Walton Family Reorganizes Its Foundation, Pledges To Give $2 Billion By 2020.

Carrie Walton Penner with students at YES Prep North Central, a Texas charter school. (Photo credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes)

The family foundation directed by heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune plans to make $2 billion in grants during the next five years, board chair Carrie Walton Penner announced in a letter released Friday afternoon.
The Walton Family Foundation has also streamlined its board from 19 to five members, all of whom are children and grandchildren of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. The board now includes his daughter Alice and his son Rob; Rob’s children, Ben and Carrie Walton Penner; and their cousin Steuart, son of Jim Walton. Other family members will serve on the foundation’s committees and may rotate onto the board in the future, the letter said.
Founded 22 years ago, the foundation will continue to focus giving in the areas of K-12 education, ocean and river conservation and communities in Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is based.
“Looking ahead, we’ve challenged our grantees and partners to continually improve how best to move the needle,” Penner said in the letter.
In 2015, the foundation doled out $374.7 million in grants and held $2.6 billion in assets at the end of the year. The foundation regularly receives distributions from a series of charitable trusts, according to spokesperson Daphne Moore.
Forbes estimates that Sam Walton’s three living children – Alice, Rob and Jim – have a combined net worth of $99.3 billion.