Arizona State University president Michael Crow joined Melani and Rob Walton at the announcement of the Waltonsʼ initial investment in sustainability work at ASU in 2012. Photo courtesy of the ASU Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service.
beliefs in us. More so, we have a strong support staff/team that extends beyond us in managing our philanthropic investments. The diligence of our team in working with grantees to establish and monitor performance outcomes is commendable. Frontdoors: How does your foundation reflect the causes that are important to you personally? MELANI: The foundation hopes to create bridges between organizations so they can work together on solutions to big problems, having far greater impact than they could on their own. Often that means supporting innovative local projects or initiatives and seeing them grow into something bigger — taking the local and making it global.
22 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | JANUARY 2019
We’re honored to work with organizations here in the Valley and around the world that are committed to learning, and to advancing knowledge. Many have a big vision about what’s possible. Our foundation’s focus areas don’t fit into traditional buckets; our foundation aspires to help others by elevating “people, planet and purpose.” Frontdoors: We understand you’re embarking on a new partnership with ASU. Tell us about that. ROB: We’ve been partners with Arizona State University for a number of years, and it’s been a wonderful relationship. We started back in 2012 with funding to establish the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. What the foundation is