From food distributions to land conservation and beach cleanups, Kanu Hawaiʻi is a dashboard for volunteers and service opportunities across the Islands.
By April, or National Volunteer Month, nearly 600 volunteer opportunities will be posted on its site and reinforced through social media, attracting more than 20,000 volunteers.
Executive Director Keone Kealoha said that what started as Earth Day, grew to become Volunteer Week and more recently, Volunteer Month. “Now, we are moving away from focusing on one point in time. As we’ve built up our relationships and the infrastructure to support this, we’re doing this all the time.”
In 2024, Kanu Hawaiʻi had more than 480 partners, which helped support 1,475 events for 47,500 volunteers, per its website. The nonprofit shared that translates to more than 118,750 volunteer hours valued at $3.7 million.
Kealoha, who co-founded Malama Kauaʻi in 2006, joined Kanu Hawaiʻi first as a board member, becoming executive director in 2017.
“It was right when Trump came into office for the first time. I think what happened then is similar to what we're experiencing now, just in a different way,” he told Aloha State Daily. “There's a lot of unanswered questions and imminent concerns about what's next, especially for the nonprofit community that will be hard hit by defunding at the federal level.”
He added, volunteering is one way to help offset the potential impacts.
“Nonprofits can play very quiet, background-type roles, but when they're not there, you're going to feel it. Weʻre all going to feel it,” Kealoha said. “So, let's invest a little bit of our time and energy in a proactive way to get out, support a local organization and understand who they are and what their mission is.”
ASD asked what it takes to prepare for Volunteer Month and sustain efforts throughout the year, as well as what new partnerships and priorities he’s excited about, and lessons-learned as a leader.
Aloha State Daily: What are you working on currently as you prepare for Volunteer Month in April? What is the best way for organizations to share their events with you?
Keone Kealoha: Every year, we ramp up our staff and do outreach. So, we go through every listing on our site and contact each organization to update their information. We try to be as current and accurate as possible with the specific event date, time and contact. It’s a great opportunity that doesn’t cost anything for the organizations. In April, it’s almost like an open house for nonprofits to get new volunteer blood into their programs without having to do anything besides let us know.
The best way to get connected with us is through our website. You can also view opportunities through Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority at GoHawaii.com/malama.
ASD: What other initiatives are you focused on in 2025?
Kealoha: What are we doing about regenerative tourism? How can visitors come to Hawaiʻi and do something good while they help serve a mission? For visitors, it's an experience. With ongoing partnerships with airlines and hotels, like Outrigger Resort & Hotels, we can survey visitors to measure impact, asking them would you travel to a destination just to be able to give back, would you consider doing this again, etc. Building these connections between visitors and the local community may end up generating a financial return for the people who are investing in it. We have got to lean into these ideas and cultivate them to see if they're a solution to some of the visitor industry challenges.
We just launched a program aimed at local businesses called the Impact Partner Program Essentially, we're just asking businesses, are you already volunteering with an organization or a cause during April? Take photos and tag us all month long and we'll reshare that through our networks to let people know what you're doing, where you're doing it and why. Weʻll include your logo and link to your website or social. We're going to trumpet that on our site, through our socials and newsletter at no cost. And if organizations or businesses don't have an active employee volunteer program, or they just may periodically do it, it's just a good time to renew that commitment to community or to start it.
Partnering with the state Department of Education, our Student Ambassador Program has two student cohorts hosting service events in April. The idea is, how do we work with students to realize their pledge (Pledge to our Keiki) because they are going to inherit Hawaiʻi. We want their perspectives to help guide the people who are making decisions today about their future. The purpose is to help students address challenges in their community through service, organizing and engaging others, to make change happen. We’re also working on a student dashboard to launch next school year.
ASD: What have you been learning lately as a leader?
Kealoha: Hawaiʻi has always been really good at taking care of each other. Every disaster people always come together; and we don't want to wait for a disaster to happen to be able to do that. Volunteering is a time where we can renew that in a blue sky for good reasons, but we also recognize that it's those relationships that are going to sustain us when we need to rely on each other, right?
… Our goal is to say, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of organizations out there that could use your support, so get connected.’ We want to make it easy for you to give back to your community. Volunteering might seem like you’re giving back, but honestly you get back what you give. It’s a sharing of a breath – it’s not a one way thing. What you get back is connection to people, a sense of belonging, a sense of where you are.
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
