Alice L. Walton - Time Magazine
With an estimated net worth of $101 billion, Walmart heir Alice L. Walton, 75, is the richest woman in the world. She has historically directed a lot of her giving—$1.5 billion so far—to the arts, founding the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark., as well as the Art Bridges foundation, which helps regional galleries get access to major American works.
"Alice Walton's work on bridging the inequality gap in the arts in America is radical,” Ford Foundation president Darren Walker told TIME recently. “She's not seeking the government to underwrite anything. It's all a private endeavor. And it reflects the needs of the people in communities."
More recently Walton has turned her energy and money toward health care. This month, a new 85,000-square-foot home for the Walton-funded Heartland Whole Health Institute opened on the Crystal Bridges campus, complete with galleries and event spaces as well as health care services, designed to facilitate connections between art, nature, and wellness. And in July, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, also in Bentonville, will accept its first cohort of students, who, along with the four cohorts that follow, will pay no tuition fees. Also coming in 2026: a major expansion of the Crystal Bridges Museum, which will increase its capacity by 50%.
