Serving Communities

GRI: 103-1; 103-2; 103-3; 203-2a; 207-1; 413-1; 413-2;
UN SDGs: 2, 5, 8
S | Published: June 8, 2022

As an omni-channel retailer with a physical presence in thousands of communities around the world, Walmart seeks to help those communities thrive and become more resilient.

See all data and progress toward goals and commitments in our ESG Data Table.

Strong businesses help communities thrive; likewise, strong communities help businesses thrive. Serving communities lies at the heart of Walmart’s mission to save people money and help them live better. We serve millions of customers every week and employ approximately 2.3 million associates who live, work and play in thousands of communities around the world. Our business success depends on meeting the needs and expectations of our customers, associates and other stakeholders by contributing to these communities in ways that create lasting value.

We aim to create value for communities in many ways, including the following:

• Providing convenient access to affordable, quality food, other essential products, and services through our omni-channel business model and everyday low prices
• Contributing to economic vitality by providing quality jobs, training and career paths, investing in local suppliers, and contributing to the local tax base 
• Strengthening community resilience by increasing food access, preparing for and responding to disasters, advancing equity and belonging, and supporting local organizations and causes that matter to our customers and associates

Affordable Food, Other Products & Services | Economic Vitality | Community Resilience

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

Our stores and clubs are within 10 miles of approximately 90% of American households, and our eCommerce capabilities allow us to reach many more. We offer Pickup at approximately 4,600 Walmart U.S. locations and all Sam’s Clubs, and offer same-day delivery in more than 3,500 Walmart U.S. locations. Many of our customers can also take advantage of Scan & Go for faster, contact-free shopping and Walmart+, a paid subscription service providing unlimited free deliveries and discounts on gas.

Walmart aims to provide convenient access to affordable food for all. For example, SNAP customers can now use their benefits chain wide in the United States, including for Online Grocery Pickup and on Walmart.com, subject to restrictions in some states.

Read More: Safer, Healthier Food & Other products.

Walmart provides pharmacy, optical services and in-store health kiosks in thousands of locations, with a focus on affordability (e.g., $4 prescriptions for generic medications with no insurance necessary) and convenience (e.g., transfers, mobile express pickup). Innovations include Walmart Insurance Services, a licensed insurance brokerage service, and the recently opened Walmart Health clinics serving areas in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Illinois. The clinics focus on providing accessible, convenient primary care, labs, counseling, dental, optical, hearing and community health services.

Throughout the pandemic Walmart has worked closely with federal and state governments, labs and insurance companies to expand COVID-19 testing. We have continued to expand our testing services, including by standing up free community testing sites with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, working with insurance companies to test their members, offering drive-thru pharmacy windows, and supporting testing events in hard-hit communities.

Walmart has administered millions of vaccines across the U.S., with 80% being delivered in medically underserved communities as classified by the Health Resources and Services Administration. A report by the Network Contagion Research Institute concluded that Walmart outperformed the aggregate as a vaccine distribution network and was able to reach key areas of vaccine reluctant populations. We have offered vaccinations at more than 5,100 retail locations across 51 states and territories, providing access to many.

After authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12-15 in 2021, Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies partnered with dozens of school districts in Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas to bring vaccine clinics to families in those communities.

Read More: 2021 Vaccine Report and  COVID-19 Fact Sheet.

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. Our services include:

• Money Management
  
  • Same-day check cashing and bill payment services
  • Low-fee money transfers to 200 countries and territories, which have saved customers more than $2.4 billion in estimated fees since launching in 2014
• Debit and Savings
  
  • Cash deposits and withdrawals from U.S. accounts using eligible reloadable, prepaid or bank debit cards
  • 2% APY savings and cashback rewards on the Walmart MoneyCard
• Credit and Lending
  
  • Buy-now-pay-later solution available at the point of sale through Affirm
  • Walmart Rewards credit card through Capital One

Additionally, Walmart U.S., together with Ribbit Capital, launched a fintech joint venture, Hazel, in 2021. Hazel acquired One Finance and Even in 2022. The combined businesses, which will operate under the brand name ONE, plan to provide users with a single financial services app to holistically manage their finances—including the ability to save, spend, borrow, receive payments, and grow their money—all in one place. The company’s products and services will be made available directly to consumers and through employers and merchants.

In August 2021, Walmart announced the creation of Walmart GoLocal, a delivery-as-a-service offering to businesses of all sizes, from local bakeries to national retailers. Through GoLocal, Walmart expands customer access to these businesses' products using Walmart's delivery capabilities and nationwide footprint at competitive pricing.

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

We employ approximately 2.3 million associates in thousands of communities around the globe, offering a variety of career opportunities. We offer low barriers to entry, competitive wages, benefits, on-the-job coaching and training, opportunities to advance in a wide range of career paths, from retail management to pharmacy and technology, and free formal education opportunities for part- and full-time hourly U.S. associates in stores and clubs through Live Better U.

