FundersHawaii

Waimakua Foundation

Lihue, HI · EIN 99-0195093. Reported 87 grants totalling $560,000 to 25 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$560,000granted, 2021-2024
25organizations funded
95%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,990,078assets, 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. Waimakua 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 $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 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
5 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
50 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
14 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
12 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant

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
National Tropical Botanical GardenKalaheo, HI$224,500942024
Kauai Museum Association LtdLihue, HI$104,500642024
Island SchoolLihue, HI$90,000442024
Hui O LakaKekaha, HI$25,500542024
Kauai Community CollegeLihue, HI$20,000442024
YWCALihue, HI$20,000442024
Honolulu Museum of Art (fka Honolulu Academy of Arts)Honolulu, HI$10,000222022
Saint Michael's and All Angels Episcopal ChurchLihue, HI$8,000442024
Malama Hule'iaLihue, HI$6,500442024
Kauai Independant Food BankLihue, HI$6,000442024
Kore KauaiKapaa, HI$6,000442024
Garden Island Resource Conservation & DevelopmentLihue, HI$5,000332024
Hanapepe United ChurchEleele, HI$4,000442024
Kapaa First Hawaiian ChurchKapaa, HI$4,000442024
Koolau Hui Ia ChurchAnahola, HI$4,000442024
The Hawaiian Mission Children's SocietyHonolulu, HI$4,000332023
Waimea United ChurchWaimea, HI$4,000442024
Waioli Hui Ia ChurchHanalei, HI$4,000442024
Girl Scouts of HawaiiHonolulu, HI$2,500112021
Kekahu Foundation Inc Dba Kkcr-FmHanalei, HI$2,000332023
Hui Maka'ainana O MakanaHanalei, HI$1,500332023
Hanalei-Wainiha-Haena Community AssociationHanalei, HI$1,000112024
Haw'n Mission Children's SocietyHonolulu, HI$1,000112024
Kkcr Radio StationHanalei, HI$1,000112024
Malama Kua'ainaHanalei, HI$1,000112024

20 of 25 (80%) 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 95%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 35 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Environment
15 grants
Arts & Culture
14 grants
Education
4 grants
Community Improvement
1 grant
Youth Development
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$156,000$2,500
202222$134,000$1,000
202322$135,000$2,000
202422$135,000$2,000

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

Lihue, HI
$260K
Kalaheo, HI
$224K
Kekaha, HI
$26K
Honolulu, HI
$18K
Hanalei, HI
$10K
Kapaa, HI
$10K
Eleele, HI
$4K
Anahola, HI
$4K

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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 Fund5 shared recipientsKosasa Foundation4 shared recipientsTrustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi3 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc3 shared recipientsThe Strong Foundation3 shared recipientsAtherton Family Foundation3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. 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 Waimakua Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 2970 Haleko Road 201, Lihue, HI, 96766. 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 99-0195093 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.