Johnson Ohana Foundation
San Rafael, CA · EIN 26-2089828. Reported 89 grants totalling $1,286,431 to 42 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Johnson Ohana Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70).
- How spread out its giving is. 42 distinct organizations, with 17% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 67% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $7,160 and the largest $75,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donorschoose Org | New York, NY | $225,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Charities Aid Foundation America | Alexandria, VA | $100,526 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Regents of the University of California | Oakland, CA | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii | Honolulu, HI | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Honolulu Theatre for Youth | Honolulu, HI | $50,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Surfrider Foundation | San Clemente, CA | $50,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Algalita Marine Research and Education | Long Beach, CA | $45,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Explore Ecology | Santa Barbara, CA | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Kealakai Center for Pacific String Traditions | Kailua, HI | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Hoa Aina O Makaha | Waianae, HI | $37,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Hawaii Institute of Pacific Agriculture | Kapaau, HI | $35,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation | Monterey, CA | $35,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Farmlink Project | Los Angeles, CA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Hawaii Youth Symphony Association | Honolulu, HI | $30,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Kokua Hawaii Foundation | San Rafael, CA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Hawaii Community Foundation | Honolulu, HI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation | Kapaa, HI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hui O Wa a Kaulua | Kahului, HI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Hawaii Foundation | Honolulu, HI | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Dos Pueblos High School | Goleta, CA | $22,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Common Ground Collective | Haiku, HI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hawaii Public Health Institute | Honolulu, HI | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Hiipaka LLC | Haleiwa, HI | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Malama Kauai | Kilauea, HI | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Upstream | Oakland, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Earthpercent Foundation | Boca Raton, FL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Vision to Learn | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Musically Fed | Scottsdale, AZ | $12,085 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Native Renewables Inc | Flagstaff, AZ | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Collaborative Support Services Inc | Los Gatos, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Fund for the City of New York Inc | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Grow Some Good | Wailuku, HI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education | Honolulu, HI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Maui Hub | Kula, HI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Maui Hui Malama | Wailuku, HI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ocean Foundation | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Reverb Inc | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Rise and Shine Art | Honolulu, HI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mana Maoli | Honolulu, HI | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hui Malama I Ke Ala Ulili | Paauilo, HI | $7,160 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Malama Learning Center | Honolulu, HI | $7,160 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
22 of 42 (52%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation
MAUI FIRE RECOVERY & FOOD SYSTEMS - Explore Ecology
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE & GARDENS - Fund for the City of New York
PLASTIC FREE INITIATIVES DONATION - Maui Hui Malama
MAUI FIRE RECOVERY MAUI FIRE RECOVERY - Kahuku High & Intermediate
VISUAL ART / MUSIC SCHOOL GRANT - Mana Maoli
SCHOOL OR COMMUNITY BASED MUSIC GRANT
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 37 of 42 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | $180,000 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 21 | $308,405 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 33 | $497,500 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 21 | $300,526 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
39% of its giving went to organizations in Hawaii. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Hawaii.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Johnson Ohana Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I 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: 45 Mitchell Blvd Ste 1, San Rafael, CA, 94903.
EIN 26-2089828 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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