Read More: Human Capital: Good Jobs and Advancement for Associates.

By investing in our suppliers, Walmart aims not only to serve our customers but also to help support jobs and inclusive economic growth in markets where we operate. Some examples include:

Walmart has a long history of supporting American products. According to data from our suppliers, in FY2022 nearly two-thirds of Walmart U.S.'s total product spend was on items made, grown or assembled in the United States. Through our America at Work initiative, we continue to invest in products that support the creation of American jobs. As of the end of FY2022, we have purchased $196 billion towards our original commitment in 2013 to invest over ten years an incremental $250 billion over our FY2013 purchases. In 2021, we started a new commitment to invest over the next ten years an incremental $350 billion over our FY2021 purchases in products made, grown or assembled in the United States. As of the end of FY2022, we have increased U.S. purchases by $12 billion towards this new goal. This investment of $350 billion over ten years has the potential to support more than 750,000 new jobs,⁴ and avoid more than an estimated 100 million metric tons of emissions.⁵

In 2021 we launched a collaborative initiative called “American Lighthouses” to identify and overcome top-down barriers to U.S. production. Our focus is on five key supply chains. We aim to foster collaboration between local supplier communities and others from civil society, academia, government, and local economic development groups. Work has begun on two supply chains—textiles and pharma/medical supplies—and will expand to three other supply chains over time - plastics, food processing, and motors/metals.

Walmart serves millions of customers and employs thousands of associates in communities across India through our Flipkart, PhonePe, and Best Price businesses. In December 2020, Walmart announced it will seek to triple its exports of goods from India to $10 billion per year by 2027. Walmart has sourced goods from India for more than 20 years, supporting local suppliers to build their capabilities and develop new product lines to meet international standards. We expect this commitment to provide a significant boost to suppliers in India. We are maintaining our focus on building supplier capabilities through Flipkart’s Samarth initiative and Walmart’s Vriddhi Supplier Development Program (Walmart Vriddhi), launched in 2019, which aims to train 50,000 of India’s micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises to “Make in India” for global supply chains by 2025.

Walmart works with many small and medium enterprises in Central America and Mexico. We also lead supplier development programs focused on small and medium enterprises in the region, including Adopta una PyME ("Adopt a SME"), Una Mano para Crecer ("A Helping Hand to Grow"), Tierra Fértil ("Fertile Soil") and Pequeño Productor ("Small Farmer").

The Walmart Foundation has awarded grants of more than $67 million to benefit smallholders in Central America, India and Mexico since 2017. These grants are expected to reach over 730,000 smallholder farmers (44% of whom are women) through programs aimed at enhancing farmer livelihoods and value chains, encouraging the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices, unlocking access to finance, growing formal market linkages, strengthening Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and empowering women farmers in FPOs. A major part of the program focuses on India, where the Walmart Foundation has met its five-year commitment to invest $25 million to improve farmer livelihoods.

Learn More: Supplier Opportunity and People in Supply Chains.

Walmart contributes significantly to the tax base in thousands of communities in countries where we operate. In FY2022, Walmart paid more than $5.9 billion in corporate income-based taxes worldwide. Our effective corporate tax rate was 25.4% for FY2022.

Corporate Income-Based Taxes Paid Worldwide

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 at Corporate.Walmart.com/our story/our locations.

And as an employer, Walmart compensates approximately 2.3 million associates at our stores, clubs, warehouses and offices worldwide. These jobs enable our associates to participate in the economic life of their communities and, in most jurisdictions, also generate tax revenue through income and social insurance taxes.

Since the devastating experience of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Walmart has invested in disaster preparedness and response capabilities. When disasters occur, Walmart activates the Emergency Operations Center to check on the safety of associates and their families, get store operations back up and running and deploy business and philanthropic assets to help communities recover.

Since 2016, Walmart, Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation have provided more than $132 million for disaster preparedness and response efforts supporting communities around the globe. In FY2022, our Emergency Operations Center, stores, clubs, distribution centers, and Walmart.org team worked to help communities respond to disasters. Recent examples include:

