What is the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation doing globally?  Conrad Hilton was one of 7 children born to a Norwegian immigrant father and German-American mother, and was the founder of the international Hilton hotel chain. He directed that his wealth be eternally reinvested to alleviate human suffering throughout the world, and when he died in 1979, left virtually all of his fortune to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which was founded in 1944.

Barron Hilton (son of Conrad, and Paris Hilton’s paternal grandfather) is currently the Chairman of the Foundation and has directed that 97% of his entire net worth, estimated at over $2-billion, be donated to the foundation at the time of his passing.

More than 50% of its grants annually are directed to international initiatives, including water and sanitation systems for villagers in developing countries, blindness prevention and treatment, and other good causes. Since its inception, more than $560 million has been committed to charitable work around the world.

In the USA, the Foundation supports programs for housing for the homeless, drug abuse prevention, early childhood education for children with disabilities, and other programs.

A special emphasis of the Foundation is supporting health care, education and social service projects of Roman Catholic Sisters around the world through the Conrad N. Hilton Fund for Sisters. Projects must directly serve the economically disadvantaged. The Sisters Fund also awards emergency grants in response to natural disasters and political crises.

Grants of the Sisters Fund include projects for:
- poultry raising projects in Uganda
- sewing machine grants in Vietnam for vocational training
- HIV/AIDS programs in Haiti and also in Africa and Asia
- communication projects in Eastern Europe.
- sustainable agricultural projects in Togo, West Africa
- requests for food, clothing, school supplies and medical equipment are often funded.

Since its founding in 1986, the Sisters Fund has awarded over 3,600 grants totalling more than $38 million.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is also the chief architect of the West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI) to increase access to safe water in Ghana, Mali and Niger. By 2008, WAWI expects to provide a minimum of 825 wet wells with hand pumps reaching more than half a million people; 100 alternative water systems; 9,000 household and public latrines; and constructing maintenance and repair centers.  Partners and grantees of Hilton funding in this project include World Vision, UNICEF, Helen Keller Worldwide, The Carter Center, USAID and others.

Another similar project is the Alternativas y Procesos de Participacion Social for the development of potable water sources in the semi-arid Mixteca region of southern Mexico. To date, more than 100 towns and villages and more than 100,000 residents are benefiting from the water projects.

To fight global blindness, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation supports the Perkins School for the Blind that focuses on program development for the blind, including work in 44 countries in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Other programs support trachoma research and program activities in 15 countries in Africa and Asia, employee training for the visually impaired, and supports the publishing of the Journal of Community Eye Health, which is valuable to eye health workers in developing countries.

The Foundation does not encourage unsolicited funding requests, but information on all their activities can be found on their website.