makana Aloha Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$227k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$598kEducation$335kAnimals$297kEnvironment$250kHuman Services$160kFood & Nutrition$152kHealth$92kEmployment$40kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $212k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$5.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAUI ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS$40,000
LAHAINALUNA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION$31,500
WHEN WE SHINE FOUNDATION$20,000
WHALE TRUST$20,000
COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE$20,000
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION$15,788
FRIENDS OF HAWAII TECH ACADEMY$15,000
IMUA FAMILY SERVICES$10,000
WHALE TRUST$10,000
MAUI HUMANE SOCIETY$10,000
EAST MAUI ANIMAL CENTER AKA BOO BOO ZOO$10,000
MAUI HULIAU FOUNDATION$10,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS LAND TRUST$5,000
MERWIN CONSERVANCY$3,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $34k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN: $10k → 9%ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN: $7k → 9%ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN: $6k → 9%ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN: $6k → 9%ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN: $3k → 9%ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN: $3k → 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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 26 repeat orgs$333k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +59% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
21

Total granted

$1.7M
$298k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+27%

Still filing today

73%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureEnvironmentFood & NutritionHealthAnimalsOther
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

  • MA
    MAUI ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS
    8× · 2018–2025 · $285k · revenue +190%
  • WHALE TRUST
    9× · 2017–2025 · $210k · revenue +101%
  • LH
    LAHAINALUNA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $173k · revenue +59%

Funded once

  • UF
    UH FOOD INNOVATION CENTER
    one grant, 2019 · $53k
  • MA
    MAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue -26%
  • UM
    UH MAUIMAUI FOOD INNOVATION CENTER
    one grant, 2017 · $21k
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
E Kupaku Ka Aina - the Hawaii Land Restoration Institute
Environment
2
Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens
Philanthropy
3
Na Mamo o Kawa

to rehabilitate, curate, and steward the natural and cultural resources of Kawa to honor the past, benefit the present, and preserve for the future generations of Ka'u, the Island of Hawaii and all humankind.

Environment
4
The Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative
—
5
Hawaii Book and Music Festival
Arts & Culture
6
Ka Ha O Ka Aina
Environment
7
Kaiaulu Initiatives

Kaiaulu initiatives is regreening and rebuilding lahaina one tree and one person at a time through education, training, community networking & sustainability while incorporating hawaiian cultural practices.

Environment
8
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
9
Malama Kua Aina
Environment
10
Hiikua a Hiialo Cultural Foundation
Arts & Culture
11
Hawaii Education Institute
—
12
Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hui No'eau; the most unlike its peers is American Heart Association 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

32 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. 32 of the 50 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
30/32
Grantees still filing
23/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UH FOOD INNOVATION CENTER: $52,500 · OtherUH FOOD INNOVATION CENTERHAWAIIAN ISLAND LAND TRUST: $50,000 · OtherHAWAIIAN ISLAND LAND TRUSTHAWAII PET NETWORK INC: $42,000 · OtherHAWAII PET NETWORK INCIndividual grant recipient: $40,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientKa Lima O Maui Ltd: $40,000 · OtherKa Lima O Maui LtdHALAU KE'ALAOKAMAILE: $40,000 · OtherHALAU KE'ALAOKAMAILEMAUI NUI RESOURCE COUNCIL INC: $23,400 · OtherUH-UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION: $21,028 · OtherUH MAUIMAUI FOOD INNOVATION CENTER: $21,000 · OtherARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN GROUP: $33,750 · OtherARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN GROUP+19 more: $249,700 · Other+19 moreLAHAINALUNA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $173,250 · EducationLAHAINALUNA HIGH SCH…UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION: $96,983 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF HAWAII…Maui Huliau Foundation: $63,500 · EducationMaui Huliau Foundati…MAUI PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $20,000 · EducationMAUI PREPARATORY ACA…+2 more: $7,190 · EducationMAUI ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS: $285,000 · Arts & CultureMAUI ACADEMY OF PER…MAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER: $25,000 · Arts & CultureMAUI ARTS & CULTURA…HONOLULU THEATRE FOR YOUTH: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $16,500 · Arts & CultureIMUA FAMILY SERVICES: $160,000 · HealthIMUA FAMILY SE…American Heart Association Inc: $90,000 · HealthAmerican Heart…WHALE TRUST: $210,000 · Science & TechWHALE TRUSTHAWAIIAN ISLANDS LAND TRUST: $70,000 · EnvironmentWHEN WE SHINE FOUNDATION: $45,000 · EnvironmentHALEAKALA CONSERVANCY INC: $35,000 · EnvironmentMERWIN CONSERVANCY INC: $8,000 · EnvironmentCOMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE: $27,000 · Food & NutritionMAUI FOOD BANK INC: $20,000 · Food & NutritionGROW SOME GOOD: $13,600 · Food & Nutrition
Other$613,378Education$360,923Arts & Culture$341,500Health$250,000Science & Tech$210,000Environment$158,000Food & Nutrition$60,600

