A Joint Reflection from Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and Native Hawaiian Philanthropy

The Numbers Demand Our Attention

For every $100 awarded by U.S. funders, Native Hawaiian communities receive less than two pennies.

In 2023, U.S. institutional philanthropy awarded $140.1 billion. Native Hawaiian communities received $24.8 million, 0.02% of the total. This isn't an aberration. Between 2014 and 2023, funding for Native Hawaiians never exceeded $25 million in any single year.

The structural vulnerabilities are severe. The top two funders account for 45.5% of all Native Hawaiian funding. The top ten funders represent 66.5% of total investment. This funding shortfall exists within a broader pattern. Of the $721.7 million in total philanthropic funding that reached Hawaiʻi in 2023, Native Hawaiian organizations received only 3.4%.

This is why Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy came together for the Power in Solidarity: Hawaiʻi Funder Tour from September 28 to October 4, 2025. Foundation leaders joined us across Oʻahu and Maui to witness firsthand what these numbers mean in practice and what's possible when philanthropy finally pays attention.

Our partnership reflects the reality that Native Hawaiians occupy a unique position. They are both an Indigenous community with sovereignty and self-determination at stake, and part of the broader Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander diaspora. This intertwined identity requires solidarity across Indigenous peoples and recognition within AANHPI movements. It also means that what happens to Native Hawaiian communities matters for all of us working toward justice.

Reclaiming What Was Taken: The Cultural Context

The organizations we visited are doing healing work to rebuild what was systematically destroyed and denied.

In 1896, the Hawaiian language was banned in schools, cultural practices were driven underground, and governance was overthrown. The mechanisms of colonization were deliberate and comprehensive. Today, 85-90% of Hawaiʻi's food is imported, compared to the 100% self-sufficiency that sustained Native Hawaiians for centuries before Western contact.

"Learning every single day of who we are and where we come from and the richness of our culture… has helped me to know that I belong here, that I have a purpose in this world, and that our people deserve better than what we've had over the last hundred or so years." -Angela Correa-Pei of Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation

Every organization on the tour is engaged in this reclamation work. They're teaching children to speak Hawaiian. They're restoring ancient fishponds and agricultural systems. They're protecting sacred sites through legal advocacy. They're training young people in traditional navigation and ocean stewardship. They're fighting to keep Lahaina residents on their land after the wildfires. They're providing culturally grounded mental health care and healing, and keeping families together.

At the Shangri La Museum reception, we participated in a closing ritual, standing hand-in-hand on grounds where Native Hawaiians had been historically excluded. This was the first time Native Hawaiians had been welcomed as a group to this space. Some of the people in that circle had grown up swimming below the museum, gazing up at the estate, never imagining they would stand there. Through community, power building, connection, celebration, and ritual, it was a reclamation.

The work we saw operates from a fundamentally different worldview than philanthropy typically recognizes.

"Usually Western mentality, there's only one way to teach. Not only native Hawaiians, all indigenous people look at a wider view when they're dealing with any issue. You have to include the whole universe. You cannot just include the two people that's involved, or the family. The whole community and especially nature. The island is included." - Aunty Nanifay Paglinawan

Everything is connected: land, ocean, family, community, people. The funding snapshot we released categorizes grants by issue area, such as environmental protection, education, health, economic development. But our experience on the funder tour highlighted how these are artificial separations. Cultivating ʻāina (land) is simultaneously environmental stewardship, cultural preservation, food sovereignty, mental health work, and economic development. Funding one is funding all of it.

We got to witness this holistic framework in action. When Huli teaches young people to sail traditional canoes in Maunalua Bay, they're teaching navigation, environmental science, cultural identity, and community leadership. When Ke ʻAlohi o ʻEwa advocates for Hawaiian language immersion education, they're teaching language and they're ensuring that children can access the worldview, stories, and ancestral knowledge that only exist in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.

