Development Co‑operation Profiles: Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
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The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was established in 1944 by the international hotelier Conrad N. Hilton. Its work primarily focuses on Africa, South America and the United States.
This foundation aims to assist people living in poverty and facing disadvantages worldwide. It concentrates on promoting healthy early childhood development, supporting sustainable livelihoods for youth, helping young people transitioning out of foster care, improving access to housing and services for those experiencing homelessness, finding solutions for safe water access, and supporting the work of Catholic sisters. Each year, after being selected by an independent international jury, the foundation also awards the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize of USD 2.5 million to an organisation making significant efforts to reduce human suffering.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation provided USD 114.1 million for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents a decrease of 45.1% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s gross disbursements.
In 2023, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 94.2 million) and universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 11.2 million).
In 2023, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation provided USD 2.6 million to the multilateral system, representing 2.3% of its total development finance. All of this was earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes. The entirety of these multilateral contributions was channelled through United Nations (UN) funds and programmes.
The UN system received USD 2.6 million from Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 2023, all to UNICEF.
See the section on Geographic and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 94.2 million of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 34.4% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, only a minor share (2.3 %) was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 80.3% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 86% to 82.6%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. USD 86.7 million was allocated to Africa and USD 20.5 million to Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting respectively for 76% and 18% of gross bilateral development finance.
In 2023, 76.6% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana.
Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received, respectively, USD 50.1 million (43.9%) and USD 400 thousand (0.3%) of Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2023. Conrad N. Hilton Foundation allocated the highest share (43.9%) of its bilateral development finance to least developed countries in 2023, followed by lower middle-income countries (28%), noting that USD 12.4 million (10.9%) was unallocated by income group.
Furthermore, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation allocated USD 31.7 million of its development finance to landlocked developing countries in 2023, and USD 1.9 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2023. The main SIDS recipient is Haiti.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 66.2 million in 2023, representing 58.1% of Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extreme fragility received a sum of USD 5.1 million.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s largest allocations went to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 86% of bilateral commitments (USD 72.5 million). Bilateral contributions allocated to production sectors amounted to USD 3.1 million. Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 6.1 million.
In 2023, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support to SDG 5 (gender equality) amounted to USD 20.7 million.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://www.hiltonfoundation.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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