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMAUI ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS: $285,000 over 8y, 5.1% of budgetWHALE TRUST: $210,000 over 9y, 5.3% of budgetLAHAINALUNA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $173,250 over 9y, 7.6% of budgetIMUA FAMILY SERVICES: $160,000 over 7y, 1.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION: $96,983 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $90,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHAWAIIAN ISLANDS LAND TRUST: $70,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMaui Huliau Foundation: $63,500 over 7y, 5.4% of budgetWHEN WE SHINE FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 2y, 36% of budgetHAWAII PET NETWORK INC: $42,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetKa Lima O Maui Ltd: $40,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetHALAU KE'ALAOKAMAILE: $40,000 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetHALEAKALA CONSERVANCY INC: $35,000 over 2y, 8.9% of budgetARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN GROUP: $33,750 over 6y, 23% of budgetCOMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE: $27,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetMAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAUI PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHUI NO'EAU: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMAUI FOOD BANK INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMAUI ARTS LEAGUE: $19,000 over 3y, 6.7% of budgetHONOLULU THEATRE FOR YOUTH: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGROW SOME GOOD: $13,600 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE MAUI FARM INC: $12,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetEBB & FLOW ARTS: $12,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetMAUI HUMANE SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKIMOKEO FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetMERWIN CONSERVANCY INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMAUI YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: $6,500 over 1y, 35% of budgetASSISTANCE DOGS OF HAWAII: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLOKELANI OHANA: $2,190 over 1y, 3.9% 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.

  • Who funds MAUI ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS ↗
  • Who funds WHALE TRUST ↗
  • Who funds LAHAINALUNA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds IMUA FAMILY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
  • Who funds HAWAIIAN ISLANDS LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Maui Huliau Foundation ↗
  • Who funds WHEN WE SHINE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII PET NETWORK INC ↗
  • Who funds Ka Lima O Maui Ltd ↗
  • Who funds HALAU KE'ALAOKAMAILE ↗
  • Who funds HALEAKALA CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds ARTS EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN GROUP ↗
  • Who funds COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE ↗
  • Who funds MAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds MAUI PREPARATORY ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds HUI NO'EAU ↗
  • Who funds MAUI FOOD BANK INC ↗
  • Who funds MAUI ARTS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds HONOLULU THEATRE FOR YOUTH ↗
  • Who funds GROW SOME GOOD ↗
  • Who funds THE MAUI FARM INC ↗
  • Who funds EBB & FLOW ARTS ↗

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.

Fred Baldwin Memorial…Bendon Family Foundat…Cooke Foundation Limi…Atherton Family Found…The Red Cabin Foundat…Nuestro Futuro IncThe Laurence H Dorcy …Maui United WayThe Strong FoundationKosasa FoundationNa Hoaloha O Ka'Aina …Pga Tour Inc
Fred Baldwin Memorial FoundationHI32.6× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation · Bendon Family Foundation · Cooke Foundation Limited · Atherton Family Foundation · The Red Cabin Foundation Trust · Nuestro Futuro Inc · The Laurence H Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation · Maui United Way · The Strong Foundation · Kosasa Foundation · Na Hoaloha O Ka'Aina Ltd · Pga Tour Inc

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 The Makana Aloha Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Makana Aloha Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%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
    15report 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.

    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 50 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Makana Aloha’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home