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The People's Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The People's Fund

Hawai`I people`s fund supports, funds, and amplifies the work of hawai`I- based grassroots organizations challenging systems of oppression.

$980k
Granted FY2025still arriving
47
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$70k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$649kArts & Culture$571kEducation$414kCivil Rights$383kHuman Services$245kFood & Nutrition$209kRecreation & Sports$195kCommunity Improvement$190kOther$0
02FY2025 · 47 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 47 grants below total $952,812, the rows itemized in this filing. The $979,772 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $26,960 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $22k
  • $10k–50k41 grants · $737k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $194k
$15,537
Median grant
4
States reached
$8.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAUI GRASSROOTS COLLECTIVE$70,000
VARIOUS GRANTEES 5000$63,404
PACIFIC AMERICAN FOUNDATION$60,496
LAHAINA COMMUNITY LAND TRUST$40,000
HOLANI HANA$40,000
HUI O KUAPA$35,591
KO'IHONUA$34,956
HAWAII PEACE & JUSTICE$21,082
HAWAII WOMEN IN FILMMAKING$20,780
MALAMA MAKUA$20,336
GRANTS CENTRAL STATION$20,305
KAHALUU KUAHEWA$20,300
STATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT$20,000
KAIAULU INITIATIVES$20,000
FRIENDS OF THE FUTURE$17,253
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 (FY20–25, $265k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 23% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%KUKULU KUMUHANA O ANAHOLA: $9k → 9%OHANA HOOPAKELE: $15k → 15%SWOP BEHIND BARS INC: $16k → 13%KUKULU KUMUHANA O ANAHOLA: $7k → 9%POHAKU PELEMAKA: $16k → 15%POHAKU PELEMAKA: $16k → 15%KALAUOKEKAHULI: $37k → 9%KALAUOKEKAHULI: $16k → 9%KALAUOKEKAHULI: $16k → 9%KALAUOKEKAHULI: $16k → 9%THE QUEENS COURT: $10k → 9%MAI MOVEMENT HAWAII: $31k → 9%MAI MOVEMENT HAWAII: $19k → 9%MAI MOVEMENT HAWAII: $16k → 9%MAI MOVEMENT HAWAII: $13k → 9%HAWAII APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW & E: $14k → 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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.5M · 56 repeat orgs$424k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

56 repeat relationships: 34 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

56
21

Total granted

$3.5M
$201k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+8%

Still filing today

79%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $223k 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
Arts & CultureEnvironmentHuman ServicesEducationRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • K
    KOIHONUA
    5× · 2021–2025 · $185k · revenue +287%
  • PA
    PACIFIC AMERICAN FOUNDATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $153k · revenue +44%
  • HP
    HAWAII PEACE AND JUSTICE
    4× · 2022–2025 · $135k · revenue +296%

Funded once

  • HY
    HAWAII YOUTH CLIMATE COALITION
    one grant, 2023 · $20k
  • HM
    HEALTHY MOTHERS HEALTHY BABIES COALITION OF HAWAII
    one grant, 2024 · $16k · revenue -26%
  • OH
    OHANA HOOPAKELE OHANA HOOPAKELE
    one grant, 2024 · $15k
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
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
2
E Kupaku Ka Aina - the Hawaii Land Restoration Institute
Environment
3
The Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative
—
4
Ka Ha O Ka Aina
Environment
5
Na Hoa Aloha O Ka Pu Uhonua O Honaunau

For the benefit and inspiration of ALL, Na Hoa Aloha o ka Pu'uhonua o Honaunau participates with NPS and other partners to protect and preserve cultural and natural resources, guided by the aacestral knowledge of South Kona.

—
6
Hiikua a Hiialo Cultural Foundation
Arts & Culture
7
Na Kua Aina O Waimanalo
Arts & Culture
8
Malama Kua Aina
Environment
9
Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens
Philanthropy
10
Ka Makani Kaili Koa

Operating exclusively for charitable, educational, scientific, and literary purposes, the organization preserves and advances Native Hawaiian culture through education, leadership, and STREAMY integration: Sciences, Technologies, Reading,…

Arts & Culture
11
Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute
—
12
Kiha Mana Foundation

The KiHa Mana Foundation is a non-profit organization with the mission to educate, preserve, restore and conserve the culture of Native Hawaiians and their resources.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kahaluu Kuahewa; the most unlike its peers is Swop Behind Bars 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

