Hawaiʻi e-news

MARCH 2022

Advancing pathways to sustainably fund health initiatives
The Foundation is growing in every way, including staffing and more funding to nonprofits
New Hawaiʻi Grants Overview
More than $1.2 million in recent Hawai’i grants announced

Advancing pathways to sustainably fund health initiatives

Two of the Foundation’s recent Hawaiʻi grants highlight the importance of philanthropy in providing private dollars that pave the way for government-funded sustained health initiatives.

A $50,000 grant to support Hawaiʻi Community Foundation’s Student Health and Wellness Fund will provide the private matching funds necessary to leverage the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a sustainable federal funding stream that provides health coverage for children in low-income families.

Additionally, through a $50,000 grant, the Foundation has partnered with Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice to evaluate a pathway to sustainably fund a "food as medicine" model in Hawaiʻi, including produce prescriptions, medically tailored meals, nutrition counseling, and applied nutrition education.

The Foundation is growing in every way, including staffing and more funding to nonprofits

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States. However, the Foundation’s roots are quite modest. Staff size, for example, has always been comparatively small especially when looking at other foundations of similar asset size. This contrast has presented unique opportunities and challenges: to be responsive, but thoughtful; far-reaching, but accessible; impactful, but humble and kind.

In recent years, following the creation of the Foundation’s investment office in 2014—including the development of a team dedicated to managing the Foundation’s real estate holdings in Hawaiʻi—the Foundation’s assets have grown significantly. Increased assets provide the means for increased grantmaking, which in turn requires more skilled professionals to properly administer and manage the additional grants. Here is how all of this has played out at the Weinberg Foundation within a span of just five years.

Over the past 30 years, the Foundation has provided a total of approximately $350 million to nonprofits in Hawaiʻi. The Foundation has increased its grantmaking in Hawaiʻi to $12 million per year, funding dozens of organizations across the Islands. In addition to the Foundation’s overall grantmaking priorities, the Foundation is dedicated to meeting the unique needs of rural communities in Hawaiʻi.

The Foundation has just completed a summary of selected grants in Hawaiʻi, 2019 through 2021. Please click here to explore this summary, which is also posted on the Foundation’s website under “Resources” and “Publications.”

In addition, if you have not had a chance to explore the Foundation’s new, interactive two-part website feature yet, you can find selected grants of $50,000 or more approved since 2018 there as well.

More than $1.2 million in recent Hawai’i grants announced

The Foundation recently approved $1.2 million in Hawaiʻi-specific grants supporting the areas of Housing, Health, Jobs, Education, and Community Services.

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