Serving Communities

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We aim to create value for communities by:

• Helping people save money and live better by providing convenient access to affordable, quality goods and services through our omni-channel retailer model and everyday low prices.
• Contributing to economic vitality of communities by providing quality jobs, training, and career paths, investing in local suppliers, and contributing to local economies.
• Strengthening community resilience by supporting organizations and causes that matter to our customers and associates and fostering more engaged and connected communities.

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Providing Access to Goods and Services in Our Communities

We serve communities through our core mission of helping people save money and live better, providing customers with convenient, omni-channel access to affordable and quality food, apparel, household items, and other products and services. 

Convenient Access to Affordable Food and Other Products

Walmart aims to provide convenient access to affordable food and products for all, whether that is through shopping in our stores or using our pickup and delivery services. 

• Globally, more than 10,500 stores in 19 countries serve approximately 255 million customers per week. We offer pickup at over 8,000 locations and delivery from over 7,800 locations.
• In the U.S., our stores and clubs are within 10 miles of approximately 90% of the population. In addition to our in-store shopping and pickup options, customers who cannot easily access store locations can take advantage of Walmart U.S. stores' grocery delivery services.

In the U.S., we also provide options for SNAP customers who can use their benefits in all Walmart stores, participating Walmart online pickup and delivery locations, and on Walmart.com in all 50 states.

Read more: Safer, Healthier Products.

Delivery as a Service

Through Walmart GoLocal, our white-label, delivery-as-a-service offering, Walmart enables businesses, from large enterprises to small locally owned businesses, to expand customer and community access to their products through local delivery, particularly in suburban and rural areas. Building and scaling local delivery can be challenging, and Walmart GoLocal helps retailers access reliable, cost-efficient, same-day local delivery solutions backed by Walmart’s deep retail and logistics expertise.

Health and Wellness Services

Walmart has 4,000 stores located in U.S. medical professional shortage areas and, as a result, we are in a position to advocate for and provide health and wellness services like pharmacy and vision, particularly for Americans in rural and underserved communities. We operate more than 5,000 pharmacies and more than 3,600 Vision Centers in stores and clubs nationwide with a focus on affordability and convenience for local communities.

Walmart provides Specialty Pharmacies of the Community (SPOC) within select Walmart pharmacies nationwide, focusing on treating long-term conditions that may be more difficult to manage. We currently have more than 80 HIV-focused SPOCs and more than 30 autoimmune-focused SPOCs. Walmart also operates a specialty pharmacy fill facility in Orlando, Florida that fills specialty prescriptions and ships them across the U.S. to increase community access. We also provide resources for specialty pharmacy patients, including a call center, virtual clinical education, and automated fulfillment capability, which allows us to ship directly to patients and doctors' offices.

Walmart champions the financial well-being of customers, associates, and small businesses in our communities by providing access to affordable and convenient financial services. Our financial services are designed with the underserved consumer in mind, and we help tens of millions of people manage their day-to-day financial needs and plan for their financial future. Walmart's everyday low price services include:

• Convenient ways to pay bills with money orders and electronic bill payment to 15,000+ billers, including the ability to use select health benefit funds to pay for designated medical and critical-need expenses.
• Check cashing for payroll, government assistance, and personal checks.
• Low-fee money transfers to 200+ countries and territories.
• Access to digital banking via Walmart’s joint venture One, with no monthly account fees.
• Tax preparation services available at more than 2,600 Walmart stores.
• Installment lending solution available to millions of customers at the point of sale in-store and online. 

As our digital world expands, Walmart shares knowledge with our customers to build trust and help keep them secure.  Walmart provides customers and the public with information about common digital scams and fraud situations.

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Contributing to Economic Vitality

Providing Quality Jobs, Training, and Career Paths

We believe retail can be a springboard for economic opportunity. By providing quality jobs, training and career paths, Walmart aims to meet our customers' expectations while retaining great talent and contributing to local employment and workforce development.

