Goal is millions for island’s benefit If a church or religion, college or university can be the beneficiary of a perpetual fund from which to draw upon for worthy causes, why can’t an island? That’s one of the questions being
Goal is millions for island’s benefit
If a church or religion, college or university can be the beneficiary of a perpetual fund from which to draw upon for worthy causes, why can’t an island?
That’s one of the questions being answered by the Kaua’i Aloha Endowment, which turned one year old earlier this month and is on the verge of achieving its first-year goal of $100,000 in donations.
Original long-term goals for the fund were between $1 million and $5 million, designed to last in perpetuity, the interest to be used for grants to organizations and individuals that help battered women and children on the island, are practicing environmental stewardship of Kaua’i and otherwise have the island’s welfare in mind.
Interest from the endowment would fund culture and the arts, said Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, one of the founding members of the endowment’s board of advisors.
Another of the original advisors was the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, founder and leader of the Kaua’i Hindu Monastery in Wailua Homesteads. He was known as Gurudeva to friends and followers.
It was his success in and knowledge of the workings of endowments that was tapped by the Kaua’i Aloha Endowment. He set the lofty $5 million goal, joking at one time that he could call Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, to ante up a few million.
Kusaka said she and the rest of the founding board talked Gurudeva down to the more realistic $1 million figure, and the mayor told the Rotary Club of Po’ipu Beach Wednesday that once the endowment reaches $250,000, some of the smallest grant requests could be funded.
Endowment donations would not be touched, as grant money is to come from bank interest the endowment generates.
An Intention Group separate from the board of advisors will decide which groups and individuals will get grants, and administer the fund. The endowment has enlisted the services of the Hawai’i Community Foundation to help this process.
Named honorary chairman of the board of advisors was Larry Bowman, a venture capitalist who recently purchased several hundred acres of land near Moloa’a. His $25,000 gift is the largest single donation to date.
Kusaka said the endowment is more Gurudeva’s legacy than hers, but it is a shared dream.
“We need lots of things in this community to enrich it,” said Kusaka, who also sees an island future with permanent public art exhibits some day “when we’re rich enough.”
The second-year focus of the endowment includes continuing to grow the fund, and getting the word out about the endowment and what it is likely to fund, according to Kusaka, founding board chairwoman Barbara Curl and Intention Group member Barbara Bennett.
A community-awareness campaign is being launched, with help from Stephanie Kaluahine Reid of the Princeville Resort, said Curl.
Patricia Rouen, a member of the board of directors of Garden Island Resource, Conservation and Development, Inc., is the Intention Group’s fund-raising chairwoman.
The endowment, simply, is to forward an islandwide vision with the theme of “Aloha, It’s Kaua’i’s Spirit.” That vision emerged as the result of months of visioning meetings held each Sunday and including business, government and spiritual leaders.
The printed purpose of the fund reads: “The Kaua’i Aloha Endowment in collaboration with the Hawai’i Community Foundation was established to ensure that resources will forever be available to preserve that which we most cherish about Kaua’i: her natural beauty, culture and the spirit of her people.”
The Saiva Siddhanta Church, founded by Gurudeva in 1970 on 50 acres of Wailua Homesteads property overlooking the Wailua River, continues to provide printing services, endowment experience, spiritual assistance and many other services valuable to the endowment, said Curl.
While there are sitting advisory and Intention Group members, it is the intent of the endowment’s leaders to involve the community in direction and decision-making processes.
“It’s our responsibility to leave behind something for future generations. Everything that’s credible and worthwhile is from the people,” Kusaka said.
The endowment was launched at a $1,000-a-plate dinner at Gaylord’s restaurant, spearheaded by Bennett and supported by This Week Kaua’i visitor magazine.
Visitors are welcome to contribute to the fund, Kusaka said.
Actually, a founding friends group came up with the idea eventually evolved into the Kaua’i Aloha Endowment.
The board of advisors includes Kusaka, Curl, Paramacharya Bodhinathaswami (replacing Gurudeva), Roberta Haas of Hanalei North Shore Properties, Charlie King of King Auto Center, Allan Smith of Grove Farm Co., and Mel Ventura of Ventura Development Corp.
The Intention Group members are Rouen, Curl, Kusaka, Haas, Bodhinathaswami, Bennett, Reid, Sue Kanoho of the Kaua’i Visitors Bureau, Laurie Ho of Garden Island Resource, Conservation and Development Inc., Michael Murakoshi of First Hawaiian Bank, attorney Sam Blair, Curtis Tom of Bank of Hawai’i, and Marilyn Wong, liaison, Kawaihau District Leadership Coalition.
Donations can be mailed to Kaua’i Aloha Endowment, in care of the Hawai’i Community Foundation, 900 Fort St. Mall, Pioneer Plaza, Suite 1300, Honolulu HI 96813-3713. Additional information is available at 1-888-731-3863, the Hawai’i Community Foundation’s Kaua’i office at 245-4585, or www.HCF-Hawaii.org.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
