Helping Leaders Lead

When Melissa Miyashiro was named executive director of climate and clean energy nonprofit Blue Planet Foundation in 2021, she felt somewhat daunted. She had been with the organization for almost a decade, but this would be her first time taking on the lead role.

“Nonprofit leadership can be so all-encompassing,” she says. “Many people come to the job because they’re subject-matter experts on a nonprofit’s mission. But, especially at a smaller organization, a nonprofit CEO also has to be an HR professional, and a professional fundraiser, and have an understanding of budget and finance. There are all these layers to the role that can make it feel overwhelming.”

That’s why she was excited to apply to and be accepted into the first cohort of the Hawai‘i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations’ (HANO’s) Fellows program, in 2022. HANO Fellows is a multi-month cohort program for nonprofit executives designed to support leadership development, share nonprofit management principles, and foster peer relationships.

Each year, the program brings together 15 emerging nonprofit directors, who represent diverse missions and perspectives, but have a shared dedication to serving the people and communities of Hawai‘i.

Miyashiro says the Fellows program taught her skills that directly helped her lead Blue Planet Foundation effectively.

“The curriculum was very comprehensive,” she says. “There were sessions on financial management and budgeting and accounting best practices. There were sessions around fundraising and development work. There were even sessions around how to best manage a nonprofit board of directors, which is a very specific thing with a lot of nuances. I really felt like the people in my cohort spoke my language and understood the challenges I was experiencing.”

After her program wrapped up, she says she stayed in touch with the other members of her cohort, which made for a valuable support network. And, in 2024, Miyashiro got the opportunity to deepen her relationship with HANO, this time as its new CEO.

Now that she oversees the HANO Fellows program, Miyashiro is as big a believer in the cohort approach as ever, particularly given the current situation in which federal funding is being cut across the nonprofit sector.

“In the moment that we’re in now, the need for cross-sector collaboration and coordination among Hawai‘i’s community-based organizations has never been greater,” she says. “I’m so glad we’re able to support nonprofit leaders in this time, through the Fellows program.”

The track record of the first three Fellows cohorts speaks to how effective the program has been: Of the 45 leaders who have come through the HANO Fellows program since 2022, 37 (82 percent) remain in their leadership positions within their same organizations. Additionally, 93 percent of participants are continuing to work in the nonprofit sector, and 95 percent remain in Hawai‘i.

The current, fourth cohort began meeting in April 2025, and will continue through this November. Applications for the next cohort will open in February 2026.

Miyashiro says, “Entering a new leadership role is always challenging. It can be lonely. There really is a need for peer support, to help build our leadership capacity here in Hawai‘i, and we’ll continue to evolve the Fellows program to meet the needs of our new leaders.”

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation is proud to support the HANO Fellows Program. To learn more, visit hanofellows.org.