Founded | 1944 |
---|---|
Founder | Conrad Hilton |
Type | Private foundation (IRS status): 501(c)(3) |
Purpose | Improving the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage. |
Location | |
Method | Endowment |
Key people | Linda Hilton, chairman of the board Peter Laugharn, president and CEO |
Endowment | $7.2 billion USD [1] |
Website | www |
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an American non-profit charitable foundation, established in 1944 by hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton. It remained relatively small until his death on January 3, 1979, when it was named the principal beneficiary of his estate. In 2007, Conrad's son, Barron Hilton announced that he would leave about 97% of his fortune [2] to a charitable remainder unitrust which names the foundation as the remainder beneficiary. [2] [3]
The foundation's assets, as of September 2019, were approximately $2.9 billion and had increased to $6.3 billion due to Barron Hilton's passing. [4] Since inception, the foundation has awarded more than $1.7 billion in grants. Currently more than 50% supports international charitable projects. [5] According to the OECD, the foundation's financing for 2019 development decreased by 11% to US$42.3 million. [6]
The foundation's mission is derived from the last will and testament of Conrad Hilton that directs the organization to "relieve the suffering, the distressed, and the destitute." [7] The foundation invests in seven program areas: Catholic sisters, disaster relief and recovery, foster youth, homelessness, hospitality workforce development, safe water, and young children affected by HIV and AIDS. The foundation also supports organizations in four transitioning program areas: avoidable blindness, Catholic education, multiple sclerosis and substance use prevention. [8]
The Hilton Foundation Catholic Sisters program is focused on recognizing Catholic sisters as leaders in the human development field by supporting organizations and congregations in the United States and Africa.
The Disaster Relief and Recovery program supports communities to prepare for disasters and provide long-lasting solution towards long-term recovery.
This program works with nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles and New York to provide assistance to transition age youth ages 16–24 as they age out of the foster care system.
The foundation partners with organizations in Los Angeles County to build permanent supportive housing for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.
This program area works with organizations in New Orleans to provide pathways for young people towards a career in the hospitality industry.
Working with international nonprofits and government agencies in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Uganda to build water systems.
The program focuses on early childhood development globally and partners with international and local NGOs working in HIV prevalent communities in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
In 2018, the Hilton Foundation announced it would transition out of four program areas (Avoidable Blindness, Catholic Education, Multiple Sclerosis, and Substance Use Prevention) over two to five years. The foundation committed to "leave the field with minimal disruption" and "capture knowledge from our time in these areas to propel future innovations and solutions." [9]
The Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize is awarded annually by the foundation. It was inaugurated in 1996 and is the largest humanitarian award in the world. Its annual award of USD1.5 million was increased in 2015 to 2 million to commemorate its 20th Hilton Humanitarian Prize laureate, Landesa. [10]
Conrad Hilton's granddaughter, Hawley Hilton McAuliffe, became chair of the board January 2021, superseding Steven M. Hilton, who was the chairman of the organization for most of its existence. He started working at the foundation in 1983 and served as its CEO from 2005 to 2015. [19] Hilton retired as president and CEO, and was succeeded by Peter Laugharn. [20] [21] In his retirement announcement, Hilton said, “When I joined the Hilton Foundation in 1983, I couldn’t imagine the path that lay ahead. At that time, a handful of staff guided about $6 million in grants annually. Fast forward to today, and we have grown to a staff of over 50 and have awarded over a billion dollars in grants to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people around the world.” [22] Peter Laugharn began his tenure as president and CEO on January 1, 2016. [23]
As of May 22, 2021 [24]
Conrad Nicholson Hilton was an American hotel tycoon and politician who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disillusioned with the "inside deals" of politics. In 1919, he purchased his first hotel, the Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, for US$40,000 and subsequently capitalized on the oil boom. The rooms were rented out in eight-hour shifts. He continued to buy and sell hotels, and eventually established the world's first international hotel chain. When he died in 1979, he left the bulk of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
William Barron Hilton was an American business magnate, philanthropist and sportsman. The second son and successor of hotelier Conrad Hilton, he was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation and chairman emeritus of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Hilton, a notable pilot and outdoorsman, was also a founder of the American Football League as the original owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, and helped forge the merger with the National Football League that created the Super Bowl. Like his father before him, he pledged 97 percent of his wealth to the humanitarian work of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. At the time, the gift was projected to increase the foundation's endowment from $2.9 billion to $6.3 billion, and will make his estate the organization's most significant donor.
Heifer International is a global nonprofit working to eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development. Heifer International distributes animals, along with agricultural and value-based training, to families in need around the world as a means of providing self-sufficiency. Recipients must agree to "pass on the gift" by donating animal offspring, as well as sharing the skills and knowledge of animal husbandry and agricultural training with other impoverished families in the community. The organization receives financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BlackRock, Cargill, Mastercard Foundation, Walmart and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Casa Alianza is an international non-profit organization and the Latin American branch of Covenant House. It is a non-governmental organization (NGO) providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless and runaway youth.
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948.