72 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 72 of the 90 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
28
Early backer (in before they grew)
72/72
Grantees still filing
37/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VARIOUS GRANTEES 5000: $496,915 · OtherVARIOUS GRANTEES 5000MALAMA MAKUA: $88,759 · OtherMALAMA MAKUAGRASSROOTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GROUP: $80,960 · OtherNA MOKU AUPUNI O KO OLAU HUI: $79,332 · OtherPACIFIC AMERICAN FOUNDATION: $152,751 · OtherPACIFIC AMERICAN FOUNDATIONMAUI GRASSROOT COLLECTIVE INC: $70,000 · OtherLAHAINA COMMUNITY LAND TRUST: $67,500 · OtherEKOLU MEA NUI: $53,203 · Other+29 more: $505,193 · Other+29 moreKOIHONUA: $184,527 · Arts & CultureKOIHONUAHUI O KUAPA: $132,945 · Arts & CultureHUI O KUAPAHAWAII WOMEN IN FILMMAKING: $82,921 · Arts & CultureHAWAII WOMEN IN FIL…Pohaha I Ka Lani: $42,942 · Arts & CulturePohaha I Ka LaniMALAMA KAKANILUA: $40,306 · Arts & CultureMALAMA KAKANILUAWISDOM CIRCLES OCEANIA: $30,311 · Arts & CultureKE KULA NUI O WAIMANALO: $27,047 · Arts & CulturePOPOLO PROJECT INC: $25,379 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $92,450 · Arts & Culture+8 moreKUHIALOKO: $91,314 · EnvironmentKUHIALOKOKipuka Kuleana Inc: $89,815 · EnvironmentKipuka Kulean…KAHEA THE HAWAIIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $67,961 · EnvironmentKAHEA THE HAW…MALAMA KAUAI: $56,460 · EnvironmentMALAMA KAUAIKAHALUU KUAHEWA: $40,505 · EnvironmentKAHALUU KUAHE…HULIAUAPAA: $25,184 · EnvironmentHULIAUAPAAKAIAULU INITIATIVES: $20,000 · EnvironmentMAKAHANALOA FISHING ASSOCIATION: $16,971 · Environment+4 more: $52,511 · Environment+4 moreSEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $107,155 · Human ServicesSEVENTH GE…KALAUOKEKAHULI: $84,347 · Human ServicesKALAUOKEKA…MAI MOVEMENT HAWAII INC: $78,276 · Human ServicesMAI MOVEME…POHAKU PELEMAKA: $31,358 · Human ServicesPOHAKU PEL…KUKULU KUMUHANA O ANAHOLA: $16,050 · Human ServicesSWOP BEHIND BARS INC: $15,676 · Human ServicesOHANA HOOPAKELE OHANA HOOPAKELE: $15,000 · Human ServicesHAWAII APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE: $13,800 · Human Services+1 more: $10,200 · Human ServicesHAWAII WORKERS CENTER: $106,207 · EducationHAWAII WOR…MANA MAOLI: $86,787 · EducationMANA MAOLIGrants Central Station: $47,805 · EducationGrants Cen…AHA KANE - FOUNDATION FOR THE AD- VANCEMENT OF NATIVE HAWAIIAN MALES: $41,087 · EducationAHA KANE -…NA AIKANE O MAUI INC: $34,513 · EducationNA AIKANE …EA ECOVERSITY: $31,646 · EducationEA ECOVERS…HAWAII YOGA INSTITUTE: $15,000 · Education+1 more: $7,000 · EducationHAWAII PEACE AND JUSTICE: $135,185 · Community ImprovementWAIPAHU COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $68,516 · Community ImprovementHAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION: $40,928 · Community Improvement+1 more: $5,200 · Community ImprovementHOLANI HANA INC: $75,000 · Recreation & SportsKELII WILLIAM IOANE LEGACY FOUNDATION: $68,110 · Recreation & SportsNa Maka Onaona: $14,367 · Recreation & SportsNATIVE HAWAIIAN PHILANTHROPY: $14,250 · Recreation & Sports
Other$1,594,613Arts & Culture$658,828Environment$460,721Human Services$371,862Education$370,045Community Improvement$249,829Recreation & Sports$171,727

