Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation

The Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation is, at its core, a private operating foundation — not a conventional grantmaker. Understanding this distinction is the single most important piece of intelligence for anyone seeking to work with CZAF. Founded in 1988 by Consuelo Zobel Alger and headquartered at 110 N. Hotel Street in Honolulu, the foundation has deployed more than $135 million over its history and reached hundreds of thousands of children through partnerships with over 150 organizations. Yet it explicitly states that it does not accept unsolicited requests for funds and contributes only to preselected charitable organizations.

The foundation's model is partnership-based program delivery. It identifies and contracts with nonprofits and NGOs that align with its mission — promoting the well-being of at-risk children, women, and families in the Philippines (75% of annual budget) and Hawaiʻi (25%) — rather than issuing open grant competitions. Programs like Protection and Recovery, Life Skills Plus, Family Strengthening, and Child Abuse Protection and Intervention Network are implemented through this partner network, not through reactive grantmaking.

For organizations that are a genuine programmatic fit, the path forward is relationship cultivation, not proposal submission. CZAF values "like-minded organizations" that share its commitment to culturally sensitive, evidence-based approaches. The foundation's FY2024 assets reached $206.5 million, generating approximately $11.4 million in net investment income (FY2023 figure), which funds both direct operations and partner grants typically totaling $7–9 million annually across program expenses.

First-time organizations should anchor their outreach to one specific program area CZAF already operates. Demonstrating alignment with Protection and Recovery (anti-trafficking, abuse response) or Life Skills Plus (youth development, counseling) is far more effective than broad appeals to child welfare. The foundation's social justice commitment — allocating at least 25% of funding to advocacy, community organizing, and civic engagement strategies — also creates an opening for organizations working upstream on policy and systems change.

Interpreting CZAF's financials requires distinguishing between two separate categories: total program expenses (which include direct service delivery, staff, and partner contracts) and cash grants paid to external organizations. The foundation's IRS 990 data reveals that annual program expenses — the full cost of operating its model — range from $7.3M to $9.0M over FY2018–FY2023. Direct external grants paid to partner organizations, however, are far smaller: $37,420 (FY2021), $135,123 (FY2023), $213,070 (FY2022), and $507,297 (FY2020). The FY2020 spike reflects COVID-19 emergency response activity, the foundation's largest single-year grantmaking event in recent history.

Among the 98 individual grants in the database (totaling $970,857), the median grant is $10,000 with an average of $9,907. The vast majority of individual grants fall in the $5,000–$15,000 range. The single largest grant on record is $250,000 to the Filipino Community Center (Filcom) across two payments for their 20th anniversary campaign — a clear outlier tied to a major milestone event rather than recurring programming. The next largest is $61,296 to Kupu (Hawaii-focused environmental stewardship and youth programming) across two grants.

Geographic distribution in the grantee data shows 23 Hawaii-based recipients and dozens of Philippines-based NGOs (Bidlisiw Foundation, Community and Family Services International, Quidan Kaisahan, Ateneo de Manila University). The Philippines portfolio skews heavily toward child protection, anti-trafficking, and disaster relief — including emergency grants in the $6,000–$10,000 range following Typhoon Ulysses/Vamco and the Taal Volcano eruption. COVID-19 emergency grants from FY2020 make up a substantial portion of the grantee list, with 30+ organizations receiving $6,000–$13,000 each.

Assets have grown steadily: from $165M (FY2018) to $210M (FY2021 peak) to $206.5M (FY2024), sustained by strong net investment income averaging $9–11M annually.

The following table compares CZAF to peer foundations in the $205–210M asset range, all classified under NTEE T20 (Philanthropy & Grantmaking):

CZAF is unusual among its asset-class peers in several respects. Most foundations of similar size operate as passive grantmakers; CZAF actively implements programs in two countries through contracted partners, meaning its "giving" is really program delivery rather than discretionary grantmaking. This makes it more comparable to intermediary organizations like United Way than to a traditional foundation. Its geographic focus (Philippines + Hawaiʻi) is also highly distinctive — no peer in this group operates across both a U.S. state and a foreign country at this scale. For grant seekers, this means CZAF is far less accessible than Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (which publishes open RFPs) and more comparable to family foundations that fund only pre-vetted relationships.

No major leadership changes or new program announcements were identified through web research for 2025–2026. The foundation's most notable recent development is its partnership with Eleison Foundation to address mental health care for child survivors of human trafficking, abuse, and exploitation. This collaboration — which includes needs assessments and caregiver wellness workshops across the Philippines and Hawaiʻi — reflects CZAF's expanding focus on trauma-informed mental health, a shift from traditional direct services toward psychological recovery infrastructure.

The foundation's Candid profile was last updated November 17, 2025, with grant records updated through December 2024, suggesting normal ongoing operations. Total assets rose to $206.5M in FY2024 (up from $190.1M in FY2023), driven by $13.7M in total revenue — a strong investment year. The Kaisahang Buhay Foundation publicly acknowledged CZAF's gift of 8 laptops for their ILEA Scholars, a small but visible act consistent with CZAF's education access work in the Philippines.

COVID-19 emergency grantmaking (FY2020) remains the most recent high-watermark for external cash grants, with $507,297 distributed to 30+ Philippines-based NGOs and a handful of Hawaii community organizations. There is no public evidence of a similarly large emergency response in 2024–2025.

Because CZAF does not accept unsolicited applications, traditional grant-seeking strategies — sending a letter of inquiry, submitting a proposal through a portal, responding to an RFP — are categorically inapplicable. The following tips are tailored to this specific reality:

Understand the gatekeeper dynamic. CZAF's preselection model means that staff and trustees decide which organizations enter the portfolio. The decision is made internally, not in response to inbound outreach. Your organization's visibility in the Philippine and Hawaii nonprofit ecosystems is your application.

Map the existing partner network. Over 150 organizations have worked with CZAF. Identifying which current or former partners overlap with your work — and pursuing warm introductions through those relationships — is the highest-probability path. Philippines-based organizations like Child and Family Service Philippines, Bidlisiw Foundation, and Conrado and Ladislawa Alcantara Foundation are established entry points. In Hawaii, Kupu and Child & Family Service have multi-grant histories.

Attend sector convenings. CZAF's stated strategic objective of convening stakeholders at government, funder, and policy levels means staff participate in child welfare, anti-trafficking, and family services convenings in Honolulu and the Philippines. Organizational leaders who show up in these spaces build the ambient credibility that precedes partnership conversations.

Lead with outcomes data. CZAF funds evidence-based, culturally sensitive programming. Before any outreach, prepare a rigorous impact summary: number of children served, recidivism or re-victimization rates, outcome metrics. Their own programs (Protection and Recovery, Life Skills Plus) generate quantitative data — your organization's data should match that standard.

Use the correct contact channel. The only public contact is (808) 532-3939 and the address at 110 N. Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96817. A brief, focused introductory call — not an emailed proposal — is the appropriate first step if you have a specific, concrete reason to reach out (e.g., a mutual referral from an existing partner).