WHAT IS HELP MAUI RISE:

Help Maui Rise is the only Direct-to-‘Ohana initiative that allows for the equitable distribution of a single contribution among numerous families. 

Help Maui Rise, at-a-glance:

• 100% pass-through (zero admin, zero fees when using wire transfer or check)
• bypasses having to choose between families in need (we use data to disperse funds in an equitable way among recipient families) 
• tax deductible
• each recipient has been carefully vetted and verified by a team of volunteers
• is over 1,600 ʻohana and growing 

OUR STORY:

We are Help Maui Rise; home of the spreadsheet you may have seen circulating that houses the stories and donation links of families displaced by the Maui Wildfires. What started out as a simple Google sheet to share within our inner circles has evolved into a growing resource of over 1,600 affected loved ones, all vetted by our team and reviewed by GoFundMe directly. By utilizing Help Maui Rise, you can directly and quickly get money to multiple families in need while also receiving a tax-deductible 501(c)(3) write-off. Please refer to the explanation below for further details on how this process works. 

In Hawai'i, community is everything, and when the fires began on August 8th, we knew we needed to take action. As community members, our only wish was to provide aid to the displaced 'ohana of Lāhainā & Kula as quickly and directly as possible. The Maui fires took the lives of 101 people and nearly 3,000 homes and businesses. Families were given no warning and sometimes only seconds to escape, many of them with only the clothes on their backs. 

Just one week after the fires, the Help Maui Rise Google sheet included over 900 displaced families and our initial Instagram post on August 10th had reached over 117,000 accounts . It didn’t take long for a Lāhaināluna graduate who worked for Google to take notice. She reached out to us directly and offered us a direct contact to help us with formulas to better organize our list. With their support, we were able to create our Sorted GoFundMe tab, which sorts fundraisers from lowest to highest funded, allowing donors to easily give to those who need most. Shortly after, we were contacted by GoFundMe and they generously offered us a support team to assist us with any challenges we encountered. They also committed to thoroughly vetting submissions on a daily basis, offering donors an added layer of security.

As our list grew, we realized that we wanted to also offer a simplified donation option by removing the need for donors to choose which family to support. Additionally, we wanted to provide a donation option specifically for businesses that would be tax-deductible. GoFundMe.com informed us about GoFundMe.org, their nonprofit branch, which agreed to act as our 501(c)(3) beneficiary (fiscal sponsor) and handle all grant distribution. This led to the creation of our "One Click Donation" collective hub. It serves as a single fund where donors can contribute to the entire list of qualified applicants with a single donation. Moreover, we can distribute grants from our larger donors ($5k+) to the families with the lowest funding, ensuring a more equitable distribution of donations.

OUR GRANTS:

We keep in regular touch with the families, observing the pressing nature of their financial needs. As a result, ensuring transparency and the swift distribution of money has become a vital aspect of our mission to prevent funds from remaining dormant. As of April 8th, 2024, our collective hub has raised $777,113; over seven times our original goal. GoFundMe.org has assisted Help Maui Rise in 21 grant rounds, distributing $400 grants to every GoFundMe on our list and $8-900 grants to 449 households from our Lowest Funded tab.

Help Maui Rise has diligently allocated every dollar exclusively to its mission without redirecting any amount towards operational expenses. Since our inception, our small team has been wholeheartedly engaged as volunteers, and I have personally financed all associated expenses.

We’d also like to highlight that Help Maui Rise has conducted five in person workshop days at Honokowai Beach Park and Lāhainā Civic Center. We’ve worked alongside Tagnawa (Filipino outreach) and Roots Reborn Lahaina (immigrant outreach) to provide much-needed tech support and translation services specifically tailored for older and non-English speaking families and immigrants. In addition, we have created submission forms and informational videos in Ilokano, Tagalog, and Spanish to ensure that everyone can access the necessary information. It is of utmost importance to us to offer support to these marginalized groups. Many of these families do not qualify for additional aid and lack the means to promote their own donation links due to a lack of social media presence. Moreover, the older members of these communities often struggle to create fundraisers without technical assistance. We are dedicated to addressing these challenges and shining a light on those who are too often overlooked. 

FOR DONORS:

Click Help Maui Rise to access the original google sheet with direct ways to donate to over 1,600 families.

Click Sorted GoFundMes to access individual fundraisers sorted from lowest funded to highest to directly donate to the families that need you most.

Click One Click Donation to access our collective hub where you can donate to all qualified applicants with a single tax deductible 501(c)(3) donation.

If you choose to donate directly through the collective hub, GoFundMe applies a single transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30. This covers credit and debit charges, secure delivery of donations, and enables various donation methods like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. For anyone looking to donate $5,000 or more, please reach out to us directly, before you make your donation, to discuss the various ways we can help you to reduce and eliminate these fees. Larger donors are also given the option to choose how their funds are distributed, either to the families with the least funding or evenly to all qualified applicants. We are more than willing to accommodate any preferences or instructions regarding the distribution of your donation.

Maui needs us now more than ever. The money you donate will help the displaced families of Lāhainā & Kula to get back on their feet and rise from the ashes. Whether you are from Hawai'i, have visited our island home, or are just learning about this from the news, we humbly ask for your kāko'o.

FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY THE FIRES: 

To the displaced ‘ohana of Lāhainā & Kula, please keep in mind that in order to automatically qualify for grants from our One Click Donation, your ‘ohana must fill out our our Phase 2 application that will be launching soon. Sign up for our newsletter or follow along at @helpmauirise to be the first to know about our application when it launches in the near future.

In the mean time, please make sure your GoFundMe transfers are fully set up. If you are unsure of how to do this, you can find detailed instructions in English, Spanish, Tagalog and Ilokano on how to create a GoFundMe and how to set up transfers on our GoFundMe Support tab.

If you do not wish to receive our grants, but would like to be inputted to our list, you can perform a quick search for your name with [Command + F] or [Ctrl + F]. If you’re unable to find your name, please reach out to our team directly at info@helpmauirise.org or on instagram @helpmauirise.

Mahalo nui,

The Help Maui Rise Team