Hmsa Foundation

HMSA Foundation operates as the philanthropic arm of Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), Hawaii's largest health insurer, with a $16.3 million asset base and a philosophy grounded in trust-based philanthropy and community power-building. Since 2019, the Foundation formally abandoned open-solicitation grantmaking in favor of a cohort-based, invitation-only partnership system called the Hui Partners Program — a deliberate transition toward long-term relationship-driven funding over transactional grantmaking.

The Foundation strongly favors organizations already embedded in their communities that address upstream social determinants of health rather than clinical service delivery. Top grantees include community health centers serving Native Hawaiians (Waimanalo Health Center, $420,000 total; Five Mountains Hawaii, $400,000 total), food security organizations (Kokua Kalihi Valley, $400,000 total; The Food Basket, $365,000 total), and cultural land stewardship programs (Kumano I Ke Ala, $240,000 total; Hawaiian Community Assets, $280,000 total). The University of Hawaii system stands apart as the sole institutional anchor grantee, receiving over $6 million for physician education and healthcare workforce development.

For first-time applicants, the only formally accessible entry point is the Community Fund, which provides up to $15,000 for one-time, time-sensitive needs — training, equipment purchases, travel, emergency operating funds, or seed money for a new initiative. This fund operates on approximately a two-week decision cycle and is open to nonprofits and government organizations statewide.

Relationship progression is slow and intentional. Published guidance states that applicants must contact the Foundation office before submitting any materials — a pre-contact requirement signaling that no submission should be made cold. For Hui Partners, organizations typically navigate 12 to 24 months of trust-building before receiving a five-year, unrestricted commitment averaging $75,000 to $100,000 per year.

First-time applicants should invest in community presence: attend events where Foundation staff are present, develop relationships with current Hui Partners such as Waimanalo Health Center and Hawaiian Community Assets, and ensure their organizational narrative reflects the Foundation's 'āina-based health philosophy. The Foundation's logo — the 'ie'ie plant, an indigenous Hawaiian species with medicinal history — signals that cultural rootedness is foundational, not decorative. Proposals and introductory conversations must reflect genuine community trust and Indigenous health values, not merely demographic service targeting.

HMSA Foundation's annual giving is highly variable, reflecting the multi-year rhythm of its cohort model rather than steady annual disbursements. IRS 990 data across ten fiscal years reveals significant cycle-driven swings:

• FY2024: $4.71M total giving, $2.07M in direct grants paid — a tenfold surge from FY2023, indicating launch of a new Hui Partners cohort
• FY2023: $472K total giving — minimal year reflecting an end-of-cohort or between-cycle period
• FY2022: $931K total giving, $959K in grants paid
• FY2021: $617K total giving, $350K in grants paid
• FY2020: $7.9M total giving, $7.02M in grants — largest year on record, driven by the $6M+ University of Hawaii Foundation medical education grants
• FY2019: $5.3M total giving, $3.9M in grants paid
• FY2012–2015: $1.4M–$2.5M annually during the pre-cohort open-grants era

The Foundation's asset base has declined from $24.9M (FY2014) to $16.3M (FY2024), reflecting sustained endowment drawdowns for grantmaking. Revenue derives almost entirely from investment income ($614,602 in FY2024), with no external contributions — this is a self-sustaining endowment funder with no annual fundraising cycle or donor relationships to cultivate.

Across 130 recorded grants to more than 50 organizations, the database shows: - Average grant: $87,579 (skewed upward by the UH Foundation anchor grants) - Typical Hui Partner annual grant: $75,000–$100,000 per year, with five-year commitments yielding $375,000–$500,000 per organization - Community Fund ceiling: $15,000 per grant - Anchor institutional grants: $750,000–$1.2M per transaction to UH Foundation - Enrichment data median (30 sampled grants): $15,000; average $39,302 — reflecting the predominance of Community Fund grants in the accessible portfolio

By geography, 126 of 130 grants (97%) went to Hawaii-based organizations. Estimated program area breakdown: Native Hawaiian and underserved community health services (~30%), food security and 'āina programs (~20%), medical education and workforce development (~20%, UH-driven), behavioral and mental health (~15%), and community capacity building (~15%). Active projects span all major islands — Oahu leads with 11 projects, followed by Hawaii Island (7), Maui (6), Kauai (3), Molokai (3), and 6 statewide initiatives.

