Women's Fund of Hawai‘i's 2026 Honoree

This year, we are pleased to honor Leela Bilmes Goldstein, PhD. Leela has always had a passion for community service and philanthropy working with many varied nonprofit groups throughout the years. She joined Women's Fund of Hawai'i in 2014 as our Development Director and quickly became our Executive Director continuing with us through 2022. During her tenure she doubled our Women's Fund of Hawai'i Endowment, increased threefold the amount of grants we are able to provide annually, created strategic partnerships and commissioned the first "Status of Women in Hawai'i" report specific to the islands. She originated Girls Talk Back, a summer leadership and mentoring program, which has since gone on to achieve its own nonprofit status. Her work has brought more visibility to women and girls' issues, women's philanthropy, the grants process and the need for Women's Fund of Hawai'i's specific mission of empowering women and girls.