Malama Kauai

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
205137488
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Lihue, HI, USA
Phone
8086348174
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,971,976
Expenses
$2,078,431
Assets
$2,941,042
Liabilities
$71,992

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MAKOTO LANE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MEGAN FOX (EXECUTIVE DI): $98,611 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Community outreach to people in kauai Hawaii for education and activities related to strengthening local agriculture and sustainable practices.

What it reported doing in 2024

Increasing food production - providing education, technical assistance, and funding to farmers, with a focus on small to medium and minority farmers: through various subsidized feeding programs, we have aggregated and distributed a significant amount of local food for producers islandwide; helped to distribute 215,000+ in grants to 40 individual farmers for food safety upgrades, alongside the largest food safety training success on kaua'i to date; fiscally sponsored 2 large grants for farmer groups for water systems management: moloa'a irrigation cooperative and waioli valley taro hui; developed the aloha 'aina workforce program which placed 24 dislocated workers for 14 weeks of paid training at 15 sites in conservation and food systems; 50% of participants were offered jobs in their new field by program end; launched the moloa'a 'aina center food hub project in partnership with the moloa'a irrigation cooperative, kauai's largest concentration of commercial farms (currently in early construction phase. Increasing food access - focusing on those most in need, by responding to both immediate needs and strategizing for long-term sustainable efforts to provide local food access: village harvest gleaning collected 12,000+ lbs of fresh produce and donated it to >12 food banks, pantries, and school programs with support from >150 volunteer hours; distributed 600 food trees and over 1,000 plant materials to the community for them to grow their own food; coordinated a quarterly kauai food access meeting with cornerstone organizations serving kauai's high-risk populations including food banks/pantries, elderly services agencies, snap outreach centers, and others; distributed 22,481+ free csas/grocery boxes in 2020, feeding 53,444 individuals through a variety of constantly-pivoting program models to meet the community's evolving anti-hunger needs during covid.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 97.8%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.6%; rating input score 99; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: -5.4%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.42; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.7%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.7% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 36.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 31 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.