WELCOME TO OUR GROWING CAPACITY PROJECT -

PROGRAM 1: GATHERING RESOURCES IIN HAWAI’I FOR HAWAI’I PAGE!

Based on community survey responses that identified key challenges for Hawai‘i’s museum and cultural sector—such as strategic fundraising, board development, and grant practices—the Growing Capacity Project launched its first mentoring and training program: Gathering Resources in Hawai‘i for Hawai‘i.

Over six weeks, participants explored, shared, and co-created resources focused on strengthening nonprofit capacity. Each week centered on a different theme, creating space to discover shared needs, crowdsource solutions, and exchange insights across the islands.

Through live sessions and guest presentations, participants engaged with thought leaders, peers, and practitioners to develop practical tools that address the realities of running cultural organizations in Hawai‘i today.

Program Design and Delivery

Each week, participants met online with facilitators and guest experts to identify the unique capacity-building needs represented in the cohort.

From that foundation, participants and featured community members added their own resources, insights, and materials to the growing collaborative toolkit while engaging with one another in problem-solving our collective challenges and needs. Our continued hope is these digital resources and the ongoing synergy from the cohort will continue to grow capacity among participating organizations well beyond the program.

We highlighted the following topics and prominent community members and experts in the six-week program: 

• Strategizing our Fundraising Approaches, with Lisa Chow (CEO and Owner of Leina’ala Consulting) and Elizabeth Lentz-Hill (Program Officer in Arts & Culture at Hawai’i Community Foundation)
• Activating and Managing Boards, with Maja Grajski (Vice President of Collections and Research at Bishop Museum) and Jennifer Cornish-Creed (Director of Professional Development Hawai’i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations - HANO)
• Centering Community Needs in Our Work, with Healoha Johnston (Director of Cultural Resources and Curator for Hawai’i and Pacific Arts and Culture at Bishop Museum) and Sarah Kuaiwa (Curator for Hawai’i and Pacific Cultural Resources at Bishop Museum)
• Building Healthy and Collaborative Partnerships, with Mina Elison (Curator at the Donkey Mill Art Center) and Eric Chang (Arts Program Manager at East-West Center)
• Developing and Expanding our Toolkits

Program Resources

Interested in exploring our guest presentations and discussions?

  Visit out our YouTube Playlist.

If you use or share these materials, we’d love to hear what you found most valuable!

Approach and Guiding Principles

During the design phase, we incorporated community feedback and intentional practices to ensure accessibility and cultural resonance:

• Engaging participants at multiple leadership levels
• Practicing cultural humility and reflection throughout the program
• Using live sessions for dialogue and collaboration, while assigning readings and video resources between sessions
• Crowdsourcing materials, templates, and tools to meet real-time needs of participants

See our full report on the early community needs survey  here.