We employ approximately 2.1 million associates in thousands of communities around the globe. Walmart offers market-attractive wages and benefits, on-the-job coaching and training, opportunities to advance in a wide range of career paths (including retail management, pharmacy, and technology), skill-building, and other educational opportunities for eligible associates. Our investments in frontline retail workers also create value beyond Walmart. Communities need good, low-barrier entry-level jobs at competitive wages to provide pathways for community members to acquire in-demand skills and knowledge to advance to higher wage, mid-level careers, enabling workforce development and helping to sustain local economies.

Read more: Our People

Investing in Local Suppliers

By investing in our suppliers, Walmart aims not only to serve our customers but also help support jobs and inclusive economic growth in local markets where we operate. Examples include initiatives focused on U.S manufacturing, export of goods from India, and market access for smallholder famers and small producers.

Read more in our Supplier Opportunity brief.

Contributing to Local Economies

Tax Contributions

Walmart contributes significantly to the tax base in thousands of communities in countries where we operate. Over the past three years (FY2022-FY2024), Walmart has paid more than $15B in worldwide income-based taxes. In FY2024, Walmart paid more than $5.8 billion in corporate income-based taxes worldwide and our effective corporate income tax rate was 25.5%.

In addition to income-based taxes, Walmart is taxed directly, for example, through payroll, property and use taxes at the state, provincial, and local levels. These tax dollars provide revenue to fund services, projects, and programs such as fire, police, schools, libraries, and community health services.

As a retailer, Walmart reduces the administrative burden on national, state, provincial, and local governments by collecting sales and value-added taxes on their behalf in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. In the U.S., we publish the amount of sales tax we collect and remit in all 50 U.S. states through our Location Facts page.

And as an employer, Walmart compensates approximately 2.1 million associates at our stores, clubs, warehouses, and offices worldwide. These jobs enable our associates to participate in the economy of their communities and, in most jurisdictions, also generate tax revenue through income and social insurance taxes.

Store and Club Remodels

Throughout the U.S., we are increasing our commitment to communities through our remodel program. In FY2024, we invested more than $5.7 billion in store and club remodels in order to help improve, evolve, and refresh the store and shopping experience for customers and increase opportunities for local economic investments and jobs. In February 2024, we announced plans to build or modernize more than 150 U.S. stores over the next five years and remodel 650 stores in the next 12 months. These efforts represent millions of dollars in capital investment of labor, supplies, and tax revenue, which benefit their respective communities.

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Strengthening Community Resilience

We believe that community resilience grows when community members feel they can contribute, depend on one another, and belong. Walmart works to strengthen community resilience by:

• Providing opportunities for associates and customers to connect with local organizations and causes that matter to them.
• Supporting causes that impact our customers, associates, and the communities surrounding our stores and clubs, like food security and disasters.
• Fostering engagement between our stores and clubs and their surrounding communities.
• Supporting initiatives that bring people together and increase their sense of belonging. 

Spark Good

Walmart seeks to empower associates, customers, and communities to support the causes that matter most to them. We encourage associates and customers to engage with organizations in ways that spark action and collectively make a significant impact on their communities.

In the U.S., Spark Good is our all-in-one resource that connects customers and associates to local organizations such as nonprofits and schools (and vice versa), and inspires a culture of supporting local communities.

Customer Engagement

In addition to our Round Up and Registry resources, we seek to engage our customers in supporting communities through our in-store fundraising campaigns, like Children's Miracle Network (CMN). In 2023, Walmart and Sam's Club associates, customers, and members in Canada and the United States raised more than $41 million through the CMN campaign and, according to CMN, Walmart's campaign has raised and contributed more than $1 billion since 1987.

