Hawaii · Nonprofit
KUPU
KUPU (Hawaii) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,479,901 to it, the largest being HAU'OLI MAU LOA FOUNDATION ($3,065,711). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $4.8M
What Kupu does
Mission
Kupu programs are training young adults in the emerging "green" job sector to help make hawaii more self-sustaining, while engaging these youth members in relevant and important community service throughout the state.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Kupu provided opportunities for young adults to get involved in to serve their community and learn the importance of environmental stewardship while gaining valuable experience, knowledge, and skills that assist them in continuing their life pursuits. Kupu had the following impact this year:cleared nearly 485,000 invasive species restored 92,332 native plants distributed $494,587 in education awards provided service and training opportunities to 400 participants
$14,016,089 spentof which $321,312 as grants$2,390,561 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $14,016,089.
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 2019 to 2020, from $8.3M to $12M (+50%).
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 56% · 2018 59% · 2019 45% · 2020 47% · 2021 70% · 2022 66% · 2023 54% · 2024 59% · 2025 65%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of KUPU’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
John Leong
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $1.7M.
6 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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 KUPU’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 funders by total. 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
KUPU has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
35% 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 KUPU.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 27% · 2019 49% · 2020 49% · 2021 44% · 2022 26% · 2023 23% — 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
47% of KUPU'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
69% of KUPU's grant income comes from Hawaii funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $346k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
KUPU has grown faster than half of the 135 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 135 youth development nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding KUPU receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $40.9M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$21.1M
- Corporation for National and Community Service$11.3M
- Department of the Interior$8.3M
- Department of Commerce$268k
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 KUPU
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 KUPU: 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 KUPU?
- KUPU (Hawaii) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,479,901 to it, the largest being HAU'OLI MAU LOA FOUNDATION ($3,065,711). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KUPU have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $12,479,901 in grants to KUPU, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KUPU?
- HAU'OLI MAU LOA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,065,711 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KUPU 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 62 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