Kamehameha Alumni and Coworkers Give Forward as Benefactors

Dawson Kaaua KSK’01 and Talia Ruth KSK’02 at Dawson’s going away party before he headed off to attend the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

When Dawson Kaaua KSK’01 moved back to Hawai‘i to work in Kamehameha Schools’ Financial Assets Division’s Investment Associates Program – a three-year pre-MBA rotational program designed to give young professionals the opportunity to be involved in the management of Kamehameha Schools' endowment – little did he know that he would learn a valuable lesson on giving forward.

“After coming back in 2008, I was surprised that only 2 percent out of the 25,000 Kamehameha alumni actually donated,” said Dawson, who is now pursuing a master of business administration at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. “That, and the fact that Kamehameha Schools only reaches 7 percent of all school-age Hawaiians was motivation to start our class scholarship.”

Dawson’s passion quickly caught on with fellow classmates, including Christine Hew, Leah Mills Freitas, Chauna Valdez, Rachel Nieto, ‘Umi Jensen, No‘eau Camarillo, Raine Arndt, and Wayne Coito.

The classmates utilized hard work and fundraising tools like white elephant sales, online auctions, and good old fashioned asking to grow their class of 2001 scholarship fund.

“You don’t need to take huge risks or have connections to raise money,” Dawson added. “There are a lot of risk-free tools to take advantage of. You just have to put in the hours and do it.”

The group leveraged their large class size to drive participation instead of focusing on big dollar donations, which garnered quick results.

“What we lack in large salaries, we more than made up in the number of able and willing bodies,” Dawson explained. “We always stressed the importance of giving what you can afford.”

The class’ success has amounted to more than $37,000 raised for their class fund. More impressive is the increase in class participation; from 3 percent in 2008 to 29 percent at the end of 2011.

Dawson’s motivation to continue Pauahi’s legacy has rubbed off on others like Talia Ruth KSK’02. Like Dawson, Talia came back to Hawai‘i to work in Kamehameha Schools’ Investment Associates Program after going to school overseas. Soon after starting in 2010, she quickly learned why Kamehameha alumni should give back.

“I always knew about Ke Ali‘i Pauahi Foundation, but it wasn’t until I met Dawson that I realized we could give back through scholarships,” said Talia, who, after receiving her bachelor’s in economics in 2006 from Stanford University, went on to receive her master’s in economics and management science in 2010 from Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin in Germany.

“We both worked in Kamehameha Schools’ Financial Assets Division, and witnessed firsthand how hard it was to grow the school’s endowment, so I knew it was important to start our class scholarship to help extend Pauahi’s legacy to other Hawaiians.”

After initiating the class of 2002 scholarship, Talia often collaborated with Dawson on the fundraising front. In fact, this past summer, the class of 2001 managed the Foundation’s first ever online auction, which raised more than $10,000. Talia was able to shadow Dawson throughout the process, and gain valuable insight which she recently used for the Foundation’s holiday auction and will use for the second annual online auction in June 2012 during Kamehameha Schools’ Alumni Week.

There are plans to open the auction to other classes to shadow and take advantage of this great fundraising tool.

“Regardless of our age or financial status, we are all beneficiaries of Pauahi’s generosity and legacy,” Dawson added. “We need to start thinking of ourselves as benefactors and living our lives like Pauahi by giving back.” 

For more information on how you can establish a class scholarship, please call (808) 534-3966 or e-mail info@pauahi.org.