Facility Engagement

Having a physical presence in thousands of communities worldwide allows Walmart stores and Sam's Clubs locations to support local causes through our physical and philanthropic resources. Stores and clubs are empowered to focus on the organizations and causes close to them:

• Walmart Chile’s "1 KM From My Supermarket" program, provided financing for community infrastructure and security projects within a short radius of their stores. 
• Walmart Canada’s community grants program awarded more than CAD $2.4 million in grants to local organizations selected by store leaders in 2023. 
• In the U.S., Walmart U.S. and Sam's Club facilities served their local communities through in-kind donations and awarded more than $46 million in Spark Good local grants to U.S. nonprofit organizations in FY2024.⁴

The physical space around our storefronts also provides a venue for community organizations and resources. During the 2023 holiday season, The Salvation Army stationed their iconic red kettles in front of Walmart U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs, raising more than $34 million. And when disasters strike a community, Walmart can activate its parking lots as resource hubs, allowing responding organizations to stage mobile response units and distribute information.

Read more in Disaster Preparedness and Response.

Associate Engagement

We support the passion of Walmart associates to give back locally. We aim to provide them with more choices by expanding the number of eligible organizations and lowering the barriers to participation through our charitable giving and volunteerism programs. For example:

• Walmart continues to match associates' donations through periodic matching campaigns. In fall 2023, Walmart U.S. again hosted the Season of Giving Back where we offered associate matching donations two to one, up to $3 million. Together, associates and Walmart supported more than 400 charities with over $4.5 million through Charities Aid Foundation America, a donor advised fund.
• In FY2024, more than 12,000 U.S. associates reported more than 317,000 volunteer hours at charitable organizations, generating more than $3.6 million in Walmart matching donations. While associates can volunteer at any eligible organization, we also provide organized opportunities for associates to volunteer together: Sam’s Club associates across the U.S. participated in a Day of Service in 2023, volunteering more than 15,000 hours at local nonprofits and organizations.
• In 2023, more than 24,000 Walmart de México e Centroamérica associates participated in volunteer activities through the 2K Volunteer program, which partners with community organizations located within a two-kilometer radius of our stores, clubs, and distribution centers.

Food Security

Access to nutritious food is vital to the health and well-being of a community. The primary way we address food insecurity in our communities is by providing access to affordable, nutritious food in thousands of communities around the world through our stores, clubs, and pickup and delivery services.⁶

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have long committed to addressing food security as part of the health and well-being of the communities we serve. In 2023, Walmart donated nearly 780 million pounds of food globally. In the U.S., 92% of stores and clubs participated in our food donation program in FY2024, donating more than 661 million pounds of food—more than half of which was fruits, vegetables, meat, or dairy.

Additionally, grants from Walmart.org, through funding from Walmart and the Walmart Foundation, support important Feeding America initiatives that foster innovation in the charitable meal system including:

• Enhancements to OrderAhead, a grocery ordering platform that was recently refreshed with a real-time chat functionality among food banks, agencies, and retailers that reduces wait times for food pickups and deliveries.
• Physical infrastructure that the Feeding America agencies need to be able to efficiently receive and deliver donated food to communities, like “coolbot” devices that turn rooms into walk-in coolers, pallet jacks outfitted with new weight measurement technology, and extra shelving to increase their food storage capacity.

In addition, Walmart, alongside our customers and suppliers, supports local food banks though our Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaigns, which raise awareness among customers and have raised more than $111 million in the U.S. over the last five years for Feeding America and its network of local food banks and contributed 107 million meals for food insecure Canadians since 2017. 

We support digitization of the food access system to help address gaps and challenges related to food and nutrition insecurity. For example, the Walmart Foundation is a founding investor and continuing supporter of Code for America’s Integrated Benefits initiative, which works to transform the nutrition safety net in the U.S. by addressing barriers to enrollment in, usage of, and retention in programs like SNAP and WIC. The Walmart Foundation also provided grants to mRelief, which supports the use of technology that transforms access to social services through a dignified, accessible online SNAP enrollment solution. Read more about Walmart.org’s support on our Healthier Food for All page.

Walmart also supports U.S. federal and state legislation that facilitates greater access and participation in SNAP and WIC programs, and we continue to engage in Farm Bill discussions to protect the ability of anti-hunger programs to serve those who need them in the communities we serve, which you can read more about in our Responsible Engagement in Public Policy brief.

