About Hawaiian Way Fund

The Hawaiian Way Fund is the donor program of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA), a tax exempt nonprofit corporation reaching hundreds of community-based organizations and initiatives. The Fund has one charitable purpose – to enhance the well-being of Hawaii through community-based initiatives founded on Hawaiian culture, knowledge and traditions.

Hawaiian Culture Needs All of Us

Hawaiian culture and all that it nurtures, sustains and represents throughout our state, is not a commodity that can lay uncultivated. Hawaiian culture lives and survives through active engagement, teaching and sharing, and must be a priority for all who love Hawaii.

The Hawaiian Way Fund is an important means to support community practitioners and initiatives that embrace Hawaiian culture and ways of meeting community needs. Whether the Fund is supporting the capacity of halau hula, charter schools, or community groups working on environmental or cultural projects, or reaching youth and families – Hawaiian culture will survive because it is shared, and because it is important enough in our lives to give gifts of aloha that it can be shared. Please join us to make a difference in Hawaii.

A Fund You Can Count On

As a community development and cultural Fund with expert management and accountability, the Hawaiian Way Fund is a place where donor gifts can directly touch Hawaiian communities. The CNHA Board of Directors appoints an Advisory Board to oversee fiscal accountability, fundraising activities, and our donor designation program. These individuals serve as volunteers and represent the best in their respective fields, bringing important perspectives and energy to the Fund.

• Brandi K. Lau, Communications Specialist, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
• Jennifer Sabas, Chief of Staff, Office of U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye
• Sunshine Topping, Director of Human Resources, Sandwich Isles Communications

CNHA dedicates its most senior officers to the administration of the Fund at no salary cost to the Fund itself, to ensure maximum impact of donor gifts.

• Robin Puanani Danner, CNHA President & CEO
• Napali Woode, CNHA Senior Vice President & COO

The Fund is subject to CNHA’s annual audit by the independent accounting firm of James D. Jennings, CPA, Inc. located in Honolulu, Hawaii. With oversight by an Advisory Board and CNHA’s 15-member Board of Directors, the Hawaiian Way Fund presents a credible fund that values accountability and transparent reporting. To view the 2007 Donor Giving Report on page 15 of the CNHA 2007-2008 Annual Report, click on the link below:

CNHA Year in Review: Oct. '07 - Sept. '08

We hope you will choose the Hawaiian Way Fund as a charity to receive your philanthropic gifts.