it Is no secret that nonprofits statewide are struggling to find sources for funds as public and private sector budget reductions threaten needed services in our community. But many here may not know that in a small building is a very large resource for finding potential sources of funding for nonprofit programs and initiatives.

Nonprofit organizations and other grant seekers looking for funding sources now have access to a valuable new collection of resources at Hawaii Maoli, which recently has been named the first Hawaii site of the Cooperating Collection of Foundation Center of New York.

The Foundation Center is the nation’s leading authority on organized philanthropy, serving grant seekers, grant makers, researchers, policymakers, the media and the general public. Thousands of people visit the center’s website daily and are served in its five regional learning centers and its national network of Cooperating Collections.

Cooperating Collections provide underresourced and underserved populations in need of vital information and training with tools to become successful grant seekers.

Cooperating Collections offer free access to the center’s information on grant makers and how to apply for grants. That includes the Foundation Center Directory Online, profiling more than 100,000 U.S. grant makers, as well as print directories and proposal writing guides.

Hawaii Maoli is the nonprofit affiliate of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs and administers more than $6.4 million in grants and contracts to benefit the native Hawaiian people and culture.

Hawaii Maoli’s Kipuka Computer Resource Center in Kapolei is the site for the Cooperating Collection.

Kipuka is part of the Prince Kuhio Community Center and a model statewide of bringing services together that meet the economic, environmental and cultural well-being of communities. This center serves the native Hawaiian community on Oahu’s Leeward Coast and is fast becoming a hub for programs generated by nearby residents of the Kanehili Homestead development.

But it also serves the larger community statewide through resources for job-training skills, cultural activities, open market plant and environmental preservation initiatives, and now, capacity building through the Foundation Center resources.

Founded in 1918 by Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, the Hawaiian Civic Club movement is the oldest native Hawaiian community-based grassroots organization in Hawaii. Founded to bring communities together for the collective benefit of its people, that mission continues today through the work of hundreds of civic club members in Hawaii and across the nation.

As we all work together to provide needed resources, it is partnerships such as the Cooperating Collections collaboration of Hawaii Maoli and the Foundation Center of New York that will help to provide critical links to the scope of our larger national and international communities as well.