FundersHawaii

The Makana Aloha Foundation

Kailua, HI · EIN 20-8877756. Reported 52 grants totalling $711,195 to 26 organizations across tax years 2021-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$711,195granted, 2021-2023
26organizations funded
66%of grantees funded again the next year
$8,515,601assets, 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 Makana Aloha 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 $1,250 and the largest $40,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
8 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
8 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
28 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
8 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
Maui Academy of Performing ArtsWailuku, HI$110,000332023
Whale TrustMakawao, HI$80,000532023
Lahainaluna High School FoundationLahaina, HI$63,000332023
University of Hawaii FoundationKahului, HI$60,195632023
American Heart AssociationOakland, CA$60,000222022
Hawaiian Island Land TrustHonolulu, HI$55,000332023
Haleakala ConservancyPukalani, HI$35,000222022
Imua Family ServicesKahului, HI$30,000222023
Maui Huiliau FoundationHaiku, HI$28,000332023
When We Shine FoundationKula, HI$25,000212022
Hawaii Animal Rescue FoundationPuunene, HI$22,000222023
Halau Ke'alaokamailePukalani, HI$20,000112021
Hua Momona FarmsLahina, HI$20,000112023
Save Maui Cats IncLahaina, HI$18,000532023
Maui Preparatory AcademyLahina, HI$15,000112023
Alexander Academy of Performing ArtsKula, HI$10,000112022
Hawaiian Islands Land TrustHonolulu, HI$10,000112023
Hui O WaaPukalani, HI$10,000112023
Kimokeo FoundationWailuku, HI$10,000112021
Maui Youth Philharmonic OrchestraKahului, HI$6,500112022
Common Ground CollectiveHaiku, HI$5,000112022
Friends of Maui Waena Intermediate SchoolKahului, HI$5,000112022
Maui Waena IntermediateLahina, HI$5,000112023
Grow Some Good As Fiscal Sponsor for Napali Community GardenKihei, HI$4,000112021
Arts Education for ChildrenLahina, HI$2,500112023
Maui Arts LeagueLahina, HI$2,000112023

11 of 26 (42%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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 66%, across 2 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 37 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
11 grants
Environment
6 grants
Science & Technology
5 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Diseases & Disorders
2 grants
Food & Nutrition
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202113$209,778$20,000
202219$277,026$10,000
202320$224,391$10,000

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.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 92% of this one's giving went to organizations in Hawaii. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Hawaii
$651K
California
$60K

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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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipientsFred Baldwin Memorial Foundation8 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust7 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipientsAtherton Family Foundation7 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 Makana Aloha Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2021-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 342190, Kailua, HI, 96734. 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 20-8877756 · 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.