Ku‘uleinani Maunupau, who established Habitat for Humanity on Maui and has more than 30 years experience as a grant writer, aims to get as many Native Hawaiian organizations exposure to funders as possible.
She serves as CEO of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, a Maui-based nonprofit whose mission is to help bridge the financial gaps for other statewide nonprofits across such industries as education, culture, housing and more. In November, Maunupau was recognized as an Outstanding Professional Fundraiser by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Aloha Chapter.
She joined the military as an Army mechanic out of high school and later worked for two car companies. After that, she said that local leaders took her under their wing, teaching her more about Hawaiʻi history in her early 20s.
“[Homestead activists, ranchers] wanted to advocate for Native Hawaiians to get land, so they brought me in around that age. And they said, ‘You see that stack of papers? Those are grants. We want you to read them and write a grant for us.’ And that's literally how my grant career started,” she recalled.
For the first five to 10 years, she would get paid in “poi, gifts, or whatever money they could.”
“It was fulfilling for me to write grants on the side, while I had a full-time job, so I could help the community,” Maunupau said. “And then eventually, my skill level got to a point where nonprofits started hiring me.”
Native Hawaiian Philanthropy was a brainchild from a 2022 conference in Seattle she attended that inspired sustainable development within the sector.
“The main problem in Hawaiʻi at the time was there's only small funding available, so we're talking an average of $5,000 to $20,000. You don't really get multi-year funding in Hawaiʻi. Oftentimes, organizations will have 27 grants because they need all of that to survive. But the problem with having 27 grants is thatʻs 27 reports, 27 guidelines, 27 different budgets, and that becomes cumbersome.”
She said the vision for Native Hawaiian Philanthropy is to help Native Hawaiian organizations secure larger grants over longer periods of time. “Right now, we're trying to push past three-year grants, but our goal is more than $150,000 per year for five to 10 years.”
To learn more about the organizationʻs community projects and partners, visit nativehawaiianphilanthropy.org.
Maunupau shared more about the organizationʻs history, who it serves and in what ways.
New name, similar mission
Native Hawaiian Philanthropy was the new name the organization took on in 2023. It was formerly Maui Mixer’s, a nonprofit established in 2015 “to provide support to Native Hawaiian communities of Ke‘anae, Maui and statewide to help improve their socio-economic conditions,” according to its website.
Maunupau told ASD that after its two executive leaders had died within a year of each other, a group of Native Hawaiians immediately offered to step in to help maintain operations.
“It's such a small community that when one person passes away, it really has a large impact,” she said. “What we wanted to do was in alignment with Maui Mixer.
“Now, I had done name changes with three nonprofits previously. "Even though Native Hawaiian Philanthropy started in July 2023, the nonprofit has actually been around since 2015,” she said.
People thought the organization started in response to the 2023 Maui Wildfires, she said, adding, “That was a myth. The fire thrusted us into disaster recovery. We got an initial grant of $1,000 [per family] that we gave away to 70 families, hosted cultural activities and events, and we brought together 22 mental health practitioners to address the increase in suicides after the fires.”
The organization’s annual budget is about $720,000, per Maunupau.
Role of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy today
“We view ourselves as an incubator and our goal is to get as many Native Hawaiian organizations in front of funders who want to invest in Hawai’i,” Maunupau said, “That’s what I’m passionate about.”
To accomplish Native Hawaiian Philanthropy’s long-term vision of larger, multi-year grant opportunities statewide, she said they plan to launch a capital campaign later this year “to develop an endowment fund.”
“Ideally, we expect to launch the $10 million campaign this fall and over the next five years, our goal is to raise $50 million."
Maunupau said 20 to 30 Native Hawaiian organizations are set to pitch national funders at various conferences this year, including Maui-based screenwriters, film crews and musicians, who are working to share their stories of Lahaina. “We want to empower the community to tell our own stories, from our own voices and perspectives.”
Native Hawaiian organizations serve you, whether youʻre Native Hawaiian or not
Maunupau says its important to note that Native Hawaiian organizations serve everyone, Native Hawaiian or not.
“Outside of Kamehameha Schools, there is not one nonprofit that serves Native Hawaiians exclusively. Services are open to the entire community,” she said. “We helped all families during the fire and did not turn anyone away.”
She added, "As we learned during the Covid-19 pandemic, nonprofits were the first responders that provided resources when businesses closed. Whatʻs going on now with the federal government is putting pressure and tension on nonprofits. So for me, this is why Native Hawaiian Philanthropy was set up."
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
