Hawaii · Nonprofit
PAPAHANA KUAOLA
PAPAHANA KUAOLA (Hawaii) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,629,677 to it, the largest being TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP DBA KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS ($3,604,855). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $4.6M
- Net assets
- $842k
What Papahana Kuaola does
Mission
Papahana Kuaola's mission is to create quality educational programs focused on environmental restoration and economic sustainability fully integrated with hawaiian knowledge in order to exemplify a lifestyle respectful of kanaka, `aina, and akua. Papahana Kuaola is a multi-faceted program servicing o`ahu and moloka`I that looks to ensure that the future we build today can actually sustain us into tomorrow. Papahana Kuaola believes in the need economic self-sufficiency without sacrificing ourselves and our `aina; in the need environmental sustainability without littering our islands with no trespassing signs; and most importantly we need to do it in a way that is meaningful, in which hawaiian knowledge provides the course of action.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
`ili`ilikauhale program - deals directly with Papahana Kuaola's 63-acre parcel being leased from kamehameha schools bishop estate in he'eia. This is the center of Papahana Kuaola's educational and community programming, our administrative center, and a test site for economic sustainability projects.
$443,200 spent$61,242 earned by the program48% of program spendingKupualau program - Papahana Kuaola's curriculum and program development initiative that educates and advocates for a healthy hawai`I. Papahana Kuaola's goal is to produce and implement educational programs and curriculum that honor the connection between kanaka, `aina, and akua. Papahana Kuaola's programs seek to address modern issues and build problem-solving skills through hawaiian knowledge.
$169,118 spent$2,340 earned by the program18% of program spendingLelekamanu program - Papahana Kuaola's outreach and service project division on o'ahu and moloka'I that encompasses a variety of educational opportunities that occur outside of the ahupua'a of he'eia. These include field trips to marine and terrestrial conservation areas and active restoration sites, partnering with other community organizations on malama 'aina-based initiatives and participating in native vegetation restoration projects throughout hawai'I and the pacific. Papahana Kuaola's goal is to take the lessons of Papahana Kuaola to the wider community, with an emphasis on restoration projects that improve ecological, cultural and physical health and well-being.
$309,144 spent$74,030 earned by the program33% of program spendingHanaola program - Papahana Kuaola's sustainable living project. Built upon the lessons of Papahana Kuaola, our goal is to provide a model of innovative economic development that is environmentally sustainable and culturally minded. Eventually, we will look to this project to sustain our efforts in `ili`ilikauhale, lelekamanu and kupualau while providing much needed diversification to our island economy.
$1,360 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $922,822.
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 2022 to 2023, from $590k to $844k (+43%).
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 22% · 2018 17% · 2019 27% · 2020 59% · 2021 51% · 2022 39% · 2023 39% · 2024 58% · 2025 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of PAPAHANA KUAOLA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $641k → $31k.
1 of 9 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 PAPAHANA KUAOLA’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
PAPAHANA KUAOLA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 78% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
80% 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 PAPAHANA KUAOLA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 65% · 2019 75% · 2020 71% · 2021 74% · 2022 100% · 2023 98% — growing more concentrated.
“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
43% of PAPAHANA KUAOLA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
100% of PAPAHANA KUAOLA's grant income comes from Hawaii funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $142 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
PAPAHANA KUAOLA is better cushioned than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PAPAHANA KUAOLA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.7M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$2.7M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.8M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$192k
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 PAPAHANA KUAOLA
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
72% 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 PAPAHANA KUAOLA: 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 PAPAHANA KUAOLA?
- PAPAHANA KUAOLA (Hawaii) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,629,677 to it, the largest being TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP DBA KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS ($3,604,855). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PAPAHANA KUAOLA have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $4,629,677 in grants to PAPAHANA KUAOLA, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PAPAHANA KUAOLA?
- TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP DBA KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS is the largest funder on record, with $3,604,855 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PAPAHANA KUAOLA 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 Papahana Kuaola →
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 9 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