manoa heritage center

What manoa heritage center does

Mānoa Heritage Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Sam and Mary Cooke, operating a 3.5-acre living classroom in the uplands of Honolulu's Mānoa Valley on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The organization stewards Kūkaʻōʻō Heiau — the only intact and restored ancient Hawaiian temple in the greater ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī (restored in 1993 by master mason Billy Fields) — along with five botanical gardens featuring endangered and endemic Native Hawaiian and Polynesian-introduced plants, and Kūaliʻi, the Cookes' 1911 Tudor-style residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and slated for future public access as a historic house museum.

Core offerings divide into three programs: (1) free school tours held Tuesday through Friday for K-12 students from the Hawaiʻi Department of Education and partner schools, aligned with Hawaiʻi Common Core and State Standards, serving thousands of students annually through 100+ institutional partnerships; (2) docent-led public tours priced at $25 for adults, $15 for Hawaiʻi residents and National Trust members, $10 for Hawaiʻi educators, and free for students under 18, capped at 10 guests per time slot and offered on weekday afternoons plus select Saturday mornings; and (3) community workshops and events covering cultural traditions, sustainable island living, and arts, including the 'Drawing in Space' and 'Nature in Harmony' series plus the virtual Kahaukani Conversations. The 4,125-square-foot Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Visitor Education Hale, completed in Spring 2018 following a $5 million capital campaign, serves as the primary indoor education facility and holds LEED Gold certification with on-site photovoltaic generation and battery storage. The organization also publishes the award-winning Cooke Collection Art Book (launched December 2016; three regional book awards in 2016), with net proceeds supporting operations.

The revenue model is donation-driven and characteristic of small cultural non-profits: a five-tier annual giving circle ranging from $500 (ʻOhana Circle) to $10,000+ (Benefactor Circle), a Monthly Sustaining Stewards program, institutional grants from foundations including the Cooke Foundation and Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, the permanently invested Sam Cooke Endowed Fund, modest tour admissions, and book sales distributed through the website, UH Press, Honolulu Museum of Art, and several local retailers. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, relying on the 100+ school and organizational partner network, organic social (Instagram and Facebook), an email newsletter, earned media via the press room, and word-of-mouth from program participants — with no paid acquisition or sales motion evident in the data.

Name

manoa heritage center

Legal name

Mānoa Heritage Center

Website

https://manoaheritagecenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Mānoa Heritage Center is a Honolulu-based 501(c)(3) non-profit operating a 3.5-acre living classroom that stewards the only restored Hawaiian heiau in greater Waikīkī, Native Hawaiian botanical gardens, and the historic Kūaliʻi residence, serving K-12 schools, residents, and tourists through free and fee-based educational tours, workshops, and cultural programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Education and Preservation

NAICS

Historical Sites (71212), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage education
• Historical site preservation
• Place-based learning
• Botanical garden tours
• Nonprofit museum programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Honolulu

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: Primary revenue source including individual donations, corporate giving, and foundation grants. Annual giving circles: 'Ohana Circle ($500-$999), Century Circle ($1,000-$2,499), Guardian Circle ($2,500-$4,999), Patron Circle ($5,000-$9,999), Benefactor Circle ($10,000+). Monthly Sustaining Stewards program available.
2. Book Sales: Sale of 'Paintings, Prints, and Drawings of Hawaii from the Sam and Mary Cooke Collection' book with various shipping options. Net proceeds benefit Mānoa Heritage Center.
3. Tour Admissions: Admission fees for public tours: Adults $25, Hawaii Residents $15, National Trust Members $15, Hawaii Educators $10, Students under 18 FREE, Bicycle arrivals 50% off.
4. Sam Cooke Endowed Fund: Permanently invested endowed fund providing steady stream of income to support free school programs and preservation activities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Mānoa Heritage Center operates a 3.5-acre living classroom in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, providing docent-led school and public tours of Kūkaʻōʻō Heiau (the only intact and restored ancient Hawaiian temple in the greater ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī), Native Hawaiian botanical gardens, and the historic Kūaliʻi residence. The center delivers curriculum-aligned K-12 school programs, public cultural heritage tours, workshops, and community events, and sells a published art book on the Cooke Collection, with operations sustained by donations, grants, and tour admissions.

Product overview

Mānoa Heritage Center is a non-profit living classroom spanning 3.5 acres in Honolulu, Hawaii. The organization offers educational experiences centered around Kūkaʻōʻō Heiau (an ancient Hawaiian agricultural temple) and botanical gardens featuring Native Hawaiian and Polynesian-introduced plants. Core offerings include school tours (aligned with Hawaiʻi State Standards), public tours (limited to 10 guests), and community workshops. The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Visitor Education Hale serves as the primary educational facility. The center also publishes and sells the Cooke Collection Art Book documenting Hawaiian art from the 18th-20th centuries. MHC's campus includes historic Kūaliʻi (the Cooke family Tudor-style residence, future historic house museum) and features the LEED-certified Visitor Education Hale completed in 2018.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• School Tours

Quantifiable outcome

• Thousands of students visit annually through free school programs
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Bishop Museum: Honolulu-based cultural and natural heritage museum and educational institution stewarding Hawaiian and Pacific collections. Closest direct peer: comparable nonprofit cultural-heritage mission, K–12 education programming, paid public visitation, and historic-site stewardship on Oʻahu.
• ʻIolani Palace: Honolulu historic site and former royal residence operating as a museum with paid guided tours, school programs, and National Register listing. Direct peer: same city, same ticketed historic-site-and-education model, and overlapping donor base.
• Lyon Arboretum: University of Hawaiʻi-managed botanical garden and research/education site in Mānoa Valley featuring Native Hawaiian plants. Highly comparable on the botanical-garden and place-based education axes, with overlapping UH Mānoa talent pipeline.

Broad incumbents

• Honolulu Museum of Art: Largest general art museum in Hawaiʻi, with paid admission, K–12 education programs, and a museum store. Broad incumbent: larger footprint and broader collection, while MHC occupies a more focused Hawaiian cultural heritage niche.
• Polynesian Cultural Center: Oʻahu-based cultural attraction offering paid experiences and educational programming centered on Hawaiian and broader Polynesian heritage. Comparable in mission (cultural education + paid visitation) but operates at significantly larger commercial scale.

Regional players

• Pearl Harbor National Memorial (NPS): National Park Service historic site on Oʻahu offering paid tours and education programming. Comparable as a regulated historic site with ticketed public access and school group demand, but federally operated rather than nonprofit.
• Hawaiʻi State Art Museum (HiSAM): Hawaiʻi state government-operated art museum with public programs and educational programming. Overlaps on Hawaiian cultural programming and education audience; differs on governance model (state-run vs. nonprofit).

Others

• Waiʻanae Mountain Range / ahupuaʻa cultural interpretive sites: Other Hawaiian nonprofit and community-based cultural heritage interpretive sites operating heiau, loʻi, and ahupuaʻa programming. Thematically aligned with MHC's cultural preservation and place-based education mission, but at smaller scale and varied governance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/manoaheritagecenter
• Instagraminstagram.com/manoaheritagecenter

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about manoa heritage center