Although Rob Walton, the 77-year-old son of Walmart co-founder Sam Walton, and Rob's son-in-law, Greg Penner, have both caught heat for Walmart’s low wages and treatment of workers while serving as chair of Walmart, they've also been involved with some major donations by the Walton Family Foundation, which has a branch in Denver.
The foundation was started by Sam and Helen Walton, and it functions largely as a grant-giving operation. According to its website, in 2020 the Walton Family Foundation awarded $749.5 million in grants to address social and environmental problems in both the short and long term.
The foundation has three focus areas: work in northwest Arkansas, where Walmart was founded; K-12 education; and the environment. Four members of the Walton family make up the foundation's board of directors, including Carrie Walton Penner, Rob's daughter and Greg's wife; like her father and husband, she's part of the new Broncos ownership group.
Carrie Walton Penner's biography on the foundation website says that she's passionate about K-12 education and is a proponent of the school-choice movement, which supports giving public funds to charter and private schools through a voucher system. She’s also on the board of directors for the KIPP Foundation, the country’s largest charter school organization.
Annie Proietti, a granddaughter of Sam Walton, is chair of the foundation's board; she's served on committees for each of the foundation's three focus areas. At the time of her 2009 wedding, she planned to live in Denver, but she has largely avoided the public arena, and her current address is unknown. Proietti has a master's degree in education policy from Stanford University and, like Carrie Walton Penner, backs school choice.
Lukas Walton, a grandson of Sam Walton, attended Colorado College and heads the environmental program at the foundation. Another grandchild, Tom Walton, rounds out the group of Waltons on the foundation board; he has no public connection to Colorado.
According to the most recent data available, in 2020 the foundation gave $325,000 to 5280 High School, a charter school that moved from central Denver to south Denver. But that was just one of many donations that year.
Of the foundation's $749.5 million granted in 2020, $342.2 million went to special projects outside of the three focus areas. Some were grants to universities that were tied to education issues (but not K-12 specifically). Others were related to the focus areas but outside the home region, such as grants to Teach for America and UNICEF.
Carrie Walton Penner is one of four family members on the Walton Family Foundation board.
Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation gave $6 million to the Catena Foundation, helmed by Rob Walton's son, also named Sam Walton. And its largest grant, for $9.8 million, went to the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, whose stated mission is to "elevate people, planet, and purpose by changing what people feel is possible and know is doable."
The younger Sam Walton lives in Aspen. He operates the Catena Foundation, which does not have a website but was listed as a contributor to the Colorado COVID Relief Fund and reportedly paid $252,000 to cover the salary of a climate advisor for the State of Colorado. According to IRS filings, the Catena Foundation made nearly $25 million in charitable disbursements in 2020.
Ben Walton is Rob’s other son. He and his wife, Lucy Ana, split their time between Colorado and Chile and reportedly own a house in Denver’s Hilltop neighborhood. They also purchased eight acres of land in Cherry Hills for $22 million — topped only by pop star Ciara and Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson’s purchase of a Cherry Hills home for $25 million as the most expensive residential real estate acquisition in metro Denver.
Ben and Lucy Ana’s philanthropic endeavors focus on ZOMALAB, which works on creating solutions to problems facing Colorado and Chile. It has a fund called SyncUp Colorado that awards money to organizations that come up with education-to-employment partnerships, and has partnered with Enduring Earth to work on nature conservation.
