What Manilatown Heritage Foundation does

Manilatown Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1994 and headquartered at the International Hotel Manilatown Center, 868 Kearny Street, San Francisco. The organization is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of San Francisco's Manilatown community and the legacy of the 1977 International Hotel Eviction. It serves the Filipino-American community, K-12 and college students and educators, and the broader Bay Area public through three programming pillars: Manilatown Arts (community commemorations, performances, and exhibitions), Manilatown Archives (stewardship of artifacts, media, documentation, and oral histories), and Manilatown Academy (walking tours, language courses, ancestral workshops, and annual commemorations).

The organization's product surface consists of in-person and virtual programming rather than packaged software. Core "products" include the I-Hotel Historic Walking Tour (donation-based, $10-$40 per participant with documentary screening), Ilokano language and culture courses ($150-$300 per course, sold via EventBrite with bundle pricing), ancestral Philippine music/dance/craft workshops (kulintang, Kalinga percussion, Singkil dance, Inabel weaving), the monthly Club Mandalay performance series, the annual I-Hotel Commemoration, and the Manilatown Jazz Ensemble and Manilatown Ancestral Ensemble performances. The underlying "technology" is a physical gallery and community center open Wednesdays-Sundays 1-6pm, supplemented by virtual delivery of select language courses and an EventBrite-driven registration layer.

The business model is donation- and grant-dependent. The organization is funded primarily through individual donations (accepted via PayPal, mail, and in-person; EIN 94-3288180) and institutional grants from a diversified base including the California Arts Council, Andrew Mellon Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, Asian Pacific Fund, James Irvine Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Gerbode Foundation, Creative Work Fund, Center for Cultural Power, and San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Earned income is a minor supplementary stream from walking tour donations and course/workshop fees. Governance is provided by a Board of Directors (President Anthony Robles, Treasurer Desu Sorro, Secretary Eleanore Fernandez, Member Carmen Choy), with CEO Caroline Cabading handling daily operations.

Name

Manilatown Heritage Foundation

Legal name

Manilatown Heritage Foundation

Website

https://manilatown.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Manilatown Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that preserves Filipino-American history through the International Hotel Manilatown Center in San Francisco, offering cultural programming, archival stewardship, and educational workshops for the community and broader public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Cultural Heritage Services

NAICS

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Historical Sites (712120), Museums (71211)

akta.pro primary industry

Indigenous, Ethnic & Folk Arts/Heritage Organizations (BPAGAHAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI), Cultural Centers & Multidisciplinary Arts Institutions (THAJADAJ)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage preservation
• Community arts programming
• Historic walking tours
• Ancestral arts workshops
• Filipino-American education

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The organization operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that relies primarily on donations from individuals, community members, and supporters. Donations are accepted via PayPal, mail, and in-person. The Tax ID is 94-3288180.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Manilatown Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates the International Hotel Manilatown Center in San Francisco, providing cultural preservation, educational programs, and community arts programming centered on the 1977 International Hotel Eviction and the history of San Francisco's Manilatown Filipino-American community. Its offerings span three pillars — Manilatown Arts, Manilatown Archives, and Manilatown Academy — delivered through exhibits, walking tours, ancestral workshops (music, dance, language, crafts), performances, language courses, and an annual commemoration event.

Product overview

Manilatown Heritage Foundation operates as a nonprofit cultural organization offering programs through three primary pillars: Manilatown Arts, Manilatown Archives, and Manilatown Academy. The organization manages the International Hotel Manilatown Center as both a museum honoring the I-Hotel Eviction legacy and a community gathering space. Programming includes educational walking tours, ancestral Philippine cultural workshops (kulintang, dance, language, crafts), visual art exhibitions, musical performances via Club Mandalay, and the annual I-Hotel Commemoration event. The Manilatown Archive preserves artifacts, oral histories, and documentation of San Francisco's historic Filipino-American community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• International Hotel Manilatown Center: The physical community center and gallery located at 868 Kearny Street, San Francisco, which serves as the foundation's headquarters, museum, and programming venue.
• Manilatown Arts
• Manilatown Archives
• Manilatown Academy
• Manilatown Jazz Ensemble
• Manilatown Ancestral Ensemble
• Club Mandalay

