Walmart Deepens Commitment to Community Engagement and Giving Through New Walmart Rise Initiative
06 June 2019 - 2:01PM
Business Wire
Walmart U.S. announces new approach to
community engagement and giving to build closer communities and
empower local impact
Company will give an additional $24 million to
Walmart stores and distribution centers nationwide to spark change
in their communities this year
Walmart U.S. today announced it is transforming its community
engagement program, aimed at creating new and different ways to
engage Walmart associates and customers in supporting their
communities through its new Walmart Rise initiative. To kick off
the initiative, the company is launching a campaign to deepen local
engagement. The company will give an additional $5,000 to every
Walmart store and distribution center across the U.S. this year,
totaling over $24 million, to help spark change in their local
communities. The community funds are designed to boost Walmart’s
expected local community grant giving to nearly $70 million in this
fiscal year.
“We’ve been on a journey over the last few years to strengthen
our business. It started with investing in education, training and
wages for our people. We’ve invested in our stores and eCommerce
and delivered lower prices to our customers. Now we’re focused on
further strengthening our role in communities, transforming our
community giving and deepening our local relationships,” said Greg
Foran, president and CEO, Walmart U.S. “Through our Walmart Rise
initiative, we will create a spark in our stores that makes Walmart
a special place for our customers and associates. That spark can
also bring about positive change in our communities the way it does
in our stores, and we are taking action to make it happen.”
In this kickoff campaign, facility managers will be asked to
engage associates in making a positive impact in their communities
as they will help decide how the $5,000 is invested. For example,
associates may be encouraged to decide which causes will have the
most impact in their neighborhood. Walmart’s current community
giving includes a variety of organizations, such as animal
shelters, elder services and community clean-up projects. The
one-time $5,000 per facility builds on Walmart’s ongoing community
effort. Last year, Walmart gave more than $42 million in local
grants, provided over 3 million free health screenings and donated
more than 640 million pounds of food to local food banks, over 55%
of which was fruits, vegetables and meats. Additionally, associates
volunteered 776,000 hours to organizations in their
communities.
The additional $5,000 per facility is a catalyst and the first
initiative for Walmart Rise, a planned sustained effort to create a
long-term cultural transformation around community engagement
through stores to build closer communities. Other Walmart Rise
initiatives will be rolled out further in the coming year.
“We’re part of neighborhoods and communities across the country,
4,800 of them. The role Walmart and our associates play in
communities is an important part of our company’s heritage and a
source of pride for us,” said Foran. “The spark we create makes a
big difference to the communities where we have stores, and where
our customers and associates live. We believe it’s a competitive
advantage for us to support our communities while we provide
convenient access to affordable, healthier food, good jobs,
disaster relief and support for local causes our customers and
associates care about.”
About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save
money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores,
online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 275
million customers and members visit our more than 11,300 stores
under 58 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites. With
fiscal year 2019 revenue of $514.4 billion, Walmart employs over
2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader
in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment
opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by
visiting http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at
http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/walmart.
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Walmart Media RelationsCatherine
Sanders1-800-331-0085news.walmart.com/reporter
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