• Hurricane Ida. With widespread power outages in the region affected by Hurricane Ida, our stores and parking lots served as hubs with resources for the community, including medications  and charging and laundry stations. Our response included donations of water and food, and the Walmart Foundation provided over $4.3 million in grants to local nonprofit organizations that provided hot meals, emergency relief and help with clean-up efforts. Additionally, we activated a customer campaign to support the American Red Cross's response to Hurricane Ida as well as other natural disasters in 2021 with a $5 million match.
• December 2021 U.S. Tornadoes. Walmart, Sam's Club and the Walmart Foundation provided more than $1 million in grants and in-kind donations to nonprofit partners, including through parking lot activations, deliveries to shelters and holiday pop-up events to support families in Kentucky impacted by tornadoes.
• Riots in KwaZulu-Natal. In the wake of riots in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in July 2021, Walmart, the Walmart Foundation and Massmart committed over R13 million ($880,000) in in-kind support and grants to facilitate recovery and strengthen the food bank system. 
• COVID-19. Walmart has supported communities throughout the pandemic, providing access to vaccination and testing as noted above. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have provided over $43 million for COVID response, including $2.75 million to fund research on how COVID-19 has impacted communities of color. In FY2022, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation mobilized their resources to support India’s COVID-19 response, including providing oxygen-generating plants, concentrators and other equipment. The Walmart Foundation also donated INR148.2 million (US$2 million) to support two NGOs responding in India. Read more: COVID-19 Fact Sheet.

While responding in the moment is important, we also aim to help communities build resilience and prepare to respond more quickly and effectively when disasters strike. For example, the Walmart Foundation made a $3 million investment in the Gulf region to build capacity among community-based organizations and municipal governments to help vulnerable communities prepare for disasters and mitigate their impact.

Read More: Disaster Preparedness & Response.

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 food in thousands of communities around the world through our stores, clubs, and pickup and delivery services. In addition, for more than a decade, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have worked to enhance food security in U.S. communities through our Healthier Food for All initiative, which focuses on increasing access to and education about nutritious food. In the past few years we have expanded efforts to other Walmart markets, including Canada and Mexico.

• Food Donations. Our U.S. food donation program started in 2006 through the efforts of a single Sam's Club. Since then, we have provided more than 7 billion pounds of food from our network of stores, clubs and distribution centers to Feeding America food banks. In FY2022 alone, stores, clubs and distribution centers in the U.S. donated more than 696 million pounds of food³ , 64% of which were fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats.
• Charitable Meal System. We work with many organizations across the U.S. to strengthen the capacity of the charitable meal system to recover and distribute food, particularly fresh food. For example, in FY2022 Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have contributed more than $9 million in grants to support Feeding America, a nationwide network of 200 food banks in the U.S. Our recent grant to Feeding America helped support the launch of OrderAhead, an online grocery ordering system that allows a discreet and convenient click-and-collect model for those facing food insecurity. People can order food from a participating Feeding America network food bank or partner organization and pick it up at locations like schools, drive-thru distributions, and libraries. OrderAhead helps those in need overcome barriers related to transportation, stigma and time when seeking food assistance.
• Federal Nutrition Access. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation invest in programs that help eligible households navigate public assistance through innovations in technology. For example, the Walmart Foundation has supported Benefits Data Trust to work alongside state agencies to connect people with essential services like SNAP and WIC.
  

• Reaching Underserved Populations. The Walmart Foundation supports efforts to unlock resources for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations and entrepreneurs in geographic areas with limited access to food, often characterized as food deserts or swamps.
  Read More: Equity & Inclusion at Walmart & Beyond.
• Building Capacity of Organizations. In 2020, the Walmart Foundation launched the Healthy Food Community of Practice (HFCOP) as a space for connection, learning, resource sharing and action for more than 35 organizations focused on improving healthier food access and consumption, particularly for people who face systemic barriers. Funded by the Walmart Foundation, the Community is facilitated by Share Our Strength through its subsidiary Community Wealth Partners.
  Read more about this initiative: HFCOP.

• Nutrition Education. The Walmart Foundation is supporting nutrition education programs that create culturally relevant, positive experiences to help young children and their caregivers select and consume healthier foods.
• Great For You. Our Walmart U.S. Great For You icon for private-label products serves as a guide to help people make more nutritious food choices. Items with this label meet rigorous nutrition criteria informed by the latest nutrition science and authoritative guidance from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Academies of Medicine. Our Great For You standard has been evaluated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and scored in the top tier of nutritional standards for highest consistency with the DGA.

Read More: Safer, Healthier Food & Other Products.

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation aim to build community resilience by advancing equity in our society, supporting initiatives that unite people, and encouraging community engagement. Efforts include:

• Center for Racial Equity. In June 2020, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed $100 million over five years to create our Center for Racial Equity, focused on eradicating systemic disparities experienced by Black and African American communities in the United States. The Center has invested $35 million as of January 2022 across criminal justice, education, finance, and health systems in the United States.
  Read More: Equity & Inclusion at Walmart & Beyond.
• Welcoming and Inclusive Communities. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have provided nearly $7 million in funding throughout FY2022 to organizations focused on fostering community conversations and finding ways to build trust across differences. This includes:
  
  • In 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 to thrive and contribute fully.
  • Walmart and the Walmart Foundation contributed a total of $1.5 million to support incoming Afghan refugees, our veterans and their families. This included providing on-the-ground support as refugees entered the country and medical items to refugees living on military bases. Our support included a $500,000 grant to Welcome.US for a nationwide awareness campaign and direct support for refugee resettlement efforts.
• Community Relations. Since 2020, more than 200 Walmart stores have appointed Community Champions to improve engagement between the store and the community. With the help of our Community Relations team, store leaders build relationships with local government officials, nonprofits and civic partners to understand and address the unique needs of the neighborhood. 
  Read More: Equity & Inclusion at Walmart & Beyond

We support and invest in communities through local giving, encouraging volunteerism, and through programs to strengthen community cohesion.

