Faces of
Philanthropy Winter 2007
Quarterly News from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation
honoring the values of home OUR MISSION We help people make a difference by inspiring the spirit of giving and by investing in people and solutions to benefit every island community.
As a local boy growing up in the towns of Makaweli and Kalaheo on Kaua‘i, Wayne Rapozo learned the values and ideals he holds true until today: a deep rooted respect for cultural diversity, an appreciation for stewardship of the land and responsibility to the community. Raised in the traditional hānai (the Hawaiian tradition when a child is raised by someone other than their birth parents) fashion by his grandparents George and Augusta Rapozo, Wayne eventually left Kaua‘i to complete his education and to broaden his horizons. Today he is a successful attorney and partner in the London office of American law firm Dechert, LLP. Although far from home, Wayne never lost his desire to reach out to the community he grew up in. His initial outreach came in the form of the “Rapozo Kama‘āina Fund,” which he established on December 27, 2006. After Wayne’s grandparents passed away, he kept funds they left him and added it to the existing fund’s endowment. The Rapozo Kama‘āina Fund was then established in honor of his grandparents, the original teachers of his lessons on giving. “My grandparents were fundamental to my upbringing and identity,” said Wayne. The goals of his fund mirror Wayne’s desire to reach out to well deserving groups and individuals committed to serving as moral and cultural anchors for Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau. The fund seeks to enhance stewardship of the land, celebrate continued interest in Hawai‘i’s cultural legacy, support education and economic self-sufficiency for Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau.
Wayne prefers to provide fair and meaningful gifts now, rather than wait until his senior years. Because Wayne is rather far from home, he views - Fund as a means of being the Rapozo Kama‘aina part of the community, or as he puts it “the modernday Ahupua‘a,” the historic Hawaiian land division where resources and responsibilities were shared. It is Wayne’s way of staying close to individuals and groups dedicated to Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau. The fund has allowed Wayne to directly share in the goodwill that community contributions foster and to honor his grandparents. After much consideration, Wayne chose HCF to serve out his philanthropic wishes. “Working with the Hawai‘i Community Foundation was such a logical choice and was something that was familiar to me from my school years.” This year’s grantees support a wide variety of causes on Kaua‘i. The five recipient groups are: Mālama Kaua‘i, a North Shore farmer water sustainability assessment and implementation project; Kapa‘a High and Intermediate School Hawaiian Language Immersion Program at Anahola; Mālama Māhā‘ulepū, a project that funds student field trips to the historic coastal zone at Māhā‘ulepū, Kaua‘i; Na Kalai Wa‘a o Kaua‘i, a project to complete mast, radio equipment and other items of a voyaging canoe; and Garden Island Resource & Development Koke‘e Resource Conservation Development, a program to instill support for native forest and trail maintenance in Koke‘e. (continued on page 3)
For more information on connecting with a cause that you care about, please contact HCF’s Philanthropic Services Department at (808) 566-5560 (toll-free at 1-888-731-3863) or e-mail clientservices@hcf-hawaii.org
www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org