OVERVIEW: The Walton Family Foundation supports K-12 education with over $100 million each year. Its education funding is directed at the charter school movement, urban school districts and innovations that contribute to K-12 student success.
IP TAKE: The Walton Family Foundation maintains a strong interest in school reform and the charter school movement in the U.S. It partners with established organizations that are closely aligned with its funding initiatives. While past giving has leaned hard right, current giving leans towards the center, even purple, as new descendants diversify giving. Note that the Walton Family Foundation shouldn’t be confused with its corporate sister, the Walmart Foundation.
The Walton family is worth billions. In 2014, research found that Alice Walton had not given to the Foundation, while Jim Walton made one personal contribution of $3 million. The total contributions of Rob, Jim, Alice, and Christy Walton, and their family holding company to the Walton Family Foundation amount to $58.49 million, which was equivalent to 0.04% of their net worth at the time. Keep an eye on extended Walton family members for other avenues of giving. Under the Walton family, Walmart has come under significant controversy for its exploitative labor practices.
Across focus areas, the foundation is not accessible, except towards projects that privatize education. The Walton Family Foundation accept proposals from charter school developers that meet the requirements
PROFILE: The Walton Family Foundation was founded in 1987 by Sam Walton, one of the founders of the Walmart retail chain, and his wife, Helen. The Foundation is based in Bentonville, Arkansas and the Waltons’ descendants run its board of directors. Its aim is to “create access to opportunity for people and communities.” It maintains three philanthropic initiatives: K-12 education, environment and home region, which prioritizes Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta areas.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Walton Family Foundation supports K-12 education reform with over $100 million yearly through four separate sub-initiatives. Investing in cities prioritizes key cities and geographic areas across the U.S. where its investment is most likely to have the greatest impact. The high quality schools initiative supports charter schools, charter school networks and advocacy and research in support of the school choice movement. Walton’s innovation initiative supports organizations that create and implement models, curricula and other programs that contribute to long-term student success. The research and evaluation initiative supports university and private research institutes that conduct rigorous quantitative research that supports and informs the foundation’s other education initiatives. Past grantees include the Charter School Growth Fund, the KIPP Foundation and Education Reform Now. The foundation and PNC Bank have also given $100 million to the Facilities Investment Fund to offer low-cost loans for new construction and facility renovations at public charter schools.
Grants for Higher Education
While higher education is not a specific initiative of the Walton Foundation, grants stemming from its iK-12 education and home region programs have supported research and higher education programs. Walton’s K-12 education program names research and evaluation as a sub-initiative and has funded educational research and program evaluations conducted by researchers at Harvard, MIT and the University of Michigan, among others. A sub-initiative of the home region program aims to “strengthen coordinated regional economic development.” To this end, the foundation has collaborated with four-year and community colleges on workforce development and entrepreneurship programs. The University of Arkansas’ Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research received $194.7 million to expand its cross-disciplinary research capability, build a facility to house the institute, support entrepreneurship education, and create a campus in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Grants for Marine and Environmental Conservation
The Walton Family Foundation’s conservation funding awarded over $100 million to environmental work in 2014. Most of it funded two environmental subprograms, both involving the protection of water habitats. Walton’s Freshwater Conservation focus funds work in the Colorado and Mississippi river basins. The Marine Conservation focus supports work that creates economic incentives for sustainable resource management in ocean ecosystems. The foundation cites what it calls “conservationomics,” or the principle that the best ways to help the environment also help people and local economies. The foundation works to “achieve lasting change by creating new and unexpected partnerships among conservation, business and community interests to build durable solutions to big problems.” The Walton Family Foundation’s environmental giving prioritizes water. While the foundation’s grantmaking is broad, aimed only at general environmental conservation efforts, it funds a wide scope of conservation work. Grantees include a $12 million grant for Conservation International. However, substantial gifts have also supported different state branches of the Nature Conservancy, suggesting opportunities for other Nature Conservancy offices. The foundation gives money to some mainstream environmental groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund, and invests heavily in ecology education.
Important Grant Details:
Walton Family Foundation grants range from $50,000 to over $1 million. A grants database is provided on the foundation’s website.
The Walton Family Foundation accepts proposals only from charter school developers that meet the requirements of their startup grant program guidelines. Other applicants should send a letter of inquiry to the foundation’s mailing address. For organizations that receive proposal invitations, the foundation provides links to its grant proposal form, a budget template and a guide for creating performance measures on its grant proposals page.
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