Kauluakalana

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
833612121
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Kailua, HI, USA
Phone
8089613462
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$861,430
Expenses
$831,225
Assets
$870,055
Liabilities
$62,917

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BERT KALEO WONG (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • MAYA SAFFERY (PRESIDENT)
  • DAWN MAHI (CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KIANA FRANK (CO-VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BERT KALEO WONG (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $114,526 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to restore and grow healthy relationships between people and place through the aloha 'aina practices of retelling our kailua-specific stories, replanting and eating our ancestral foods, and caring for the sacred sites, lands, and waters of our beloved ahupua'a of kailua.

What it reported doing in 2024

Pili mai & kuokoa: (meaning "to come together") brings together families and educators to facilitate their reconnection to haloa (the first kalo plant and elder sibling of the hawaiian people), each other, and our homeland in order to celebrate, inspire, and organize the regeneration of our community around the cultural practices of poi making. The primary component of this program is a multi-month program for a cohort of kailua-connected families and educators, centered around learning and perpetuating the process of growing, harvesting, preparing, and pounding kalo into poi. Participation is by invitation only. The culminating activity is the families host a kalo pounding tent at a community gathering in celebration of la kuokoa where they teach other families how to make poi.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.7%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 67.2%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $31.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.5%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.05; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 33.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 35.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.7% of revenue deployed · 67.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $558K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.