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKOIHONUA: $184,527 over 5y, 8.3% of budgetPACIFIC AMERICAN FOUNDATION: $152,751 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetHAWAII PEACE AND JUSTICE: $135,185 over 4y, 18% of budgetHUI O KUAPA: $132,945 over 5y, 30% of budgetSEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $107,155 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetHAWAII WORKERS CENTER: $106,207 over 6y, 12% of budgetKUHIALOKO: $91,314 over 6y, 18% of budgetKipuka Kuleana Inc: $89,815 over 4y, 19% of budgetMANA MAOLI: $86,787 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetKALAUOKEKAHULI: $84,347 over 4y, 15% of budgetHAWAII WOMEN IN FILMMAKING: $82,921 over 6y, 15% of budgetNA MOKU AUPUNI O KO OLAU HUI: $79,332 over 4y, 9.5% of budgetMAI MOVEMENT HAWAII INC: $78,276 over 4y, 49% of budgetMAUI GRASSROOT COLLECTIVE INC: $70,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetWAIPAHU COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $68,516 over 4y, 7.7% of budgetKELII WILLIAM IOANE LEGACY FOUNDATION: $68,110 over 4y, 25% of budgetKAHEA THE HAWAIIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $67,961 over 5y, 13% of budgetLAHAINA COMMUNITY LAND TRUST: $67,500 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetMALAMA KAUAI: $56,460 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetGrants Central Station: $47,805 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetYOUNG OF HEART WORKSHOP: $46,581 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetPohaha I Ka Lani: $42,942 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetAHA KANE - FOUNDATION FOR THE AD- VANCEMENT OF NATIVE HAWAIIAN MALES: $41,087 over 4y, 11% of budgetHAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION: $40,928 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetKAHALUU KUAHEWA: $40,505 over 2y, 7.6% of budgetMALAMA KAKANILUA: $40,306 over 3y, 13% of budgetMUTUAL AID LAHUI: $36,485 over 2y, 36% of budgetNA AIKANE O MAUI INC: $34,513 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetEA ECOVERSITY: $31,646 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetPOHAKU PELEMAKA: $31,358 over 2y, 5.6% of budgetWISDOM CIRCLES OCEANIA: $30,311 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE FUTURE: $27,253 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetKE KULA NUI O WAIMANALO: $27,047 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetPOPOLO PROJECT INC: $25,379 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetHULIAUAPAA: $25,184 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetHO'AHU ENERGY COOPERATIVE MOLOKAI: $22,795 over 3y, 6.7% of budgetALOHA KUAMO'O' AINA: $20,651 over 2y, 7.8% of budgetHUI ALOHA AINA MOMONA: $19,896 over 2y, 10% of budgetTEADA PRODUCTIONS: $16,897 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetHEALTHY MOTHERS HEALTHY BABIES COALITION OF HAWAII: $16,215 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetKUKULU KUMUHANA O ANAHOLA: $16,050 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetOHANA HOOPAKELE OHANA HOOPAKELE: $15,000 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetKAKOO LAHUI: $15,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetSUSTAINABLE MOLOKAI: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNa Maka Onaona: $14,367 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetHAWAII APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE: $13,800 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetQUEENS COURT: $10,200 over 1y, 35% of budgetHUI ALOHA KIHOLO: $10,000 over 1y, 2.4% 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 KOIHONUA ↗
  • Who funds PACIFIC AMERICAN FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII PEACE AND JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds HUI O KUAPA ↗
  • Who funds SEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII WORKERS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds KUHIALOKO ↗
  • Who funds Kipuka Kuleana Inc ↗
  • Who funds MANA MAOLI ↗
  • Who funds KALAUOKEKAHULI ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII WOMEN IN FILMMAKING ↗
  • Who funds NA MOKU AUPUNI O KO OLAU HUI ↗
  • Who funds MAI MOVEMENT HAWAII INC ↗
  • Who funds HOLANI HANA INC ↗
  • Who funds MAUI GRASSROOT COLLECTIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds WAIPAHU COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds KELII WILLIAM IOANE LEGACY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds KAHEA THE HAWAIIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds LAHAINA COMMUNITY LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds MALAMA KAUAI ↗
  • Who funds EKOLU MEA NUI ↗
  • Who funds Grants Central Station ↗
  • Who funds YOUNG OF HEART WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds Pohaha I Ka Lani ↗
  • Who funds AHA KANE - FOUNDATION FOR THE AD- VANCEMENT OF NATIVE HAWAIIAN MALES ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION ↗
  • Who funds KAHALUU KUAHEWA ↗
  • Who funds MALAMA KAKANILUA ↗
  • Who funds MUTUAL AID LAHUI ↗
  • Who funds NA AIKANE O MAUI INC ↗
  • Who funds EA ECOVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds POHAKU PELEMAKA ↗
  • Who funds WISDOM CIRCLES OCEANIA ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE FUTURE ↗
  • Who funds KE KULA NUI O WAIMANALO ↗

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.

Trustees of the Estat…Atherton Family Found…Council for Native Ha…Cooke Foundation Limi…Stupski FoundationBank of Hawaii Charit…Hmsa FoundationFirst Nations Develop…Ndn Collective IncAmalgamated Charitabl…The Harry and Jeanett…Harold Kl Castle Foun…
Trustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Dba Kamehameha SchoolsHI47.5× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Trustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Dba Kamehameha Schools · Atherton Family Foundation · Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement · Cooke Foundation Limited · Stupski Foundation · Bank of Hawaii Charitable Fdn · Hmsa Foundation · First Nations Development Institute · Ndn Collective Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc · Harold Kl Castle 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 The People's Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The People's Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    17report 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 The People's Fund?

    Find your warmest path to The People's Fund 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 90 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 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 People'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