Walmart heiress Alice Walton has donated approximately $1.5 billion to charity during her lifetime.
An article by Matt Durot for Forbes US – translated by Lisa Deleforterie
America’s richest woman just announced her largest charitable donation to date. According to a recently disclosed tax filing, the Fort Worth, Texas-based Art Bridges Foundation, founded by Alice Walton, allocated $390 million in the year ending September 30, 2023, including $249 million to finance the construction of the new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in his family’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Forbes estimates that the only daughter of Walmart co-founder Sam Walton (who died in 1992) gave a total of $1.5 billion during her lifetime, placing her among the 30 largest philanthropists in the United States.
Alice Walton now ranks as the 26th most generous philanthropist in the United States, just behind cable television pioneer Amos Hostetter Jr., who has given an estimated $1.7 billion to causes including climate change, arts and education. However, it still remains far behind the country’s largest donor, Warren Buffett.
The Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is currently seeking accreditation to offer a four-year Doctor of Medicine program, aimed at “ enrich traditional medical training with elements from the arts, humanities and principles of global health “. If all goes according to plan, the school will open its doors in 2025 and welcome an initial class of 48 students in a 14,300 square meter building, connected by wooded trails to the Waltons’ largest philanthropic project to date: the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which received $30 million from Alice Walton’s Art Bridges Foundation in 2023.
Alice Walton, whose fortune is estimated at $91 billion, chaired the board of directors of the Crystal Bridges Museum for ten years before handing over in 2021 to Olivia Walton, the wife of her nephew Tom Walton. She is recognized for being behind the creation of this museum, located on 48 hectares of land, which houses works by renowned artists such as Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keeffe. This project was born from his observation that there was no museum of this type within a 480 kilometer radius of his family’s hometown. However, most of the $1.6 billion needed to open the museum in 2011 came from funds from his late brother, John Walton (who died in 2005), and his mother, Helen Walton (who died in 2007).
Over the past decade, Alice Walton has significantly increased her philanthropic efforts, investing more than $5.7 billion in five family foundations, which to date have distributed nearly a quarter of that amount. This includes approximately $380 million allocated through the Walton Family Foundation (established by his parents to celebrate the 25e Walmart’s anniversary in 1987) to organizations committed to education reform, environmental protection and development in the Bentonville area. Added to this are more than $490 million invested by the Art Bridges Foundation, founded by Alice Walton, for the acquisition and loan of American works of art to more than 230 museums across the country, including the ‘Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA in New York, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, since the foundation’s inception in 2016.
It is likely that the total amount of Alice Walton’s donations is actually even higher. Over the past ten years, she has donated $2.3 billion in Walmart stock, but Forbes was not able to trace the beneficiaries of these donations. Some of this stock may have been transferred to the Waltons’ foundations after 2022 (the last year for which most charitable tax returns are accessible) or directly to already active nonprofits.
However, it is likely that a large portion of these funds went into another philanthropic vehicle commonly used by billionaires: a donor advised fund (DAF). The latter are not obliged to reveal the identity of donors or to spend the funds on charitable activities within a specific period. This is why Forbes excludes amounts placed in these donor-advised funds from the calculation of billionaires’ lifetime giving unless the use of these funds is clearly proven and documented. (A representative for Alice Walton declined to comment for this article.)
Either way, it seems clear that Alice Walton is just getting started on her personal philanthropic journey. “ Over the past few years, I have founded new organizations focused on the arts as well as health and wellness“, she said in a press release announcing her departure as president of the Crystal Bridges Museum in 2021. ” I now wish to devote myself more to my duties as president of these entities. »
Also read: FORBES BILLIONAIRE RANKING – October 2024 | Who are the ten richest people in the world?
