Hawaii · Nonprofit
PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY
PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY (Hawaii) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,405 to it, the largest being MUSEUM ASSOCIATES ($15,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $329k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $36k
- Net assets
- $401k
What Pacific Traditions Society does
Mission
To foster world peace, cultural research, and document traditional initiatives of indigenous peoples and education in ancient knowledge of voyaging and health practices of maritime cultures.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
All aims were met by the end of year 2 of the Gerda Henkel Stiftung grant program led by Pacific Traditions Society (PTS) and co-led by Holau Vaka Taumako Association (HVTA) of Solomon Islands and Pasana Group (PG) of Papua New Guinea. During 2025 both HVTA and PG completed construction of an ancient design of deep-sea vessel for their voyaging schools, and the process was documented on video. GHS added 25,000.EU to their total grant to meet rising costs of transport and communications, and a supplementary grant by Full Circle met 140,000. USD in costs not covered by the GHS grant. The opening of the Taumako Traditional Culture and Voyaging School was celebrated by the community of HVTA, the leaders of PG and PTS, and other international voyaging school leaders including Mario Benito of Inowon of Polowat, Federated States of Micronesia, Sanakoli John of Pasana Group of Basilaki Island, Papua New Guinea, and Setareki Ledua of Drua Sailing Experience of Fulaga, Fiji, and Pacific Traditions Society staff and supporters Marianne George, Kyle McDonald and Thomas Polacheck. Solomon Islander leaders included the Bishop of Temotu and his party, including a Chief from Tuo Village, Fenualoa…
$276,570 spent$336,418 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $276,570.
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.
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 $108k to $288k (+167%).
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.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $13k → $20.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 PACIFIC TRADITIONS 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
PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
59% of PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY'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 $15k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Hawaii, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21k 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.
Organizations like PACIFIC TRADITIONS 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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PACIFIC TRADITIONS 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 PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY?
- PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY (Hawaii) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,405 to it, the largest being MUSEUM ASSOCIATES ($15,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $36,405 in grants to PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PACIFIC TRADITIONS SOCIETY?
- MUSEUM ASSOCIATES is the largest funder on record, with $15,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PACIFIC TRADITIONS 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 Pacific Traditions Society →
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 4 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