Hilton Foundation Los Angeles Impact & Strategy
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
HR&A helped the Hilton Foundation refine its Los Angeles strategy to maximize the impact of over $300 million in regional investments across early childhood development, foster youth, opportunity youth, and homelessness initiatives. Our comprehensive socioeconomic analysis, peer foundation research, and strategic facilitation positioned the Foundation to adopt a more coordinated place-based approach that enhances local impact.
The Hilton Foundation’s Strategy 25 committed substantial resources to Los Angeles but needed deeper understanding of local conditions and best practices to refine its approach. HR&A conducted comprehensive socioeconomic landscape analysis grounded in rigorous data work, review of local and countywide reports, and interviews with community-based organizations, foundations, and public agencies. This analysis identified the region’s most pressing socioeconomic challenges and surfaced emerging strategies to address them. We also interviewed five peer foundations with place-based strategies to highlight best practices and different investment models that could inform the Hilton Foundation’s approach.
In Phase 2, HR&A facilitated conversations and workshops with Foundation staff and board members to explore how a more coordinated vision could enhance local impact. These sessions translated analytical insights into actionable recommendations for the Foundation’s Los Angeles strategy. HR&A advised the Board on realizing the Foundation’s goals for Los Angeles, helping shape how this substantial philanthropic investment could be deployed most effectively to address critical needs across early childhood development, youth opportunity, and homelessness in the region.
