Healthier Food for All
We aim to help people live healthier by increasing access to healthy food and bringing nutrition and healthcare together.
Expanding access to affordable, healthy food lies at the heart of Walmart’s purpose to help people save money and live better. Walmart and Sam’s Club provide access to low-cost, nutritious food through over 5,000 stores and clubs within 10 miles of 90% of Americans, as well as thousands more grocery delivery and pickup options.
Our philanthropy complements and expands the impact of our business by increasing access to healthy food in underserved communities and creating a closer link between nutrition and healthcare.
For nearly two decades, we’ve helped expand access to food by donating food and strengthening the charitable meal system. Since 2006, our network of Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers have provided more than 7.5 billion pounds of food to local Feeding America food banks across the country. We've also supported local food banks in innovating, rescuing, and distributing food to those in need. And, through our annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign, each year we invite our associates, customers and suppliers to join us in supporting Feeding America member food banks.
Today, nearly half of Americans face chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, and proper nutrition is crucial for managing and reversing these conditions to enhance overall health. As we continue our efforts to improve health outcomes so people can live better, we are focusing our investments on initiatives that more closely connect nutrition and healthcare for people with chronic illnesses. Our investments aim to complement the impact of Walmart’s business in improving the cost and convenience of healthcare, particularly for Americans in rural and underserved communities.
We focus on two key areas: 1) filling gaps in food access, and 2) accelerating the adoption of food as medicine programs.
Our Focus Areas
Our philanthropy is focused on two areas:
Fill gaps in food access
We use philanthropy to improve access to food for underserved communities by:
- Investing in building capacity and accelerating innovation in the charitable meal system so food banks can recover and distribute more food.
- Supporting user-friendly technology for nutrition benefits and incorporating these benefits into nonprofit and healthcare services.
- Identifying and testing innovative models that leverage nonprofit and retail strengths to get food to underserved communities.
Accelerate adoption of food as medicine programs
We use philanthropy to better connect nutrition and healthcare by accelerating the use of food as medicine programs by:
- Supporting high-impact research to help stakeholders better understand the effectiveness of food as medicine programs and the specific elements needed for successful programs.
- Developing nutrition and healthcare programs that are culturally relevant and resonate with people from all backgrounds.
- Increasing coordination between food and healthcare sectors through convening and knowledge-sharing.
White House Challenge on Hunger, Nutrition and Health
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have long committed to addressing food and nutrition security as well as the overall health and well-being of our customers and the communities we serve. The White House continues to challenge elected officials and leaders fighting against hunger from the public, private and non-profit sectors to mobilize toward meeting a shared, bold goal: "end hunger in America and increase healthy eating and physical activity by 2030 so fewer Americans experience diet related diseases." As a follow-up to the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are pleased to share how our commitments address the pillars outlined in the Biden-Harris national strategy to achieve the shared goal. Read our October 2023 submission here.
Applications are by invitation only for 501(c)(3) organizations whose work directly relates to the above focus areas. Unsolicited proposals will not be accepted. We also support hunger relief through Walmart’s Spark Good programs, such as Spark Good local grants and volunteerism. Learn more here.
Reference and Research
