Support a just and equitable Hawaiʻi

Aloha kākou,

In January, I joined Hawaiʻi People’s Fund (HPF) through Giving Project 2024. Since 1972, HPF has supported passionate, grassroots community groups working for social justice in Hawaiʻi. These groups are often considered too small, too new, or too controversial by traditional funding/grant organizations.

Participating in Giving Project 2024 has given me the one-of-a-kind opportunity to deepen my knowledge of class, race, and social (in)justice in Hawaiʻi. (See resources below to learn more about the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom, exploitative plantation economy, ban on the Hawaiian language & cultural practices, and ongoing fight to preserve sacred spaces.)

It has also introduced me to 32 incredible grassroots organizations across 5 Hawaiian islands that are challenging systems of oppression to bring forth and sustain social change in Hawaiʻi. I have been enabled to dedicate 50+ hours to redistributing funds & resources to these community changemakers. Here's a glimpse into their impactful work:

🗻 Maunakea Education & Awareness: educate and raise awareness on the spiritual, historical, cultural, environmental, and political significance of Mauna Kea and all sacred places.

🚑 Maui Medic Healers Hui: mobilize health care providers to the west side of Maui to help heal and stabilize a recovering community after the disastrous fires.

🌿 Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo: provide care for ancestral bones, funerary possessions, and sacred objects that were illegally stolen from the Hawaiian islands through repatriation and reburial.

🔭 Honua Scholars: highlight Native Hawaiian value-based STEM practices to empower keiki to be Hawaiʻi’s next STEM leaders.

🐟 Hui o Kuapā: educate local and global communities about Native Hawaiian biocultural resource management by restoring fishponds on Molokaʻi and promoting sustainable food systems.

These organizations help protect the present and future of Hawaiian land, people, and culture. Through Giving Project, we are amplifying movements, capacity building, and providing necessary funds to ensure this vital work continues.

Our Giving Project 2024 goal is to collectively raise $100,000 to support grassroots movements.

100% of this goes to our 32 HPF grantees!

⭐️ My fundshifting goal: $2,500 (by May 3rd deadline)

🐉 My personal gift: $318, in memory of my grandfather Willard Kaʻaihue Kekauoha who was born on 31/8/1922.

I love Hawaiʻi and I am deeply proud to be Native Hawaiian. Being in the diaspora, I’ve always wanted to participate in something meaningful to advance social justice in my ancestral home. This is it, and I humbly invite you to be a part of it, too.

Every dollar makes a difference. Please consider joining me in supporting grassroots organizations in Hawaiʻi.

⚡ Donate Now

Me ka mahalo nui,

Riley ʻIkelihiokalani Atkinson

Not able to give monetarily right now? 💛

Here are other ways you can support Hawaiʻi People’s Fund & the movement:

• Share this page with your friends, family, colleagues, and community – especially those you know who have been to Hawaiʻi before or have some connection to this place and ask them to donate.
• Follow Hawaiʻi People’s Fund on IG and Facebook.
• Listen to the Hawaiʻi Rising podcast to hear directly from the folks on the ground doing the important, community-driven work.
• Read this CNN article on the impacts of tourism on Native Hawaiians.
• If you want to deepen your understanding of Hawaiian sovereignty and US imperialism, I highly recommend the book From a Native Daughter by Haunani-Kay Trask.
  • No time for a book? Check out her Lovely Hula Hands essay.
  • Looking for more? Unsustainable Empire: Alternative Histories of Hawai‘i Statehood by Dean Saranillio and Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment by Hiʻilei Hobart are fantastic.