With $1 Billion, Walton Tops Nonprofit List

With almost $1 billion in assets, the Walton Family Foundation topped our list of “Largest nonprofit organizations” in Northwest Arkansas.

The Walton Foundation had $137.9 million in revenue for 1999, the most recent year for which tax records were available for the majority of organizations on our list.

For many of the foundations on our list, fiscal 1999 ends in 2000, and the Internal Revenue Service allows a one-year extension on filing 990 forms (which we used for the basis for most of our information).

Universities took the next two spots on our list. At No. 2, the University of Arkansas Foundation had $335.17 million in assets and $80.14 million in revenue for 1999.

Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation was No. 3 with $208 million in assets and $254 million in revenue.

Bernice Jones of Springdale and her late husband, Harvey Jones, were responsible for three of the largest organizations on our list: the Harvey and Bernice Jones Center for Families, with assets of $88.91 million; the Harvey and Bernice Jones Charitable Trust, with assets of $16.1 million; and the Harvey and Bernice Jones Foundation, with assets of $5 million. Harvey Jones was the founder of Jones Truck Lines of Springdale.

Medical institutions were also prominently featured on our list. Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville was at the top of that category with $84 million in assets and $102.89 million in revenue.

St. Mary-Rogers Memorial Hospital was right behind WRMC with $70.66 million in assets and $57.21 million in revenue. The Rogers hospital is part of Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas, which also has Mercy Medical Center in Bentonville and 11 Mercy Medical Clinics in the area. Mercy Health System, as a separate entity from the Rogers hospital, had $14.52 million in assets and $23.56 million in revenue.