Since 2012 alone, the Foundation has put $1,232,370 to work for Molokaʻi students. Some of it built things that will last for decades. Most of it went to the everyday things that keep students learning, competing and graduating.
Everything the Foundation spent from July 2025 – June 2026, by program.
| Program | Amount | Share | What it paid for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AVID college readiness | $80,000 | 39.4% | Statewide AVID college-readiness program, funded by a grant from the Charles & Mitch Ota Foundation. |
| Student life & graduation | $30,384 | 15.0% | Prom, 8th-grade banquet, middle school uniforms, off-island conferences, graduation, supplies and teacher luncheons. Graduation moved outdoors for the first time while the gym was repaired. |
| Construction program & internships | $24,000 | 11.8% | A teacher assistant for the high school building & construction program, and paid community-college internships for 10 Molokaʻi High students. |
| Athletics | $15,500 | 7.6% | General support for high school and middle school athletic programs. |
| Agriculture & FFA | $14,000 | 6.9% | Travel to the statewide FFA conference and a woodchipper for the school farm, funded by an outside grant. |
| Scholarships & Early College | $10,403 | 5.1% | Post-high scholarships, plus tuition for students taking Early College classes for college credit. |
| Science equipment | $9,999 | 4.9% | Equipment-upgrade grant from Bayer for the high school science department. |
| Robotics & STEM | $8,000 | 3.9% | Robotics and STEM programs at both schools. |
| New Zealand cultural exchange | $5,000 | 2.5% | Helped send high school students on a cultural exchange to New Zealand. |
| Insurance, taxes & postage | $5,767 | 2.8% | Insurance, state excise tax, postage, bank fees and business registration. No one is paid a salary. |
The Foundation was born out of a budget problem. When Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi joined the Maui Interscholastic League, every competition meant flying off-island. State travel money didn’t keep pace with airfares, and the athletic department started each year more than $20,000 short.
That is still the heart of the work: airfare, lodging and meals for games on other islands, uniforms and equipment, and the athletic awards banquet. In 2024–25 alone the Foundation put $37,617 into athletics, most of it travel, with a big increase for middle school sports. The Farmers moved up to 11-man football in 2024.
Watch: the Farmers move to 11-man football (Hawaii News Now)
When football returned to Molokaʻi High, games were played on a field with no scoreboard. The Friends started a fundraising campaign, and within a year the scoreboard was bought and installed.
The gym had the opposite problem: an old scoreboard broke and replacement parts no longer existed. The Foundation replaced that one too.
In 2020 and 2021 axis deer kept getting into the school farm, and students were putting up makeshift fences around their gardens. The Foundation paid for an 8-foot, 1,100-foot fence that keeps out deer, pigs and goats.
Students who helped install it learned alongside the Love of Labor crew. Since then the Friends have helped re-establish the agriculture program, sent students to the statewide FFA conference and bought a woodchipper for the farm.
Career and technical education is where many Molokaʻi students find their path. In 2025–26 the Foundation paid for a teacher assistant in the building & construction program and helped fund paid internships, through the local community college, for 10 Molokaʻi High students.
The Friends also help with Early College tuition, so juniors and seniors can earn college credit on Molokaʻi, and co-sponsor Future Fest, the annual career-awareness day.
Big purchases the schools couldn’t make on their own, most of them done with partner foundations and local donors.
Students travel to Maui for games, science fairs and field trips. The Foundation replaced buses that were at least 20 years old and costly to repair. Partner foundations and donors covered about 80% of the roughly $150,000 cost; the Friends covered the rest.
When Molokaʻi High brought football back, the field had no scoreboard. A Friends campaign bought and installed one within a year. When the old gym scoreboard broke and parts no longer existed, the Foundation replaced it.
The Molokaʻi High weight room serves athletes from many sports and physical education classes. The Foundation paid for badly needed improvements.
In 2020 and 2021 herds of axis deer kept raiding the school farm. The Foundation paid for an 8-foot, 1,100-foot fence that keeps deer, pigs and goats out. Students who helped build it worked alongside the Love of Labor crew.
A Molokaʻi Middle School teacher started a Hawaiian cultural garden. The Foundation received and managed the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation grant that paid for it.
Helmets and shoulder pads got the middle school football program started, and Foundation funds helped launch an after-school program with other activities.
The Randy Kobayashi Fund bought power microscopes and slides for Molokaʻi High’s new science building. In 2025–26 a Bayer grant upgraded the science department’s equipment.
During the pandemic the Foundation bought lumber for outdoor tables at the middle school and a shipping container to store supplies for both schools.
The steady support that shows up on a field trip, a college visit or graduation night.
Airfare, lodging and meals for teams, clubs and students attending events on other islands. Travel requests can include up to $125 in airfare per person.
Since 2022–23 the Foundation has backed AVID, which takes students on college visits and helps them plan life after high school, with grants from the Charles & Mitch Ota Foundation.
Competition equipment and travel support for the robotics teams at both schools, plus science equipment for hands-on classes.
Project Graduation began after a tragic accident shook the Molokaʻi community. It gives seniors a safe, supervised celebration on graduation night.
Prom, the 8th-grade banquet, homecoming, May Day, uniforms, student council trips, cultural exchanges, and contests from culinary arts to the national rodeo.
A Christmas luncheon for the staff of both schools every year, teacher workshops, and dinner for parents at school community meetings.
Highlights from the Foundation’s IRS Form 990 filings. School years run July to June. Amounts are what was spent on each item that year.
Gym repairs moved graduation outdoors for the first time ever.
In October 2024 the Oʻahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association gave $10,000 from Molokaʻi Hoʻe and Nā Wahine O Ke Kai crews.
Scholarships awarded: $13,000.
Scholarships awarded: $13,000.
Also: agriculture support, Early College tuition and the staff Christmas luncheon.
A pandemic year: the Foundation kept senior traditions going.
Want the full detail? See the financials and the original filings.
Every gift is tax-deductible, and goes to work for students at Molokaʻi High and Molokaʻi Middle School.
Checks payable to Friends of Molokai High & Middle Schools Foundation · PO Box 1618, Kaunakakai, HI 96748 · EIN 91-2102491
