Local communities hold the deepest understanding of the challenges they face, but often lack the resources to tackle them and implement solutions. Locally-led development provides community-based organizations with direct funding streams, helping build capacity and local leadership that can meet context-specific needs more flexibly and efficiently.
At the Hilton Foundation, we believe close partnerships with local communities and civil society lead to more equitable and sustained outcomes. That’s why we are committed to allocating at least 25% of our international grantmaking to local organizations. Through direct grants, we foster community-led solutions and initiatives, overcoming systemic barriers and boosting impact.
Our locally-led development approach supports impactful projects grounded in unique local contexts, with a focus on three strategic pillars:
We partner with Global South leaders and bilateral agencies to strengthen our support for localized development funding, priorities and initiatives.
We advocate for increased philanthropic commitment to locally-led development.
We invest in research and development to generate and disseminate evidence showing how local resourcing leads to more impactful and sustained outcomes.
Increasing direct funding to local organizations is a shared responsibility and a global priority. To that end, the Hilton Foundation collaborates with philanthropic peers and other partners to strengthen locally-led development worldwide. Together, we can enhance cooperation between donors and impacted communities, creating an inclusive approach to philanthropy that values local knowledge and perspectives, embraces lived experience, and catalyzes local leadership and enduring change.
Learn more about the importance of locally-led development: