Our History
We are a family-led foundation
Sam and Helen Walton moved to Northwest Arkansas in 1950 to open a five and dime store, and their passion for retail later led to the creation of Walmart. In 1987, Walmart celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Sam and Helen established the Walton Family Foundation.
They envisioned the foundation as a bond to strengthen and bring their family together, children and grandchildren across generations, to find lasting solutions to big challenges.
Today, several generations of the descendants of our founders and their spouses work together to lead the foundation.
Helen had a favorite saying: "It is not what you gather in life, it's what you scatter in life that tells the kind of life you have lived." That spirit of giving has guided the foundation in its philanthropy over the past three decades.
Family meetings once held in Sam and Helen’s living room now happen in foundation offices. Our Board of Directors is composed entirely of family members who lead our strategic approach to philanthropy.
They hold a belief people can accomplish anything with opportunity and encouragement. As we move forward in a changing world, the foundation and its partners work to broaden these pathways to opportunity and remove barriers in its way.
Walton Family Foundation is established
Annual giving reaches
$1.4 million
Foundation awards its first public charter startup grant
Walton Arts Center opens in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Children's Scholarship Fund is launched
Annual giving surpasses
$50 million
KIPP Delta opens its first school in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas
Annual giving exceeds
$100 million
$5.1 million
grant awarded to Marine Stewardship Council
Annual giving reaches
$200 million
First mountain bike trails are built in Bentonville, Arkansas
First grant to a school district - Denver Public Schools - for high-quality schools
Foundation supports Washington, D.C. Public Schools IMPACT program
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opens
Foundation staff grows to
75 people
Razorback Regional Greenway opens in Northwest Arkansas
Building Equity Initiative launches
Walton Family Foundation governance changes to include a board chair and five board members
Foundation staff grows to
124 people
$2.1 million
invested in Atlanta Public Schools' Turnaround Strategy
The Louisiana Coastal Master Plan is approved
Mexico, U.S. sign Minute 323, a new Colorado River water use agreement
Annual giving exceeds
$500 million
