No major university can grow and excel without a healthy mix of public and private funds. Private contributions leverage public funds and maximize taxpayer dollars. Through partnering with philanthropic investors, our university can sustain excellence and enhance the student experience, making our campuses learning destinations of choice.
Many of the donors who give major gifts to the University of Hawaiʻi do so to support a program, school, or area of study that they believe in. Without exception, their gift has a major impact on our students, faculty and campus community as a whole.
Recent Impact Stories
When Sanford M. Oda started his career at the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) he probably never realized how his every day approach to tackling issues and creating innovative engineering solutions would affect and motivate others.
In an effort to improve Native Hawaiian students’ access, support and success in college, Kamehameha Schools made a $250,000 gift to support the Lunalilo Scholars Program, the innovative 13th Year program at Kapi‘olani Community College.
Every time I had a hard semester, I got the motivation to go on because I received a scholarship and I’d be so grateful! Helen’s scholarship helped me with financial burdens, but she inspired me most because of who she was.
“If University of Hawaiʻi students embrace the power of Hawaiʻi’s culture, the beauty of its land and the humility of living aloha, they will be at an advantage anywhere they live or work,” says Clinton Inouye
“Being able to go to UH on a scholarship was a turning point in my life. For that I am deeply grateful. I want to do the same for others who are just starting out. With education, doors open. Without a university education it is very difficult to get anywhere,” said Donald Aten.
As part of this mission, in partnership with the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), PaCES offers its summer environmental science program for high-school students, an intensive hands-on research experience for juniors and seniors.
Yoshihiro and Tamah Nakamura are an adventure story spanning oceans, cultures, and languages. Theirs is also the tale of two people discovering themselves over a lifetime, through their love, and against multicultural backdrops.
Now, more than a hundred years after an ambitious young man and his picture bride began their story in America, their youngest child Esther Arinaga honors them with endowments in a tribute to their creativity, dedication, and struggle on behalf of others.
Graduate students are the future of research, so supporting their efforts is a privilege and a pleasure,” said Chancellor Emeritus Virginia Hinshaw, PhD.