"Being able to speak ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi unlocks a whole different world… and a whole different worldview that you will not be able to have unless you speak the language… These stories aren't fairy tales. They're not myths. They're the ways our kupuna have managed our ʻāina, our resources for generations." - Andrea Dias-Machado of Ke ʻAlohi o ʻEwa"

We witnessed people rebuilding their nation and culture, and doing it without the resources the work deserves.

The Federal Funding Crisis and Philanthropic Responsibility

Many of the organizations we visited have lost or are losing federal funding as programs are attacked and labeled "DEI." It's happening as climate disasters intensify, as housing costs force people off their ancestral lands, as cultural knowledge holders age without adequate support to pass on their wisdom.

"We've seen this before. When federal support is severely pulled back, philanthropy either steps up or communities are abandoned. As an attorney who has worked on federal-tribal policy most of my career, I know the importance of legal advocacy. Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is doing this work with very little federal support and facing retrenchment of the very programs that should sustain this work." - Erik Stegman, CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy

"I spent my career fighting for immigrant communities' right to language access. What struck me in Hawaiʻi is that Native Hawaiians are marginalized in their own homeland, fighting for recognition and basic dignity. The legal attacks on race-explicit programs are designed to create a chilling effect. The response can't be retreat. It has to be doubling down on community-led solutions that work." - Connie Chung Joe, President & CEO of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy

The infrastructure exists for expansion. Between 2019 and 2023, 360 foundations and corporations funded Native Hawaiian communities. The pathways are established. Community-defined solutions are working. Now we need to build institutional commitment at scale.

When two funders represent 45.5% of all Native Hawaiian funding, a single strategic shift can devastate the entire ecosystem. When only 17.8% of funding is unrestricted, organizations spend their limited capacity on compliance instead of innovation. When single-year grants average $5,000-$20,000, the administrative burden exceeds the impact.

"Usually Hawaiians are the last on the list to get any help, whether it's in the nonprofit world or if it's getting help… Any kind of social ills. And it's in any part of indigenous people that are colonized when we all get together, different language, different island, different ʻike, but we are all telling the same story." - Aunty Nanifay

What Funders Can Do Now: From Learning to Action

We didn't come to Hawaiʻi to observe and extract. We came to change our practice.

If you're a funder reading this, here's what you can do immediately:

1. Shift your funding model

Multi-year unrestricted support is a requirement for the work to succeed. Only 17.8% of current Native Hawaiian funding is unrestricted. Trust-based approaches reduce reporting burden and free organizations to focus on impact. And grants need to match the scale of the work. $5,000 doesn't build a movement. It creates administrative overhead.

"In philanthropy, sometimes it's called trust-based philanthropy. Here it's just community… This is the way that we work together as ʻohana on an island to not only survive, but to thrive… Just embracing that vibe, that vision of what's possible together in community, and really trusting that the people who are doing the work know best." - Kaulana Ing, Kūlaniākea

2. Learn the holistic framework

Don’t force organizations into siloed issue categories. Environmental work is cultural work is sovereignty work. Fund the interconnected vision instead of the program. If your foundation has separate portfolios for education, environment, health, and economic development, it’s time to interrogate whether your structure is preventing you from funding Indigenous solutions that don't fit those boxes.

3. Engage directly with Native Hawaiian Philanthropy

Don't wait for a packaged proposal. Reach out to learn. Ask "How can we support your vision?" not "Do you fit our priorities?" If you fund in Hawaiʻi, are you specifically funding Native Hawaiian leadership? If you fund climate, ocean conservation, education, or food systems, are Native Hawaiians at the decision-making table?

