Aina Momona

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821366588
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2018
Location
Kaunakakai, HI, USA
Phone
8082653698
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Land Resources Conservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,702,567
Expenses
$2,026,308
Assets
$1,200,987
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JON OSORIO PHD (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KALANIUA RITTE (ED SINCE 3/2): $66,145 total reported compensation
  • WALTER RITTE (FOUNDING DIR): $39,720 total reported compensation
  • TRISHA KEHAULANI WATSON PHD (VICE PRESIDE): $34,048 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Aina momona (hawaiian for the fertile or rich land) is a community organization dedicated to achieving environmental health and sustainability through restoring social justice and hawaiian sovereignty.

What it reported doing in 2025

Aina momona also has the following program areas. Aina - aina momona strives to preserve, enhance and protect aina throughout the hawaiian islands, working directly with communities to malama the land. Aina momona recognize that social justice and environmental justice are inextricably linked. The wellbeing of the aina and people are one, and by bringing greater resilience to our communities aina momona can restore greater health to our land. Ai - aina momona is dedicated to restoring nourishment to the lahui hawai`i through food sovereignty and the restoration of subsistence practices. We implore our people to join us in restoring ai to the lahui through revitalizing traditional kalo production practices so that we can end our reliance on less ethical food systems for sustenance. One of the primary goals at aina momona is to kanu mea ai, plant edible food, for our people to live off of the land once more. Wai - aina momona fights for the water rights of our aina, kua'aina, and aina kupuna, because aina momona appreciates that the just allocation of water resources is essential to the promotion of customary practices, food sovereignty, and social justice. Ea - aina momona recognizes the immense need to restore ea in the lungs of our aina and our people. Aina momona is committed to support the fight for ea as aina momona advocates for social justice and moves toward models of self-governance that are grounded in what is pono. E ea no ka lahui let the people rise up

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.3%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $60.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.9%; rating input score 99; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.5% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.3% of revenue deployed · 80.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $66K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 20 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.