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Giving Opportunities

Why Your Gift Matters

Your support of Bishop Museum makes a powerful impact, directly fueling our mission to inspire, educate, and connect our community and visitors. By contributing, you help us celebrate and preserve the vibrant history, culture, and environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. Below are Bishop Museum’s current priorities where your contribution can make a difference. Choose the giving option that speaks to you, and know that your kōkua sustains our efforts to keep these stories alive for generations to come.

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Area of Greatest Need

Unrestricted donations are Bishop Museum’s top need, as these gifts provide critical operating support for the Museum. Your gift to the Area of Greatest Need will help us sustain our rare collections, engage students and the public in educational programs, and retain the talented scientists, cultural practitioners, and museum leaders we are fortunate to have on staff at Bishop Museum.

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Collections Care

Bishop Museum houses 10 collections, research, and publication departments spanning cultural resources and natural sciences. Together, Archaeology, Botany, Ethnology, Entomology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology, Malacology, Library & Archives, PCMB, and Vertebrate Zoology form the foundation of Bishop Museum. Your gift to the Knowledge Core can help sustain the Museum’s irreplaceable and unique collections, as well as ongoing research projects that perpetuate our natural and cultural heritage.

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Digitization

Bishop Museum holds more than half the world’s primary source materials related to Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, encompassing the vast cultural and biological diversity in the region. The 25 million items in our collections comprise historical photographs, works of art, audio recordings, books, artifacts, maps, field notes, manuscripts, and biological specimens, but with less than 10% currently available online, they are mostly inaccessible to the public. Your support of Digitization can help transform the care and sharing of digitized cultural heritage at Bishop Museum.

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Legacy Giving

Keep Bishop Museum thriving with your planned gift while taking advantage of numerous tax and financial benefits. Leave a legacy to be remembered by future generations.

Mahalo piha for your support of Bishop Museum! In addition to online donations, Bishop Museum is pleased to accept many types of gifts to suit your preferences.

  • Write a check – Please make checks payable to Bishop Museum, enclose a completed Donation Form, and mail to Bishop Museum Development Office.
  • Give through your Donor Advised Fund – Direct contributions to Bishop Museum using Federal Tax ID/EIN 99-0161980. Please consult your DAF administrator for additional instructions. Please note, DAFs cannot be used to purchase membership or event tickets that include benefits which are not tax-deductible.
  • Make a stock donation – You may use an electronic transfer through your broker to transfer specific securities to Bishop Museum. Please contact us for Bishop Museum’s broker and account information.
  • Direct a Qualified Charitable Distribution through your retirement account – Donors over 70.5-years-old can make tax-free donations through a Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from a pre-tax IRA. Direct contributions to Bishop Museum using Federal Tax ID/EIN 99-0161980 and mail to Bishop Museum Development Office. Please consult your retirement account administrator for additional instruction
  • Match your gift through your company – Many employers match charitable contributions made by their employees, retirees, and/or employee spouses. Submit your contribution for match, and you could double or even triple your impact. 

To donate stock, direct an IRA rollover, or make a gift of another asset, please contact the Development Office at 808.847.8281, or send an email to development@bishopmuseum.org. Your contributions help preserve the heritage of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific — mahalo!

Gift Planning

Keep Bishop Museum thriving with your planned gift while taking advantage of numerous tax and financial benefits. Leave a legacy to be remembered by future generations.

Candid 2025 Gold Seal of Transparency & Charity Navigator 4‑Star Rating

We are thrilled to announce that the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum has been awarded the Candid 2025 Gold Seal of Transparency and a 4‑star rating from Charity Navigator for 2025. These dual honors are a testament to our unwavering commitment to openness, accountability, fiscal responsibility, and the pursuit of excellence in all our endeavors.
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Charity Navigator Four-Star 2025 badge featuring four blue stars and the text "Charity Navigator Four-Star 2025.
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