Building More Caring & Connected Communities
We seek to build stronger, more resilient communities where people feel they belong.
Community resilience grows when residents feel they can belong, depend on one another and meaningfully contribute. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation help to build inclusive and resilient communities by providing targeted support to diverse communities and by supporting initiatives that unite people in communities across the U.S. We collaborate with organizations working to build trust, deepen empathy and encourage people to work across lines of difference in communities
Our Focus Areas
Our philanthropy is focused on following areas:
Sharing Stories
Each day, Americans are working together and bridging divides in their local communities—creating greater understanding and cooperation. To further drive awareness of these efforts, we invest in initiatives that amplify stories and messengers who are sharing narratives of cooperation and de-polarization in the U.S.
Grantee Spotlight
Ad Council
In 2022, Walmart awarded a grant to support the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” campaign, which strives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion of all people regardless of differences in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability. This grant will ensure that the Ad Council has the resources to promote a more inclusive world through digital media and storytelling.
Skills Building
At both the individual and the institutional level, we need to better understand the skills needed to form community cohesion and trust. We invest in organizations providing training and opportunities for people to more effectively bridge divides and build trust in local communities.
Grantee Spotlight
Welcoming America
In October 2021, the Walmart Foundation contributed $1 million to Welcoming America to train community leaders on strategies to increase belonging, and to help communities develop inclusive policies and practices that enable all residents, including immigrants, to thrive and contribute fully.
Collective Settings
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have less opportunities to come together and create meaningful connections. These shared spaces can be digital or physical, but we believe in the power of in-person interaction to foster conversation and cohesion across diverse communities. To better understand where and how connections can grow stronger, we invest in organizations helping to create shared spaces where people can come together.
Grantee Spotlight
Partnership for American Democracy
In 2022, the Walmart Foundation made a grant to the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in support of the Partnership for American Democracy in order to strengthen two national-level sectors – higher education and libraries. The project aims to understand and support the role of college campuses and libraries as vital spaces where people can come together in communities.
