Hawaii · Nonprofit
HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Hawaii) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $114,694 to it, the largest being JOHN R HALLIGAN CHARITABLE FUND ($51,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $289k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $115k
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Hawaiian Historical Society does
Mission
The society is dedicated to preserving historical materials relating to hawaii, and to publishing scholarly research on hawaiian history so present and future peoples throughout the world will recognize and appreciate the history. The society strives to establish and maintain a secure and publicly accessible library of historical resource materials; to support research, translation, and publication of significant historical information primarily about hawaii and its people and, secondarily, about the pacific at large; and to simulate the discovery, collection, and preservation of historical documentary materials.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The collection, study, preservation & publication of materials pertaining to the history of hawaii, polynesia, and the pacific area. During the fiscal year, one publication (the hawaiian journal of history, vol. 58) was issued, there were 575 membership units, the society's library was open to the public for 165 days, and there were sixteen public events.
$155,432 spent$922 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $155,432.
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 2020 to 2021, from $2.0M to $2.5M (+22%).
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 6% · 2021 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
33% of HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $9k → $18k.
1 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY’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
HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 48% · 2019 100% · 2020 62% · 2021 82% · 2022 46% · 2023 47% — 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
75% of HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
55% of HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Hawaii funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $298 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
42%
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 HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: 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 HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Hawaii) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $114,694 to it, the largest being JOHN R HALLIGAN CHARITABLE FUND ($51,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $114,694 in grants to HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- JOHN R HALLIGAN CHARITABLE FUND is the largest funder on record, with $51,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 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 Hawaiian Historical Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 8 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