Hawaii Dental Service
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 990107971
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Honolulu, HI, USA
- Phone
- (808) 529-9248
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $275,253,336
- Expenses
- $247,163,041
- Assets
- $448,191,415
- Liabilities
- $30,617,383
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
29 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DIANE SL PALOMA PHD (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DIANE SL PALOMA PHD (PRESIDENT & CEO): $623,851 total reported compensation
- MINNA-MARI LEHTI COO ALL YEAR (SEC. (TILL 06/24), VP (EFF 06/24)): $504,291 total reported compensation
- COLBERT SETO CIO TILL 1124 (ASSISTANT SECRETARY (TILL 11/24)): $410,753 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To champion oral health and create a lifetime of healthy smiles for Hawaii families. Hawaii Dental Service (HDS) is the first and leading nonprofit dental service corporation in Hawaii providing dental benefit plans and serving over one million residents in Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan. More than 95% of all licensed, practicing dentists in Hawaii participate with HDS, creating the largest network of dentists in the state. Deep Island Roots Hawaii Dental Service was founded in 1962 by 15 local, pioneering dentists who had a strong commitment to provide quality dental care to the community. They introduced the first prepaid dental plan in Hawaii, a new concept at the time, to provide affordable dental coverage for Hawaii children. Today, HDS’s mission remains true to the intent of.
What it reported doing in 2024
Hawaii dental service (hds) offers and administers dental care programs to about 644,000 individuals throughout the state of Hawaii. As a member of the delta dental plans association, a national association supporting deltas nation-wide, hds subscribers are able to access delta contracted providers in every state. In 2024, hds processed over 1.2 million claims for subscribers and their dependents. To ensure providers are submitting claims appropriately, hds continually audits claims. In addition, hds awarded over $1.9 million in grants to other charitable organizations.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 94% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Member-benefit provider. The nonprofit used 91% of its reported program spending for member benefits.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 91
- Accountability: 73
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.2%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 94.8%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 53.3%; rating input score 53; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.2%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.81; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 80.2% of revenue deployed · 94.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $234.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $624K · 29 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.3M reported
- Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 37 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 23 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 53/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.