OVERVIEW: The Walmart Foundation invests in creating opportunity, enhancing sustainability and strengthening community in the areas served by its parent company. Its global grantmaking for disasters focuses on strengthening disaster response and resiliency infrastructure, building capacity in the field, and bringing leaders together to share best practices. It focuses its public health related giving on food security, hunger relief, and healthy eating.
IP TAKE: The Walmart Foundation admits that its grantmaking is a “highly competitive” process. Grantseekers should make certain that their letters of inquiry align well into the foundation’s funding priorities. While international disaster relief aid is available to large organizations, the foundation predominately gives to U.S. organizations. The foundation does award grants to grassroots organizations, but they may have a more difficult time getting noticed.
Read through the foundation’s various programs closely since some are accessible, while others are not — and details change often. A bureaucratic funder, it takes time to navigate and receive grants here. For now, only its local giving is accessible, while other areas of funding require more hoops.
PROFILE: The Walmart Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Walmart Corporation. It works both nationally and locally to “make a positive impact in the communities we serve” by providing grants to “thousands of organizations that share our mission” and “inspiring volunteer efforts of Walmart associates.” The Walmart Foundation operates at the local, national, and international level with program areas in Opportunity, Sustainability, and Community.
The foundation's grantmaking programs are based on scale, and are divided into National, State and Community Giving:
National Giving — Grants of $250,000 and above to organizations working across several states at least. Applications begin with a Letter of Inquiry, and full applications may only be submitted upon invitation.
State Giving — Grants of $25,000 to $200,000 (average of $40,000) to organizations working within individual states. These grants are due July through September depending on the state (i.e., in the foundation’s Cycle 3 or 4).
Community Giving — Grants of $250 to $2,500 to organizations working in communities served by a Walmart store. Applications are due at the end of the calendar year.
Grants for Humanitarian Relief
The Walmart Foundation gives many grants, and a fair number of those grants are for humanitarian relief funding. Grants are awarded through the foundation’s International Giving program, which also prioritizes giving to women’s economic empowerment, hunger and nutrition, and environmental sustainability.
Walmart’s disaster-related giving is somewhat ad hoc and its International Giving program does not accept unsolicited proposals. The foundation awards global grants only in the areas in which the company operates and those grants are managed via local giving programs. Grantseekers can reasonably expect the foundation’s global disaster grantmaking to have much of the same focus as Walmart’s U.S.-based giving, which supports funding to strengthen disaster response and resiliency infrastructure, build capacity in the field, and bring leaders together to share best practices. The foundation gives out larger contributions in the form of in-kind donations, such as food and medical supplies.
Grants for Women and Economic Opportunity
Walmart’s Opportunity program area seeks to “increase inclusive opportunity throughout retail and related sectors, as well as in supply chains, so that people can help build a better life for themselves and their families.” The sub-programs in this area are Retail Opportunity, a “five-year, $100 million philanthropic effort” that supports “research and insights on best practices to build mobility in retail and adjacent sectors” and “effective and innovative approaches to training and advancement,” and Market Access, which works in Mexico, Central America, and India to “remove barriers to market access for smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs, so they can improve their livelihood.”
Walmart also supports work and employment issues through its Sustainability and Community program areas. Worker Dignity grants serve to “strengthen the demand for responsible labor practices, invest in data and transparency, enhance worker and community voices and support strong policy and regulation” throughout Walmart’s supply chain. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion grants address “systemic inequities of underrepresented groups,” particularly “barriers that prevent them from overcoming social and environmental challenges in the communities where they live and work.”
A subprogram of this giving area focuses on Women’s Dignity, which focuses on women’s economic empowerment.
Grants for Diseases
Walmart’s National Giving Program gives broadly to a range of disease-related national organizations such as the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, and the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association. The foundation’s Community grant program may fund disease-related initiatives as part of its Health and Human Services focus area, which supports services such as “medical screening, treatment, social services, or shelters for low income individuals and families.”
Grants for Public Health
The Walmart Foundation has three main grantmaking programs: Opportunity, Sustainability, and Community. However, these focus areas primarily govern its State and Community Giving programs, and in the past the foundation has supported other organizations that promote public health, such as the American Heart Association, through its National Giving program. Furthermore, the foundation says explicitly that it will consider proposals that fall outside of its focus areas in the State and Community programs, especially if they address the "unmet needs of underserved low-income populations." The State Giving page specifically mentions access to healthcare as an example of this.
Grants for Higher Education
Walmart supports higher education through its creating opportunity and strengthening community initiatives. The opportunity program names as a sub-initiative building effective and innovative approaches to training and advancement and has partnered with community and four-year colleges to develop and implement career advancement and credentialing programs for entry-level workers. Walmart’s strengthening community program names diversity equity and inclusion as one of its priorities and has invested in job training and college access programs aimed at minority students.
Grants for Criminal Justice and Racial Equity
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed $100 million over five years through Walmart.org's Center for Racial Equity. The center will particularly focus on eradicating systematic disparities experienced by Black and African American communities in the United States. The center seeks to complement and extend the societal impact of Walmart business initiatives to advance racial equity within four focus areas: finance, health, education and criminal justice. The work of the center extends the overarching philanthropic work of Walmart.org, which seeks to embed equity into its investment portfolios. Past grantees in this giving area include the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), while grants seekers can read through previous grantees to learn more about what kinds of organizations Walmart will fund.
At the time of this writing, it’s unclear how long Walmart will engage funding for criminal justice or racial equity beyond its projected five year initiative, and if funding is performative in impact.
Important Grant Details:
Walmart’s Community Grant Program awards modest grants of $250 to $5,000, while its National Giving Program awards grants of $250,000 and up.
For community grants, Walmart accepts applications online throughout the year, except in January, when it makes its decisions. For national grants, grantseekers must submit a Letter of Inquiry in order to be invited to submit a full proposal.
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