The following foundations are asset-comparable peers in the health sector, providing useful context for positioning HMSA Foundation within its funding tier:

HMSA Foundation stands out from its asset-comparable peers in three important ways. First, its geographic concentration is extreme: 97% of all grants flow within Hawaii, making it effectively a single-state community funder despite its private foundation structure — a constraint that narrows competition but also limits access to mainland applicants entirely. Second, its giving volatility is exceptional, with disbursements swinging from $472K (FY2023) to $4.71M (FY2024) depending on cohort cycles, making year-to-year comparisons misleading. Third, its trust-based, five-year unrestricted cohort model is more characteristic of national foundations many times its size, such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, than of similarly-scaled health foundations. Among peers, NCMIC Foundation offers the most accessible open-application pathway but focuses on chiropractic and integrative medicine research — a very different mission than HMSA Foundation's Indigenous health equity and community 'āina work.

HMSA Foundation published its 2024 Impact Report (available at hmsafoundation.org/annual-report), with FY2024 total giving of $4.71M representing the most active grantmaking year since FY2020's $7.9M peak. The tenfold increase over FY2023's $472K strongly suggests the activation of a new Hui Partners cohort cycle — a pattern consistent with the FY2019-to-FY2020 ramp seen when the University of Hawaii Foundation medical education grants were structured.

On the leadership front, Jennifer Diesman has assumed the role of President (per most recent IRS 990 filings), with Kathryn Matayoshi serving as Vice President and Gina L. Marting as Treasurer/Secretary. This transition follows Mark Mugiishi's earlier tenure as President; Mugiishi now serves as a director. Board additions include Keawe Aimoku Kaholokula — a University of Hawaii Mānoa professor of Native Hawaiian health psychology — reinforcing the Foundation's commitment to Indigenous health expertise at the governance level.

At the parent organization level, HMSA generated significant policy news in February 2026 with a proposal for radical transformation of Hawaii's healthcare system, triggering legislative scrutiny before the Hawaii House and Senate consumer protection committees. This development may create strategic alignment between HMSA's commercial health operations and the Foundation's community investment priorities.

Recent grantee additions signal emerging priority areas: Kalauokekahuli (holistic maternal care for Native Hawaiian families, $30,000), Ma'I Movement Hawaiʻi (menstrual equity and period poverty, $30,000), Ho'Aka Mana (Indigenous emotional and mental wellness, $30,000), and Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center ($30,000). The Foundation also contributed $50,000 to Hawaii Community Foundation's Maui Strong Fund following the 2023 wildfires — its only known out-of-cycle responsive grant — demonstrating capacity for rapid disaster response.

Contact before applying — this is non-negotiable. HMSA Foundation's published application guidance requires all prospective applicants to call the Foundation office at 808-725-1636 before preparing any materials. This pre-contact step orients applicants to current funding priorities and timing. Cold submissions are not reviewed for the Hui Partners track and may disadvantage Community Fund applicants who skip this step.

Use the Community Fund as your strategic entry point. For organizations without an existing Foundation relationship, the Community Fund (up to $15,000, approximately two-week decision cycle) is the only open channel. Identify a specific, time-sensitive need: equipment, travel for staff training, emergency operating funds, or seed money for a new initiative. Do not request general operating support through this mechanism — specificity dramatically improves success rates.

Speak the Foundation's language. HMSA Foundation explicitly rejects medicalized framing. Avoid terms like 'services provided,' 'treatment outcomes,' or 'patient volumes.' Instead use: 'healing ecosystem,' 'community self-determination,' 'upstream conditions of health,' 'place-based practices,' 'āina connection,' and 'reciprocal relationships.' The Foundation's three published priority areas — ensuring everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy life; strengthening culture, policies, and practices for a healthier Hawaiʻi; and building ecosystems of health within communities — should anchor your proposal language.

Demonstrate Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander cultural authenticity. The Foundation's most consistent grantees — Waimanalo Health Center, Kokua Kalihi Valley, Five Mountains Hawaii — are organizations with deep cultural roots where community members shape governance and programming, not just participate as service recipients. If your organization serves NHPI populations, show how community voice drives your structure.

Build toward Hui Partner consideration over 12-24 months. Hui Partners are not selected through applications. They emerge from sustained relationship with Foundation staff and visibility in the community. Attend Foundation-adjacent convenings, collaborate with existing Hui Partners on shared community work, and express interest in the program directly to staff — not through written proposals.

Avoid these common mistakes: submitting unsolicited Hui Partners proposals (they are not reviewed); proposing time-limited projects with narrow deliverable metrics (the Foundation values sustained systemic change, not project outputs); leading with organizational budget size or program reach data (community trust and cultural authenticity outrank scale).