Hawaii · Nonprofit
HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Hawaii) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,002,123 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION ($810,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $344k
What Hawaii International Film Festival does
Mission
To foster international cultural awareness and understanding through the medium of film. To act as a creative pipeline for hawaii and the pacific, showcasing new and emerging talent from hawaii, asia, americas, europe, and the pacific islands.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In 2024, the Hawaii International Film Festival (hiff) presented two film festivals, multiple educational and career-building industry initiatives, and free community screenings and networking events. In 2024, hiff showcased 332 films from 55 countries. Hiff 2024 held 248 screenings to an audience of nearly 50,000. In 2024, 455 unique filmmakers, actors, international media, and industry professionals from around the world participated in these film exhibition programs via.live panels, seminars, discussions, events, and q&a's with hiff audiences.
$556,032 spent$297,247 earned by the program60% of program spendingIn 2024, hiff presented eight free education programs serving 11,468 participants in the education community: -guest filmmaker program (served 1,034 students from 28 hawaii schools / 30 visiting filmmakers, -youth education screenings/yes program (served 7,390 students across 60 hawaii schools), -student showcase (318 participants), -future filmmakers workshops (81 participants), -hiff acm accelerator program (766 participants) -hiff 'opio fest (1,848 participants) -hiff student filmmaker committee (20 college students), -hiff internship program (11 high school + college students) in 2024, hiff also presented mutliple free industry programs including panel discussions, seminars, filmmaker q&a's, and online events to support and strengthen the pacific island creative industries: 79 filmmaker discussions (total attendance: 6411) 14 live panels, seminars, and masterclasses (total attendance: 1,996) hiff online creators & critics immersive (10 participants) all hiff 2024 educational initiatives and industry programs were presented for free to participants statewide across 6 islands. Hiff considers the programs a success with extremely positive feedback from participants, students,…
$370,681 spent40% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $926,713.
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 2017 to 2018, from $117k to $294k (+152%).
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: 2017 12% · 2019 16% · 2020 27% · 2021 48% · 2022 50% · 2023 57% · 2024 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $22k → $400k.
4 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL’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
HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
27% 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 HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 68% · 2019 71% · 2020 56% · 2021 48% · 2022 26% · 2023 37% — 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.
How long its funders stay
33% of HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL draws 71% of its grant income from funders outside Hawaii, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $55k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$55k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: 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 HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL?
- HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Hawaii) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,002,123 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION ($810,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,002,123 in grants to HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL?
- THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $810,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 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.
Play a game about who funds Hawaii International Film Festival →
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 26 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