Disaster Preparedness & Response

In any given year, our stores, clubs, and their surrounding communities face risks related to disasters caused by weather and other events. [2024 10-K, p. 17] Stemming from our formative experience following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Walmart has made disaster preparedness and response a cornerstone of our commitment to serving communities. Since FY2022, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have provided more than $55 million for disaster preparedness, response, and relief efforts supporting communities around the globe. 

Read more in our Disaster Preparedness and Response brief and on our Disaster Response Timeline.

Community Relations

Walmart aims to be an active and engaged member in the communities our stores and clubs serve.

More than 1,300 Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Clubs have trained Community Champions, associates who help strengthen relationships between their stores and local communities by engaging associates and customers to Spark Good through in-store activations, representing Walmart in community events, supporting Walmart’s local charitable giving, and helping to drive volunteer events. 

When stores and clubs remodel, for example, they often use their re-grand openings to  incorporate community engagement opportunities by awarding community grants, celebrating local community organizations and nonprofits that have received grants or support from Walmart.org, or highlighting the stories of associates and local suppliers who live and work in the community.

Through the Walmart Community Mural Program, we celebrate our communities’ unique cultures and diversity. Store leaders identify local cultural elements that artists incorporate into murals that grace our store walls, creating original artworks that spark connection and conversation. In FY2024, more than 635 murals were completed in Walmart stores across the U.S.

Caring and Connected Communities

In many communities, Walmart is a gathering place where families and neighbors shop and spend time with one another. Through customer engagement and through our philanthropy, we seek to foster social connections and a sense of belonging that lead to stronger, more resilient communities. Early findings from More in Common (a Walmart Foundation grantee) suggest people desire connection with others, especially in settings where they can work together pursuing shared goals that improve their community. We invest in philanthropic initiatives that bring community members together for meaningful encounters and equip them with the skills to build trust and empathy.

For example, building upon a Walmart Foundation grant in 2023 that supported the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in activating park system programs to facilitate social connection and intergroup contact, the Walmart Foundation recently provided an additional $2.5 million grant to TPL to invest more deeply in parks’ community engagement plans and park programming that encourages people getting to know each other across lines of difference.

In FY2024, Walmart.org, through grants from Walmart and the Walmart Foundation, provided more than $7 million in funding to organizations that are creating opportunities for people to come together. Read more about these initiatives in Building More Caring and Connected Communities.

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• Walmart’s ability to serve communities and strengthen community resilience depends on collaboration with many stakeholders, whose priorities and level of engagement may vary or change over time.
• Navigating the diverse and sometimes divergent perspectives of our customers and other stakeholders can lead to the alienation of one or more stakeholder groups.
• Economic factors (e.g., inflation, supply chain disruption) can also strain community resources relative to needs.
• Changes in government regulation or policy at local, state, and even national levels can enable or adversely affect community initiatives.
• Chronic underperformance of an individual store or club may compromise our ability to serve the local community and, in some cases, may even cause us to close a facility.

1. As stated in Walmart’s annual reports on Form 10-K.

2. Total global giving includes cash donations made by Walmart Inc & subsidiaries and related charitable entities, and estimated value of in-kind donations.

3. Walmart's donations toward disaster recovery and relief efforts fluctuate from year to year in response to the needs of our communities and the frequency and severity of disaster events. For example, FY2022 numbers were substantially elevated due to Walmart's contributions to COVID-19 response causes.

4. Amount provided by Walmart in local cash grants to organizations and programs that serve communities near our stores, clubs, and distribution centers in the U.S.

5. Based on reports from Feeding America.

6. For example, a recent Analysis Group white paper noted that “[a] 2019 study analyzing data from the Current Population Survey on food security conducted by the US Census Bureau found that closer proximity to a Walmart supercenter improves household and child food security, with the largest effects among low-income households and children.” (emphasis in original) 

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