"Native Hawaiian Philanthropy (NHP) believes in the power of collaboration and the importance of building meaningful relationships within the Native Hawaiian community. We need funding partners who will walk with us for the long term, actively engaging with us to understand our unique vision and needs while fostering a partnership rooted in trust and shared goals. It is essential to consider the impact of funding in Hawaiʻi by supporting native-led organizations and solutions. By aligning our efforts with local leaders and valuing Indigenous wisdom, we can create sustainable solutions that empower and uplift our communities."- Kuʻuleinani Maunupau, President & CEO of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy

"The best way for funders to support Hawaiian communities is to come to Hawaiʻi and understand our people, our lāhui, and our way of life. Aloha is kind of a cliche word to a lot of people. But when you hear the word aloha to and from Hawaiian people, it's very meaningful and very powerful. You're not going to understand that if you read a book or watch a video. Come sail with us, come get dirty in the loʻi. Just be with us and you'll have a life-changing experience." - Nick Kapule, Huli

4. Build the endowment

The Wayfinder Fund will provide multi-year grants to Native Hawaiian organizations, invests in cultural practitioners and artists, and connects communities with philanthropy through workshops and funder tours. It needs to reach critical mass to provide long-term stability generating enough income to meaningfully support the ecosystem without the year-to-year scramble that currently defines organizational life. Your foundation can play a vital role in building permanent capacity with a $50 million goal.

5. Participate in Power in Solidarity

Power in Solidarity is an ongoing commitment. Join the funder community of practice. Engage with the research and learning opportunities. Bring this model to other geographies and Indigenous communities.

6. Use your data

Benchmark your institution against the 0.02% level that represents current philanthropic funding to Native Hawaiian communities. Set public targets and timelines and report transparently on progress. If you're not doing your part, say so explicitly and commit to change. The 2025 AANHPI Funding Snapshot and the Native Hawaiian Funding Snapshot provide the tools to do this analysis.

7. Defend race-explicit funding

Native Hawaiian work is inherently race-explicit because it centers Indigenous people with distinct cultural practices, languages, and sovereign claims to land. Stand publicly for community-defined solutions. The chilling effect only works if funders retreat.

The Solidarity Commitment

Thirty-six years ago, Native Americans in Philanthropy and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy were founded together, born at the same conference when our representatives realized we didn't have a seat at the table in philanthropy. We had to build our own. 

Today, we're working with Native Hawaiian Philanthropy to address the same exclusion. Native Hawaiians occupy a unique position at the intersection of Indigenous and AANHPI communities, facing the same patterns of invisibility and underfunding that led to our organizations' founding. Our liberation is interconnected. What happens to Native Hawaiian communities matters for all Indigenous peoples, all communities of color, all people working toward justice.

An Invitation

At Shangri La, we stood hand-in-hand in a closing ritual on land that had been closed to Native Hawaiians. The reclamation happened through community, connection, and joy.

Two pennies for every $100. The organizations we met are showing us how to heal land, water, and people. They need resources that match the work.

Join us in making that happen.

Contact Native Hawaiian Philanthropy: https://www.nativehawaiianphilanthropy.org/

Learn more about the organizations we met: https://www.nativehawaiianphilanthropy.org/communitypartners

Read the full 2025 Native Hawaiian Funding Snapshot: https://aapip.org/resources/2025-native-hawaiian-funding-snapshot/

Learn more about Power in Solidarity: https://nativephilanthropy.org/powerinsolidarityhawaii

About the Authors:

Connie Chung Joe is President & CEO of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, a justice-minded national organization founded in 1990 that expands and mobilizes resources for AANHPI communities, who receive just 34 cents of every $100 in institutional philanthropy.

Erik Stegman is CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy, an organization founded over 35 years ago that advocates for increased investments in Native communities by educating and mobilizing funders through an Indigenous worldview. They are also a founding partner of Native Voices Rising, which has distributed more than $16.6 million to Native-led power-building organizations across the country, including Hawaii.

Ku'uleinani Maunupau is President & CEO of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, the only Native Hawaiian-led Philanthropy-Infrastructure Organization. With over 30 years of grant writing expertise and more than $22 million secured for nonprofits, she leads systemic change in how philanthropy engages with Native Hawaiian priorities.