The Walton Family Foundation has named nonprofit veteran Caryl Stern, who currently serves as president of Unicef USA, to be its next leader.
Stern replaces Kyle Peterson, who in January announced plans to leave the $4.9 billion philanthropy, run by the family of Walmart Stores founder Sam Walton, after a little more than two years on the job.
Both the Walton Family Foundation and Unicef USA are grant-making powerhouses. Walton gives about $595 million a year, and Unicef USA steered $490 million to Unicef and other nonprofits in the fiscal year ended on June 30, 2018.
Unicef USA is a media-savvy organization with nine offices spread across the country and 26 board members, including actress Téa Leoni and former basketball player Dikembe Mutombo.
The Walton Family Foundation has a much lower profile. It operates out of its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters and three satellite offices. All five board members are related to the Walmart founder.
Stern says she was attracted to the Waltons’ strong family ties as well as the level of expertise among the foundation’s staff’s and the deeply ingrained sense of mission at the organization. She says the foundation’s three major program areas — education, the environment, and increasing economic opportunity in Arkansas — “aligns with everything I care about.”
The grant maker’s focus on education was particularly compelling, Stern says.
“Education is the only tool in the toolbox that truly interrupts the cycle of poverty and proposes a future,” Stern says.
Environmental Work
Stern says she has more to learn about the foundation’s environmental work. At Unicef USA, her focus on climate change usually came after a disaster, including in the Bahamas, where the organization is providing relief following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Dorian.
“I have seen the impact of the environment on the people who live with the result,” she says. “To be part of an organization that is addressing it from the other side, I think, is exciting to me. It’s going to force me to stretch and grow.”
Even after years of experience at Unicef USA, and before that at the Anti-Defamation League, Stern says she’s ready to learn. Her years of trying to improve health and education have taught her that valuable lessons are everywhere.
“If you want to see real innovation, go into a poverty zone,” she says, where people without a lot of resources develop new ways to make life easier.
Media Presence
During the 12 years Stern has led Unicef USA, she has more than doubled the group’s public support to about $598 million. She’s been a visible leader, frequently contributing to major media outlets like CNN, Time, and the Washington Post. In 2017, People magazine named her one of “25 women changing the world.” The same year, Family Circle called her one of the “20 most influential moms.”
During its fiscal year that ended in June of 2018, the organization spent nearly $2.5 million advocating for public policy and created the #HerToo campaign, which sought to bring attention to women and girls who have been victims of violence or discrimination. Through the campaign, supporters sent about 76,000 letters to U.S. senators in support of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017, which became law last year.
Until recently, Walton family members have been relatively quiet about their philanthropy. Over the past several years, Sam Walton’s grandchildren, including board chair Carrie Walton Penner, have taken a more public role, writing updates on progress and granting interview requests. The foundation’s education programs have expanded from largely pushing for charter schools to building public support for a range of educational options.
Stern says it is too soon to say exactly how large a public profile she’ll have as the foundation’s leader.
“The family knows who I am and what I do, “she says. “I use my voice. I totally understand, though, that I’m going to work for the family.”
Special Olympics
Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, says Stern was a champion of supporting people with intellectual disabilities at a time when it was a struggle getting other leaders behind the issue. He says Stern was particularly supportive of inviting Lucy Meyer, who has an intellectual disability, to be the spokeswoman for a campaign run jointly by the two organizations.
Stern, Shriver says, is anything but low-key.
“Professional leaders capture attention, galvanize coalitions, and they execute,” Shriver says. “That’s what Caryl will do.”
At Unicef USA, Stern’s total compensation was $665,879 in 2018, and she devoted 70 hours a week to the job, according to the organization’s filings with the Internal Revenue Service.
A Walton Family Foundation spokeswoman declined to say how much Stern will make at the Arkansas grant maker.
Will she work as much?
Says Stern: “The passion of the family is so contagious. I can’t imagine that I’m not just going to work my butt off.”
Alex Daniels covers foundations, donor-advised funds, fundraising research, and tax issues for the Chronicle. He recently conducted an interview with the MacArthur Foundation’s Julia Stasch, who is stepping down after five years as president. Email Alex or follow him on Twitter.
Update: This article has been updated with a more recent figure for Caryl Stern’s compensation at Unicef.
