Fiscal Sponsorship

Scaling up through fiscal sponsorship

We are fortunate to have the steadfast support of our fiscal sponsor Hōlani Hāna, a 501(c)3 Native Hawaiian organization that stepped up to offer core support to community groups engaged in fire response efforts. Under its Pilina programmatic pillar, Hōlani Hāna has been providing fiscal sponsorship and capacity building support to nonprofits in East Maui for the past five years.

In the weeks following the August 8th fires, Hōlani Hāna’s Executive Director, Kauwila Hanchett, established a kīpuka in Central Maui to support scrappy, boots-on-ground community efforts. She met Aunty Nettie while volunteering at the hub at 150 Hāna Highway and they made an instant and lifelong connection. At this point in time, Nā Kia’i O Maui’s core team needed to return to work.

Hōlani Hāna helped to secure some seed funding to establish three paid positions for NKOM—Executive Director (1.0 FTE), Administrator (0.5 FTE), and Program Manager (1.0 FTE). Although we only had enough funds to meet the first payroll we took a leap of faith together because we knew this important work needed to be sustained. Beginning September 1, 2023, we pivoted these core volunteers to paid positions which made all the difference for our organization! These positions have been sustained to the present.

Our fiscal sponsor has offered us support in many critical ways that has enabled Nā Kia’i O Maui to sustain and scale up our operations over the past seven months. Hōlani Hāna has a strong 6-year track record under Kauwila’s leadership as being a trusted nonprofit that conducts it operations with a high level of integrity and aloha.

Through our fiscal sponsor, we are able to receive grants and donations; manage funds in compliance with GAAP and funder requirements; hire and mālama staff and contractors as needed; and meet all other obligations for compliance and project management.

Kauwila has more than twenty years of experience working for and growing nonprofit organizations in her home communities of East Maui and Molokai. She is especially skilled at fund development, grant management, and nonprofit compliance. Please contact haleholani@gmail.com for more information.