Kailua Community Foundation (KCF) is a grassroots nonprofit that has served Oʻahu's windward coast since 2009, providing youth mentorship, educational enrichment, and community grants to under-resourced families in Kailua and Kāneʻohe. After 16 years of organic growth funded primarily by individual donors and an annual gala, KCF enters 2025 at an inflection point: demand for services has grown 34% since 2022 while funding growth has remained flat, a leadership transition is underway, and three of the organization's highest-impact programs lack multi-year funding stability.
This strategic plan charts a deliberate path through that inflection point. Over the next three years, KCF will strengthen its financial foundation through grant diversification and a corporate partnership program, deepen its community impact by scaling its highest-performing youth initiatives, and build the organizational infrastructure — data systems, staff capacity, governance — required to sustain growth without sacrificing program quality. The goal is not growth for its own sake, but durable, community-anchored impact that the windward coast will still feel in 2035.
★ Selected
"Rooted Here, Growing Together"
Option 2
"Empowering Communities, Building Tomorrow"
Option 3
"Where Kailua Invests in Kailua"
Mission Statement
Kailua Community Foundation connects windward Oʻahu's neighbors, resources, and opportunities to strengthen families, expand youth potential, and build a more equitable community — from the inside out.
Vision Statement
A windward coast where every child has a trusted mentor, every family has access to the support they need, and community organizations work together toward a shared future of abundance.
Kuleana (Responsibility)
We hold ourselves accountable to the community that trusts us, acting with transparency in every decision.
Mālama (Care)
We care for the people we serve, the land we share, and the relationships that make community possible.
ʻOhana (Family)
Everyone belongs. We design programs that meet families where they are, not where we wish they were.
Hoʻomau (Perseverance)
Community change is slow. We do sustained, unglamorous work — and we celebrate the long arc.
Integrity
We say what we do and do what we say. Donors, partners, and community members can always trust KCF's word.
- Deep community trust built over 16 years of direct service
- 85% volunteer retention rate — exceptionally loyal program staff
- Youth mentorship program with measurable graduation outcomes (+18% vs. county average)
- Strong relationships with Kailua school principals and counselors
- Lean operating model; 84 cents of every dollar reaches programs
- Heavy reliance on annual gala for 42% of operating revenue
- No full-time development staff — fundraising is CEO-led and capacity-constrained
- Outdated donor database limits segmentation and stewardship
- Three flagship programs have no multi-year funding commitments
- Limited digital presence; website hasn't been updated since 2022
- State of Hawaiʻi youth development grants with new 3-year funding cycles opening 2025
- Growing number of tech companies relocating teams to windward Oʻahu
- Underserved Kāneʻohe corridor where no comparable organization operates
- Federal AmeriCorps funding available for tutoring program expansion
- Parent-educator networks seeking trusted after-school referral partners
- Inflation driving 20–25% increases in program delivery costs since 2022
- Donor fatigue as national economic uncertainty reduces discretionary giving
- Competing nonprofits increasingly targeting same corporate sponsor base
- Long-tenured board members retiring in next 18 months — institutional knowledge risk
- Housing cost increases displacing program participants out of the service area
Reduce dependence on the annual gala to below 25% of revenue by 2027 by launching a corporate partnerships program, applying for 4 major government grants annually, and growing the monthly giving program from 48 to 300+ donors.
Gala revenue % → <25% by 2027
Monthly donors → 300+ by Dec 2026
Corporate partners → 8 by end of Y1
Grant revenue → +$180K/yr by 2026
Expand the mentorship program from 85 to 150 active mentor pairs, launch an afterschool STEM track at two additional schools, and establish a Kāneʻohe satellite site by Q3 2026 to close the windward geographic gap.
Active mentor pairs → 150 by Q4 2026
Youth served annually → 1,200 by 2027
Kāneʻohe site open → Q3 2026
HS graduation lift → maintain +18% vs. county
Hire a dedicated Development Manager, implement a modern CRM, onboard 4 new board members with development and technology expertise, and establish a formal succession plan for senior leadership by end of 2025.
Development Manager hired → Q2 2025
CRM live → Q3 2025
New board members → 4 by Dec 2025
Succession plan complete → Dec 2025
Relaunch the organization's digital presence with a rebuilt website and active social channels, publish an annual impact report with verified program data, and host two community listening sessions per year to keep strategy responsive to resident needs.
Website relaunched → Q2 2025
Impact report published → annually, Oct
Social reach → +5K followers by 2026
Listening sessions → 2/year
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KCF invited 31 stakeholders — including board members, long-tenured volunteers, program participants, and community partners — to complete a structured SWOT survey before this plan was drafted. 24 responded (77% response rate). Key themes from their input directly shaped the strategic priorities above.
Stakeholders were nearly unanimous that KCF's reputation for integrity is its most defensible asset, and that the biggest risk is over-reliance on a single fundraising event. Multiple respondents independently flagged the Kāneʻohe geographic gap as an opportunity KCF is uniquely positioned to address. Concerns about leadership continuity as long-tenured staff age out also surfaced in 8 of 24 responses — directly informing Priority 3's succession planning target.
Funding stability
Geographic expansion
Leadership continuity
Digital presence
Corporate partnerships
Program data & outcomes
Hire Development Manager and onboard within 90 days
Select and implement CRM; migrate donor records from spreadsheets
Identify and approach 3 anchor corporate partners for inaugural cohort
Relaunch website with updated program pages, impact data, and donation flow
Draft board recruitment criteria and begin outreach for 4 new board members
Submit applications for 4 government/foundation grants totaling $240K+
Launch monthly giving campaign targeting 300 recurring donors by year-end
Expand mentorship program to 120 active pairs at 4 schools
Pilot STEM afterschool track at Kailua Middle School — cohort of 30 students
Complete succession plan and document all institutional knowledge for senior roles
Publish first annual impact report with verified program outcome data
Open Kāneʻohe satellite site — mentor matching, tutoring, family resource navigation
Scale corporate partnership program to 8+ partners with multi-year agreements
Achieve 1,200 youth served annually across all programs
Reduce gala revenue dependency below 25% of total operating budget
Conduct mid-cycle strategic review and update priorities for 2028–2030 planning horizon
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