Hawaii · Nonprofit
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY (Hawaii) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,975,509 to it, the largest being TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP DBA KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS ($950,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 50
- Grants received
- $5.0M
- Net assets
- $3.9M
What Polynesian Voyaging Society does
Mission
Founded on a legacy of pacific ocean exploration, the Polynesian Voyaging Society seeks to perpetuate the art and science of traditional polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The pae 'aina statewide sail: this seven-month voyage around hawai'I was one of the organization's most impactful community engagement efforts to date, visiting 34 communities, hosting over 15,000 canoe visits, and partnering with 133 schools and 82 organizations. Through direct outreach and collaboration with the state of hawai'I department of education, the sail inspired students and families statewide to understand and connect with the purpose and vision of the moananuikea voyage.crew training and voyaging leadership development: under the direction of pwo navigator bruce blankenfeld, pvs trained 144 crew members and engaged 232 volunteers, with 61.8% native hawaiian and over half under 40 years old. This focus on next-generation training strengthened the foundation for future legs of the moananui?kea voyage, ensuring the perpetuation of traditional navigation and voyaging values while building new leadership capacity.global education and storytelling initiatives (wa'a honua and hokulea.com): through the wa'a honua digital platform, pvs shared 64 classroom resources and reached 95 countries, while hokulea.com and social media storytelling generated over 3 million total views…
$1,576,462 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,576,462.
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 2023 to 2024, from $2.5M to $4.0M (+60%).
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 3% · 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 5% · 2021 26% · 2022 2% · 2023 2% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Board chair
Neil Hannahs
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 15 funders, grant income fell $618k → $332k.
10 of 50 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 50 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
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
57% 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 VOYAGING SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 55% · 2019 64% · 2020 36% · 2021 33% · 2022 36% · 2023 48% — 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
21% of POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY draws 51% of its grant income from funders outside Hawaii, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $630k on record.
- Department of Commerce$630k
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 POLYNESIAN VOYAGING 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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 POLYNESIAN VOYAGING 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 POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY?
- POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY (Hawaii) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,975,509 to it, the largest being TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP DBA KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS ($950,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 50 organizations giving $4,975,509 in grants to POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY?
- TRUSTEES OF THE ESTATE OF BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP DBA KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS is the largest funder on record, with $950,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLYNESIAN VOYAGING 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 Polynesian Voyaging 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 50 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