FundersHawaii

The James and Juanita Wo Foundation

Mililani, HI · EIN 99-6009140. Reported 50 grants totalling $679,700 to 31 organizations across tax years 2020-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$679,700granted, 2020-2023
31organizations funded
57%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,892,930assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The James and Juanita Wo Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $200 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
2 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
7 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
12 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
20 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
7 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
The Queen's Medical CenterHonolulu, HI$100,000222022
Uh FoundationHonolulu, HI$82,500432023
Volunteer AllyHonolulu, HI$80,000432023
Hawaii FoodbankHonolulu, HI$56,500442023
Aloha United WayHonolulu, HI$50,000332023
Diamond Head TheatreHonolulu, HI$33,000112021
Straub FoundationHonolulu, HI$30,000222021
Kapiolani Community CollegeHonolulu, HI$25,000112023
Pu'uwai KilaHonolulu, HI$25,000112023
Pacific & Asian Affairs CouncilHonolulu, HI$21,000112023
Hawaii Pacific HealthHonolulu, HI$20,000112022
Kuakini FoundationHonolulu, HI$20,000112020
Feeding Hawaii Together - the PantryHonolulu, HI$19,500332023
American Red Cross Hawaii State ChapterHonolulu, HI$15,000332023
Hawai'i Community FoundationHonolulu, HI$15,000112023
Hawaii LiteracyHonolulu, HI$15,000112023
Hawaiian Humane SocietyHonolulu, HI$10,250222023
Punahou SchoolHonolulu, HI$10,250112021
Friends of the Library of HawaiiHonolulu, HI$10,000112021
Na Kama KaiWaianae, HI$10,000222023
Rehabilitation Hospital of the PacificHonolulu, HI$10,000112020
Assistance Dogs of HawaiiMakawao, HI$5,000112022
International Church of OahuHonolulu, HI$5,000112022
Hawaii Youth Athletic OrganizationHonolulu, HI$2,500112023
Manoa Valley TheatreHonolulu, HI$2,500112022
YMCA of HonoluluHonolulu, HI$2,500112023
Collaborative Support Services IncHonolulu, HI$1,000112020
Foundation for the Rotary Club of Mililani SunriseMilillani, HI$1,000112023
Kapiolani Health FoundationHonolulu, HI$1,000112021
PTO Mililani Mauka School IncMililani, HI$1,000112020
Coalition for a Drug-Free HawaiiHonolulu, HI$200112022

10 of 31 (32%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 57%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 40 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
7 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Education
5 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Food & Nutrition
4 grants
Animal Welfare
3 grants
Environment
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20206$62,000$10,000
202112$198,750$10,125
202214$207,200$8,250
202318$211,750$10,250

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Already committed for future years

Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The James and Juanita Wo Foundation has 16 of them, worth $399,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Aloha United WayHonolulu, HI$100,000
Hawaii FoodbankHonolulu, HI$65,000
Hawaii Pacific HealthHonolulu, HI$50,000
Feeding Hawaii Together - the PantryHonolulu, HI$32,500
American Red Cross Hawaii State ChapterHonolulu, HI$25,000
Uh FoundationHonolulu, HI$22,500
Aloha United WayHonolulu, HI$20,000
Aloha United WayHonolulu, HI$20,000
Hawaii FoodbankHonolulu, HI$13,000
Hawaii FoodbankHonolulu, HI$13,000
Uh FoundationHonolulu, HI$7,500
Uh FoundationHonolulu, HI$7,500
Feeding Hawaii Together - the PantryHonolulu, HI$6,500
Feeding Hawaii Together - the PantryHonolulu, HI$6,500
American Red Cross Hawaii State ChapterHonolulu, HI$5,000

Where its money goes

Honolulu, HI
$663K
Waianae, HI
$10K
Makawao, HI
$5K
Milillani, HI
$1K
Mililani, HI
$1K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 shared recipientsAloha United Way Inc15 shared recipientsJ Watumull Fund13 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsTradewind Group Foundation11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Hawaii.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The James and Juanita Wo Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 893134, Mililani, HI, 96789. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 99-6009140 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.