Hilton Addresses Pandemic Relief

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation announced late last month the approval of grants totaling more than $76 million to 32 charitable organizations across the country and internationally. 

The board of the Westlake Village organization approved the third-quarter round of grantmaking on Oct. 26, awarding more than $11 million through the Foundation’s Equity Fund, which was established in 2020 to combat racism and other forms of bias and injustice, including gender, disability and sexuality. Grants made through the fund are for general operating support and capacity building to organizations led and governed by historically under-represented populations in the United States.

“The impact of the pandemic hit underserved communities the hardest, uncovering systemic barriers and shedding a light on the need to address the root causes of inequity,” Peter Laugharn, chief executive of the foundation, said in a statement. “We are proud to support the transformative work of these organizations and directly partner with communities to make our world a better place for all.”

Additional grants from the foundation were awarded to nonprofit and charitable organizations concentrating on efforts to improve early childhood development, support older youth as they transition from foster care, ensure opportunity for youth to career pathways, prevent homelessness, identify solutions for safe water and help integrate refugees into society. 

Awards ranged from $1 million to $5 million, with organizations worldwide receiving funds. Power of Nutrition received $3 million to test approaches to providing integrated parenting support like nutrition, responsive caregiving and cash grants in Malawi. Village Enterprise Fund received $2 million to improve refugees’ income and wellbeing in Ethiopia through integrating two tested models: the graduation approach and market systems development.

Funds were also awarded to address closer-to-home causes, including Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, which received $4.6 million to scale the HealthySteps holistic pediatric care model in Los Angeles County and advocate for improved local and national policies and financing to improve early childhood development outcomes. Westat Inc. received $1.7 million to serve as a strategy-level evaluation partner to the Homelessness Initiative in L.A. Child Trends Inc. received $1.9 million to serve as the strategy-level evaluation partner to the Foster Youth Initiative in Los Angeles, New York, and a new geography yet to be determined.

The foundation, established by late hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton, is one of the world’s largest, with $7.5 billion in assets. The foundation’s equity fund, established to combat bias, increased from $5 million in 2020 to $10 million in 2021. To date, the foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $2 billion, awarding $207 million worldwide in 2020.