Hawaii · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM
FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM (Hawaii) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $92,164 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($47,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $485k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $92k
- Net assets
- $4.8M
What Friends of the Waikiki Aquarium does
Mission
The purpose of the Friends of the Waikiki Aquarium (fowa) is to help people of all ages understand, love, care for and work to protect the life of the ocean through a commitment to excellence in educational and entertaining experiences, research and conservation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
A) purpose. The corporation is organized for the following purposes: (1) to establish, supervise, operate, maintain and manage an aquarium, center for oceanography and marine biological laboratory for education purposes; (2) to help people of all ages understand, love, care for, and work to protect the life of the ocean through a commitment to excellence in educational experiences, research and conservation; (3) to design, construct, and maintain: exhibits of living aquatic organisms; exhibits relating to the influence of the ocean on any and all aspects of human culture (particularly hawaiian); and generally, to provide educational and entertaining experiences involving the oceans and their living systems, particularly as exemplified in hawaii and the tropical pacific region; (4) to engage in and support research in areas relating to the ocean, aquatic life, matters relating to the geology beneath the oceans, matters relating to the use of ocean resources as energy resources, ocean pollution, and other aquatic-related matters determined by the board of directors. (5) to provide educational programs to the general public on aquatic-related sciences and activities; to prepare,…
$153,667 spent$219 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $153,667.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2021 to 2022, from $5.1M to $4.1M (−19%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 2% · 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Elizabeth Churchill
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $19k → $7k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM’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.
How concentrated its funding is
FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
70% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 92% · 2019 95% · 2020 77% · 2021 97% · 2022 91% · 2023 72% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. 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
70% of FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM'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. Of the $28k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from Hawaii funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $64k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states 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
FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,435 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM
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 Hawaii
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
54% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
50%
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 FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM: 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 FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM?
- FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM (Hawaii) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $92,164 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($47,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $92,164 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $47,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Hawaii. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 6 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