Molly Melching is the founder and Creative Director of the Tostan Community Empowerment Program (CEP). Tostan is a non-governmental organization (NGO) headquartered in Dakar, Senegal whose mission is to empower African communities to bring about sustainable development and positive social transformation based on respect for human rights. Her website, Tostan.org, states "Tostan implements a holistic, three-year empowering education program in African national languages that has engaged over 3,500 rural communities in eight African countries on themes of democracy, human rights, health, literacy, and project management skills". These themes include the abandonment of female genital cutting, the abolishment of child/forced marriage, and female empowerment in leadership positions such as leadership positions in countries across West and East Africa.
ICDDR,B is an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dedicated to saving lives through research and treatment, ICDDR,B addresses some of the most critical health concerns facing the world today, ranging from improving neonatal survival to HIV/AIDS. In collaboration with academic and research institutions worldwide, ICDDR,B conducts research, training and extension activities, as well as programme-based initiatives, to develop and share knowledge for global lifesaving solutions.
CAMFED is an international non-governmental, non-profit organization founded in 1993 whose mission is to eradicate poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women. CAMFED programs operate in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi.
The Hilton family is an American family that originally comes from Kløfta, Norway, and spans over four generations from New York City and Los Angeles. The family members hold varying degrees of power, wealth and status as socialites in the United States. They are widely known for the Hilton Hotels & Resorts Group which was established by Conrad Hilton in 1919 when he bought his first hotel.
Roy L. Prosterman is Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Washington and the founder of the Rural Development Institute (RDI), which changed its name to Landesa in January 2011. He is also active in the fields of land reform, rural development, and foreign aid. He has provided advice and conducted research in more than 40 countries in Asia, the former Soviet Union, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Prosterman has received many awards and distinctions, the 2003 Gleitsman International Activist Award, a Schwab Foundation Outstanding Global Social Entrepreneur and more recently, the inaugural 2006 Henry R. Kravis Prize in Nonprofit Leadership where he was lauded as "Champion for the World's Poor". He has also been nominated for The World Food Prize, Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, and Alcan Prize for Sustainability. Prosterman is a frequent guest speaker and presenter at world forums on poverty alleviation and is a frequent published author in nonfiction and fiction.
Landesa Rural Development Institute is a nonprofit organization that works with governments and local organizations to obtain legal land rights for poor families. Since 1967, Landesa has helped more than 180 million poor families in 50 countries gain legal control over their land.
The Task Force for Global Health is an international, nonprofit organization that works to improve health of people most in need, primarily in developing countries. Founded in 1984 by global health pioneer Dr. William Foege, The Task Force consists of eight programs focused on neglected tropical diseases, vaccines, field epidemiology, public health informatics, and health workforce development. Those programs include the African Health Workforce Project, the Center for Vaccine Equity, Children Without Worms, International Trachoma Initiative, Mectizan Donation Program, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center, Public Health Informatics Institute, and TEPHINET. The Task Force works in partnership with ministries of health and hundreds of organizations, including major pharmaceutical companies that donate billions of dollars annually in essential medicines. Major funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC, WHO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Sightsavers, Pfizer, Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline. The Task Force is affiliated with Emory University, headquartered in Decatur, Georgia, a town in metro Atlanta, and has regional offices in Guatemala and Ethiopia. The Task Force currently supports work in 154 countries.
Justin Hawley McAuliffe is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the grandson of Barron Hilton and the great-grandson of Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels. He is the founder and CEO of Acceleron Digital, a digital marketing agency.
Bloomberg Philanthropies is a philanthropic organization that encompasses all of the charitable giving of founder Michael R. Bloomberg. Headquartered in New York City, Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses its resources on five areas: the environment, public health, the arts, government innovation and education. According to the Foundation Center, Bloomberg Philanthropies was the 10th largest foundation in the United States in 2015, the last year for which data was available. Bloomberg has pledged to donate the majority of his wealth, currently estimated at more than $54 billion. Patti Harris is the CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Steven Michael Hilton is an American philanthropist. He is the son of hotel magnate Barron Hilton, and grandson of Conrad Hilton who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. Steven Hilton is the chairman of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a humanitarian charity working to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the world. He served as president and CEO of the foundation prior to his retirement in 2015, since which he has remained chairman. During his tenure, annual grants have grown from a total of $6 million to $100 million a year, providing more than $1.4 billion to nonprofit organizations.
The US $1,000,000 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity is a global humanitarian award recognizing individuals for humanitarian work. It is awarded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian genocide.
Peter Laugharn is the current president and chief executive officer of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. He previously served as the executive director of the Firelight Foundation and the executive director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation. A graduate of Stanford University, Georgetown University and with a Ph.D. in education from the University of London, Laugharn began his career volunteering for the Peace Corps and later worked for Save the Children in West Africa.
Philanthropies, formerly LDS Philanthropies, is a department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is responsible for facilitating donations to humanitarian and educational initiatives. The department works under the direction of the church's Presiding Bishop. The most widely known educational projects are the operation of church-owned schools, such as Brigham Young University (BYU). Humanitarian funds are given to Latter-day Saint Charities which sponsors and organizes relief efforts. In 2019, the church reported over 3,000 community-based projects with an excess of 2,000 partners, in locations around the world. A 2020 statistic reported a total of $2.3 billion that had been donated over Philanthropies' existence.
Lucy Lake OBE is a leader in the field of female education and Chief Executive of CAMFED.