Products and services

• International Hotel Manilatown Center Physical gallery and community center serving as both a museum honoring the I-Hotel Eviction and Historic Manilatown legacies and a community gathering space offering programming relevant to today's community. Open to the public Wednesdays-Sundays 1-6pm with free admission.
• I-Hotel Historic Walking Tour Guided tour of the Manilatown neighborhood and International Hotel site for K-12 students, college students, adults, organizations, and groups. Includes screening of the documentary 'The Fall of the I-Hotel' and a Q&A session. Pricing is donation-based: $40 Adults, $20 Students, $10 Elders over 62 / Youth under 18.
• Manilatown Ancestral Workshops Hands-on pre-colonial Philippine music, dance, crafts, language, and culture workshops and classes offered to community members, including instruction in kulintang, Kalinga percussion, Singkil dance, Ilokano language, and Inabel weaving. Includes Manilatown Ancestral Communities of Practice programming.
• Ilokano: Foundations Online Course Eight-week online course in Ilokano language foundations meeting weekly on Tuesdays from 7pm to 8:30pm PDT. Priced at $200 for the 8-week course.
• Conversational Ilokano for Heritage Learners Twelve-week Ilokano language course meeting twice weekly, providing 48 hours of conversational Ilokano instruction for heritage learners. Priced at $300; bundle with Ilokano Culture course available at $400 total.
• Ilokano Culture Virtual Course

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Alliance for California Traditional ArtistscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACTA supports traditional arts programming. Enables the Manilatown Ancestral pre-colonial Philippine music and dance workshops.
• San Francisco Maritime National Historical ParkmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the 'Flipping the Boat' project. Collaboration includes lectures at Maritime Museum, boat-building workshops, and programs exploring Filipino-American maritime connections.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• SOMA Pilipinas: San Francisco Filipino cultural heritage district initiative, with overlapping advisory board members and shared mission around Filipino-American identity in San Francisco.
• Bindlestiff Studio: San Francisco Filipino-American performing arts venue and presenter. Comparable as a Filipino-American cultural nonprofit in San Francisco producing community-focused arts programming.
• Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation: Preserves the history of Asian immigration at a historic California site, operating a museum, walking tours, and educational programming. Directly comparable as a heritage nonprofit built around a specific historic site tied to Asian-American experience.
• Filipino American National Historical Society: National organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and disseminating Filipino-American history. Directly comparable mission around Filipino-American heritage preservation and education.
• Chinese Historical Society of America: San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) preserving Chinese-American heritage through a museum, archives, and educational programming. Closely comparable as an ethnic-heritage cultural institution in the same city, operating a physical museum and community-anchored educational programs.
• Kearny Street Workshop: San Francisco-based Asian American arts nonprofit producing multidisciplinary programming, exhibitions, and community arts initiatives. Comparable as a Bay Area AAPI cultural nonprofit with similar funding profile.

Broad incumbents

• Japanese American National Museum: Larger AAPI heritage museum in Los Angeles with national reach, operating exhibitions, archives, and educational programs. Comparable in mission and programming model, though at significantly greater scale and resources.
• Museum of the African Diaspora: San Francisco-based cultural heritage museum focused on African diaspora. Comparable as a San Francisco ethnic-heritage museum with a similar community-education programming model and donor base.
• Asian Art Museum: Major San Francisco-based museum with Asian art and cultural programming. Comparable as a Bay Area Asian cultural institution, though substantially larger in scope and operating budget.
• Alliance for California Traditional Arts: California state folk and traditional arts organization that funds ethnic and indigenous cultural practitioners. Comparable as a funder/peer in the traditional Filipino arts space the foundation operates in (e.g., Manilatown Ancestral workshops).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ihmanilatown

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Manilatown Heritage Foundation