Black Women Leading Nonprofits in Hawaiʻi: Seen, Unseen, and Still Standing

Black women nonprofit leaders in Hawaiʻi are shaping communities, building healing-centered programs, and filling critical gaps in care—often with fewer resources and less visibility. From Afro Aloha and The Pōpolo Project to Monica Marrow’s What Makes You Feel Beautiful, these leaders are redefining what community impact looks like in the islands.

There is no single master list that tracks nonprofit founders by both race and gender. But we do know that several Black female-founded and Black-led organizations are actively serving Hawaiʻi today, including:

• Afro Aloha, founded by Amy Benson, serving as a cultural hub and media platform amplifying Black stories in Hawaiʻi

  
  

• The Pōpolo Project, a prominent Black-led collective redefining Blackness in Hawaiʻi through culture, art, and dialogue

  
  

That landscape also includes Monica Marrow, the visionary leader and Executive Director of What Makes You Feel Beautiful, a community-centered nonprofit founded in 2019. Under her guidance, the organization supports individuals—especially women and teens—in celebrating self-worth, cultivating confidence, and strengthening mental well-being through supportive programming and healing-centered community initiatives.

These organizations exist. They are working. They are serving. And yet, they are often missing from the broader nonprofit conversation.

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Why Black-Led Organizations Are Hard to Find

If you try to search for Black-founded nonprofits in Hawaiʻi, you still run into a real challenge: there is no single, simple way to filter or discover organizations by the race and gender of their leaders. While platforms like Candid (formerly GuideStar) now invite organizations to self-report leadership demographics, most public registries and databases are still primarily designed to categorize missions, locations, and budgets—making leadership visibility possible, but not yet easy.

As a result, Black women leaders are most often found through word of mouth, community networks, or organizations like the Hawaiʻi Black Chamber of Commerce. In other words, the leadership is here—but the infrastructure doesn’t make it easy to see.

The Funding Gap Is Not a Feeling—It’s a Fact

National data tells a clear story:

• 44% of organizations led by Black women operate on less than $50,000 per year, compared to 16% of those led by white women

• Black-led organizations receive less unrestricted funding, the kind that pays for staff, rent, technology, and basic operations

• Access to capital is still largely shaped by donor and social networks that have historically excluded Black leaders

  
  

This means Black women founders are often expected to do more with less—sometimes with almost nothing.

Leadership Under a Microscope

Beyond funding, Black women leaders face a different level of scrutiny. Many are placed into leadership roles during times of crisis—a pattern known as the “glass cliff.” Their decisions are more likely to be questioned, their authority more likely to be challenged, and their margin for error smaller.

In Hawaiʻi, where Black residents make up only about 1.5–2% of the population, this pressure is often paired with isolation. There are fewer peers who share the same lived experience, fewer mentorship circles, and fewer spaces where Black women leaders don’t have to explain themselves first.

The Local Reality

There are also uniquely local challenges. Many Black residents in Hawaiʻi are assumed to be connected to the military, which can make it harder for civilian nonprofit founders to be seen as long-term, rooted community leaders. At the same time, some funders are pulling back from race-explicit language, quietly pressuring organizations to soften or obscure their missions in order to remain “fundable.”

The Personal Cost

Women of color in the nonprofit sector earn less than their peers. Many Black women founders operate as the only employee in their organization—often delaying or skipping their own pay to keep programs running or staff supported.

Add Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living, and the pressure multiplies.

Why This Matters

Black History Month isn’t only about the past. It’s also about recognizing who is building, leading, and serving right now—often without headlines or safety nets.

Black women nonprofit leaders in Hawaiʻi are here. They are serving real needs. And they deserve visibility, trust, and real investment—not just applause.

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Support This Work

If this story resonates, there are many ways to be part of the solution. Supporting Black-led, community-rooted organizations isn’t just about one-time donations—it’s about long-term commitment and shared responsibility.

What Makes You Feel Beautiful continues to serve women and teens in Hawaiʻi through healing-centered, confidence-building programs made possible by community support.

🌱 Become a Monthly SupporterSustaining gifts help ensure this work can grow and reach more people who need it most.👉 https://givebutter.com/monthlygivers

💛 Prefer to Make a One-Time Gift?Every contribution helps strengthen programs and expand community impact.👉 https://givebutter.com/wmyfb

Equity is not just something we talk about. It’s something we build—together.