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Saturday, June 7th, 2014

Walmart Heirs Have Given 0.04 Percent Of Net Worth To Family Foundation: Report

Author:     ELEANOR GOLDBERG
Source:     The Huffington Post
Publication Date:     06/04/2014 10:59 am EDT
 Link: Walmart Heirs Have Given 0.04 Percent Of Net Worth To Family Foundation: Report
Stephan:   The average middle class family donates six per cent of its income to charity. The Walmart heirs... not so much -- try 0.04%. This is really an amazing tale of greed and hoarding, and it made me about think about philanthropy by the uber rich in general. This afternoon I realized that large scale philanthropy has become the modern equivalent of the aristocracy's medieval patronage. Rather than having a society that makes wellness a collective priority, with all the social institutions that entails, we have an aristocracy idiosyncratically supporting peasants. Click through to see video.

The heirs to the Walmart fortune, worth an estimated $140 billion, are one of the richest families in America, but a new report says they’ve given just 0.04 percent of their personal wealth to their charitable foundation.

Our Walmart, a group that fights for fair wages and other rights for Walmart workers, released a damning report on Tuesday of the Waltons’ giving tendencies. After analyzing 23 tax returns filed by the Walton Family Foundation, the group found that the company’s four heirs — Rob, Jim, Alice and Christy Walton — have given a total of $58.49 million to the family foundation, which comes to 0.04 percent of their net worth.

According to the report, the organization — which has just under $2 billion in assets — is 99 percent funded by charitable lead annuity trusts (CLATs), which offer the Waltons a sizable perk.

The money put into these trusts is designated for charity, but if the assets appreciate significantly, the money can be passed on — tax-free — to the heirs, according to Bloomberg.

A donor secures assets in the trusts for a set period of time and gives away a set amount each year. Whatever funds are leftover at the end of the […]

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