Hotel operator Hilton has announced a new charitable foundation to help mark the company’s 100th anniversary.

The Hilton Effect Foundation, launched in June 2019, will initially provide 15 grants to support communities around the world in areas such as aiding disaster recovery, youth support and water stewardship.

Chris Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, which operates more than 5,700 hotels around the world across 17 brands, and has more than 2,400 others under construction, said the foundation would help the company “do even more to positively change the world”.

The move builds on Hilton’s ongoing efforts such as its Travel with Purpose corporate responsibility strategy, founded in 2011, which sees the operator invest in local communities while fighting to reduce its carbon emissions and environmental footprint — part of its 2030 goals, aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Hilton’s other ongoing efforts include Random Acts of Hospitality, a grassroots initiative that helps employees drive positive change in their communities.

Other hotel giants making charitable waves include Marriott International and IHG, which launched its IHG Foundation in 2016. According to IHG, whose brands include InterContinental and Holiday Inn, its charity, whose focuses range from offering skills training to promoting environmental protection, “sets the foundations for stronger, healthier, more prosperous communities around the world”.

Marriott, the world’s largest hotel operator, has a longstanding partnership with children’s charity Unicef. Its Check Out for Children programme, launched in 1995, gathers funds from customers to help fund water, hygiene and sanitation projects supported by Unicef in Africa and the Middle East, while its Road to Awareness programme, launched in 2008, raises funds for Unicef projects through its employees.