At a glance
- Focus areas: Homelessness, early childhood development, foster youth, safe water and sanitation, disaster relief
- Typical grant size: Roughly $10,000 to several million dollars; recent 2025 grants have run $1 million–$1.5 million (hiltonfoundation.org; IRS Form 990-PF, July 2026)
- Geographic scope: National (US) for several initiatives, international for safe water and select global health work
- Accepts unsolicited applications? No public application for its core initiatives — program staff identify partners directly, though the foundation reviews online Letters of Inquiry for strategic fit (hiltonfoundation.org, July 2026)
- Deadlines/rounds: No standing deadline for core initiatives; the board approves grants quarterly (e.g., $52 million approved in Q2 2025 alone) (hiltonfoundation.org, July 2026)
- EIN: 94-3100217 (IRS Form 990-PF, July 2026)
- Annual giving: ~$287.7 million in grants (2024, 1,315 awards) (hiltonfoundation.org; IRS Form 990-PF, July 2026)
- Official source: hiltonfoundation.org
What Conrad N. Hilton Foundation funds
The Hilton Foundation organizes its giving around a defined set of strategic initiatives, each with its own theory of change and grantmaking approach. Core priority areas typically include:
- Chronic homelessness — housing-first and supportive services approaches, particularly in initiative-focused regions
- Early childhood development — programs supporting healthy development in a child’s earliest years, especially for vulnerable families
- Foster youth — improving outcomes and stability for young people in and transitioning out of foster care
- Safe water — access to safe drinking water and sanitation, largely in international and underserved US contexts
- Disaster relief — the Hilton Foundation has a long-standing disaster relief grants program supporting response and recovery efforts
Because Hilton’s model is initiative-driven, work outside these defined focus areas — even strong, well-run programs in adjacent human-services fields — is typically not a fit unless it maps directly onto one of the foundation’s active strategies. The foundation also administers the annual Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize — increased to $3 million for its 30th anniversary in 2025, and the world’s largest annual humanitarian award to a nonprofit — which runs on its own nomination process, separate from standard grantmaking (hiltonfoundation.org, July 2026).
How much you can apply for
Grant sizes at the Hilton Foundation vary by initiative, from smaller grants supporting pilot or capacity-building work (roughly $10,000) to large, multi-year commitments reaching several million dollars for organizations central to a given initiative’s strategy (hiltonfoundation.org; IRS Form 990-PF, July 2026). Many of the foundation’s most significant grants are multi-year and tied to long-term strategic partnerships within an initiative, rather than one-time project grants, though this varies. Given the strategic nature of the funding, it’s worth reviewing the specific initiative’s published strategy to understand both the funding range and the kind of organizational role (direct service, systems change, research) that initiative typically supports.
Who can apply (eligibility)
The Hilton Foundation funds 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, and for international work, equivalent registered nonprofit or NGO status in the relevant country (hiltonfoundation.org, July 2026). Eligibility is closely tied to fit with an active initiative — an organization’s mission needs to align clearly with homelessness, early childhood, foster youth, safe water, or disaster relief as the foundation currently defines those areas. Fiscal sponsorship policies and any minimum organizational budget or capacity thresholds should be confirmed on the foundation’s site, since these can vary by initiative.
Do they accept unsolicited applications?
Largely no — for its core program areas, the foundation does not run a public application process; grants go to organizations identified through the foundation’s own research and relationships within each focus area (hiltonfoundation.org, July 2026). Unlike foundations that run a standing open RFP, Hilton tends to set a strategy for each initiative first and then identify or invite the organizations best positioned to execute it. That said, the foundation does accept online Letters of Inquiry, which staff review for fit with current strategic priorities before inviting a full proposal — so it’s worth submitting one and checking the current status of each initiative directly rather than assuming every door is closed.
How to apply, step by step
- Identify which active initiative — homelessness, early childhood, foster youth, safe water, or disaster relief — most closely matches your organization’s work.
- Review that initiative’s published strategy on hiltonfoundation.org to understand current priorities, geographic focus, and the types of organizations it supports.
- Check for an inquiry or LOI mechanism. Some initiatives accept letters of inquiry from organizations that haven’t previously received funding; others operate by invitation only.
- If a pathway exists, submit a concise letter of inquiry outlining your organization’s fit with the initiative’s strategy and evidence of results to date.
- If invited to submit a full proposal, prepare detailed program, budget, and outcomes documentation aligned with that initiative’s specific metrics.
- If your work doesn’t map to a current initiative, monitor hiltonfoundation.org for new or evolving initiatives, since the foundation periodically updates its strategic focus areas.
What strong applications look like
Because Hilton’s grantmaking is strategy-first, the strongest applicants are the ones that can show precise alignment with a specific initiative’s theory of change, not just general excellence in the broader field. That means citing real outcome data — housing retention rates, developmental milestones reached, water access numbers, or youth stability metrics — tied to credible sources, rather than broad claims of impact. Applicants who can also demonstrate operational readiness to absorb a substantial, often multi-year grant, including sound financial management and clean Form 990 filings, present as lower-risk, higher-confidence partners. This is where grounded, citation-backed grant writing earns its keep: a proposal where every figure traces to a verifiable source is easier for a program officer to trust and defend internally.
Recent grants
Recent examples from 2025: $1.5 million to Mission Aviation Fellowship to sustain last-mile humanitarian air transport across six countries; $1 million to Angel Flight West to expand free air transportation for patients under the foundation’s New Horizons initiative; and $1 million to Start Network to support locally led emergency aid delivery. The foundation’s board approved $52 million in grants in the second quarter of 2025 alone (hiltonfoundation.org newsroom, July 2026).
When reviewing Hilton’s recent grants on Candid or ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, note which initiative each grant falls under, whether the recipient is a direct-service organization or a systems-level intermediary, and the typical grant duration — these patterns will tell you more about your realistic fit than the foundation’s overall giving total.
Official source and last updated
Primary source: hiltonfoundation.org. Financial details should be verified against the foundation’s most recent IRS Form 990-PF, available through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search or ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer. Last updated: July 21, 2026.
If Hilton’s initiative-driven model doesn’t fit your nonprofit right now, these funders work in related health and human-services space:
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