Aha Kane - Foundation for the Ad- Vancement of Native Hawaiian Males

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270502942
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Honolulu, HI, USA
Phone
8085249560
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$292,257
Expenses
$402,238
Assets
$60,951
Liabilities
$2,694

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • UMI GORDON KAI (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • EDWARD HALEALOHA AYAU (EXECUTIVE DI): $105,462 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To nurture a healthier native hawaiian male population by eliminating psychosocial, health, and educational disparities founded on traditional cultural practices and building sustainability in the community. To increase our awareness and empower native hawaiian males to fulfill our roles and responsibilities amongst ourselves, as well as within our families and our respective communities. To strengthen the native hawaiian community through nurturing and perpetuating the traditional male roles and responsibilities that contribute to the physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being of hawaiian males, their families and communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Aha kane pivoted to address the needs and desires of the community during a time of uncertainty from covid-19. Aha kane focused on healing the family. Aha kane partnered and collaborated with community gatekeepers and community organizations to provide lectures, panel discussions, demonstrations, workshops and classes on zoom and social media to reach the broader population that was living through a government-imposed lockdown. Aha ohana virtual was composed of kane, wahine, mahu, kupuna, opio, and keiki. Aha ohana virtual groups acknowledged the foundation of a thriving family to have healthy communication, strong relationships, and a sense of identity that positively influences the social determinants of health and well-being among all members. Together as one ohana and through the extension of partnerships aha kane provided instruction on various topics related to health, language, economics, housing, kupuna, and veteran affairs through social media and various virtual platforms. As restrictions retracted, aha kane developed in person workshops targeting the youth by developing a summer program to help the youth reconnect with the land and hawaiian healing practices.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -37.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.2%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 77.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $312K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.