Hawaii · Nonprofit
POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER
POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER (Hawaii) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $357,243 to it, the largest being OLSON INST FOR AGRICULTURE & EDUCA ($190,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $58M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $357k
- Net assets
- $103M
What Polynesian Cultural Center does
Mission
Educational & cultural museum
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Polynesian Cultural Center (the center) and its next door neighbor, brigham young university hawaii(byuh), were both established by and are wholly controlled by the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints (the church). The polynesian people have special significance in the church doctrine, and the church has been active in the polynesian islands since very soon after its establishment in the united states in the 1830s. It conducts many activities in polynesia intended to improve, both spiritually and economically, the lives of its members there, most of whom live in what are commonly termed "disadvantaged" communities and "underdeveloped" nations.(continued on schedule o)one of the main thrusts of the church in polynesia is to educate its members to enable them and their communities to adapt to and be self-sufficient in the encroaching modern world and yet not to abandon or lose respect for their native cultures or themselves. In furtherance of this objective, the church has established byuh (initially known as church college of hawaii) and the center. Byuh was opened in 1955. Its primary purpose is to provide a college education for polynesian students who would not…
The first program described on its most recent Form 990, which lists programs largest first by expense.
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 $93M to $116M (+25%).
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: 2021 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
2% of POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $30k → $33k.
From the IRS filings of POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER’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
POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
53% 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 POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 61% · 2022 100% · 2023 92% — 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.
Where its funders are
POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Hawaii, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER is better cushioned than half of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Brigham Young University-Hawaii · exempt
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints · exempt
- Polynesian Cultural Ctr Properties · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER: 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 POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER?
- POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER (Hawaii) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $357,243 to it, the largest being OLSON INST FOR AGRICULTURE & EDUCA ($190,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $357,243 in grants to POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER?
- OLSON INST FOR AGRICULTURE & EDUCA is the largest funder on record, with $190,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER 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 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