Walmart Spark Good (formerly known as RISE) is a digital giving platform that makes it easier for associates and customers to support causes they care about, and for nonprofits to access Walmart's customers, associates and business and philanthropic resources. Through Spark Good, nonprofits have access to our local grant application, can create charitable registries and use a space request tool.

Nonprofit organizations can apply for local community grants through Walmart Spark Good in amounts ranging from $250-$5000. Our local community grants, totaling more than $44 million in FY2022, are awarded through an open application process and provide funding directly from Walmart and Sam’s Club facilities to local organizations in the United States.¹ Eligible nonprofit organizations must operate on the local level (or be an affiliate/chapter of a larger organization that operates locally) and directly benefit the service area of the facility from which they are requesting funding. Facilities can also make in-kind donations to local organizations.

Like a wedding or baby registry, the Spark Good Registry allows verified nonprofits to create lists of needed products, including gift cards, and share the lists with their donors through the Spark Good Registry. Walmart ships items purchased through a nonprofit’s registry directly to the nonprofit—reducing friction from setting up collection sites and retrieving donations.

Our associates volunteer for many causes, and we support them by donating to charities in honor of their service through Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP). In FY2022, more than 18,000 U.S. associates volunteered more than 356,000 hours through the program, generating more than $3.1 million in Walmart donations. From December 2021 through January 2022, Walmart hosted the Season of Giving Back, where we matched associate donations two to one, up to $3 million. Together, associates and Walmart supported more than 1,000 charities with over $4.9 million.

Walmart stores and Sam's Clubs provide space outside our facilities for charitable organizations' fundraising and awareness efforts. For example, The Salvation Army stationed their iconic red kettles in front of Walmart stores and Sam's Clubs, raising more than $35 million during the 2021 holiday season. To improve the process by which charities and local community organizations request the use of space in front of Walmart stores, we began testing a new online tool in designated markets in February 2022.

In May 2020, we launched a simple way for customers to give back to organizations in their communities. We began offering Walmart.com shoppers the chance to round up their purchases to the nearest dollar and have their donation go to a designated charity. Since launching the program, our customers have helped generate more than $26 million for nonprofits around the country.

Other ways we engage with our customers include our in-store fundraising campaigns, Fight Hunger. Spark Change. and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH).

• Since 2014, Walmart and Feeding America have led an annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign to bring greater awareness of hunger in the U.S. and raise money for local Feeding America member food banks. Over the last five years, Walmart, Sam’s Club, participating suppliers and customers have raised more than $114 million for Feeding America and its network of local food banks.
• For over three decades, Walmart and Sam's Club associates have been helping families in their communities by raising funds for CMNH. Since 1987, Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, and Walmart and Sam's Club associates, customers and members in Canada and the United States have raised and contributed more than $1 billion, according to CMNH.

Walmart's global headquarters in Northwest Arkansas supports our operations in 24 countries.⁶  We help strengthen the resilience and economic vitality of the region through associate volunteerism, grant investments and collaborations with local foundations, economic development councils and advisory boards. In FY2022, we provided more than $9.6 million in grants to local organizations in Northwest Arkansas, focused on the following priorities:

• Supporting economic opportunity through programs that strengthen long-term capacity and address gaps and barriers in regional coordination and the workforce of the future.
• Improving access to and availability of healthier food for underserved communities, including programs that help in building nutrition literacy and skills.
• Strengthening community cohesion through programs that build a culture of inclusion and provide affordable access to high-quality arts and recreation programs. In 2021, Walmart.org announced a 3-year, $5 million commitment continuing diversity, equity and inclusion investments in Northwest Arkansas. The commitment builds on the success of a three-year pilot designed to train, report, uplift and engage the community in equity and inclusion. To learn more about these efforts, see our Local Community Support site.

• 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.
• 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.
• Changes in government regulation or policy at local, state and even national levels can enable or adversely affect community initiatives.
• While disaster management is one of the ways Walmart serves communities, disasters can also compromise our ability to operate our business and serve communities in other ways.
• Economic factors (e.g., inflation, supply chain disruption) can also strain community resources relative to needs.

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