“Our foundation is all about building constellations, not lone stars,” Waugh said. “This means that we support our partners beyond the donations we provide — and we also help our partners connect with one another. We work side-by-side with many organizations to co-create programs, providing true partnership, and it stands out.”

The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation celebrates the strong support it has received from Sprouts leadership since its founding in 2015. Current CEO, Jack Sinclair, who joined the company in 2019, has continued advocating while putting his own imprint on the work of the foundation.

“Jack genuinely cares about our store team members, and he’s always encouraging us to look for ways to get them involved with the foundation,” Waugh said. “Last year, he suggested we provide them with the opportunity to recommend organizations to receive grants from Sprouts.”

Though the nomination concept was new, it stems from a long-standing belief among Sprouts leadership that there are great organizations surrounding each Sprouts store, and nobody has a better understanding for what’s happening in the community than those living there. Through this new initiative, team members were encouraged to nominate local organizations as potential recipients of monetary donations. “The response has been incredible,” Waugh said. “We recently awarded donations to over 550 nonprofit organizations and schools — and over 20 percent were recommended by our team members.”

Sprouts now awards all its local grants with in-store check presentations. “In September, all 450-plus Sprouts stores helped to award $3 million in donations in one morning. The energy of the day is so inspiring — when a team member helped make the nomination, they present the check and share about their connection to the organization,” she said. 

Growing School Gardens Summit

One of the foundation’s strongest commitments is its support of school gardening programs. “School-based gardening and cooking programs are recognized as one of the most effective tools in helping children form a lasting connection with eating fresh fruits and vegetables,” Waugh said. “But they also do so much more. School gardens serve as living laboratories, where subjects students are learning in the classroom can be experienced in real time. Research shows that school gardening programs have a positive impact on academic outcomes, social-emotional wellness, nutrition education and environmental stewardship.” 

Since 2015, Sprouts has awarded more than $40 million in grants to organizations that operate school garden programs. The funds are designed to help regional nonprofits scale their capacity to serve more students, while developing highly effective educational programs and strengthening their operations.

To further support the school garden movement the foundation created the national Growing School Gardens Summit in 2022, uniting school garden educators from across the country with professional development, peer-to-peer learning, and high value networking. The summit hosts more than 650 attendees for four days of learning, including workshops, field trips and classroom cooking demonstrations to help educators gain new skills to bring back to their schools. Waugh said it is the largest gathering of school garden educators in the country. The 2026 event will take place this coming February in Sprouts hometown of Phoenix.

In addition to the Summit and the school garden grants, Sprouts also holds an annual service day for its team members with the school gardens it funds often playing a starring role. “We host dozens of volunteer events, where our team members help to install and refresh school gardens or help sort food with our local food bank partners,” Waugh said. “Our annual Day of Service includes over 50 volunteer events that happen across the country on the same day, and our entire leadership team rolls up their sleeves and gets involved.”

Round Up for Kids

Another child-focused project that Sprouts runs through its Foundation is its Round Up for Kids Nutrition Education program in its stores. Customers are given the opportunity to donate at the register by rounding up their purchase to the next dollar. “These funds are in addition to the $3 million that Sprouts contributes to our foundation each year, and they stay local in the community where they are raised,” Waugh said. “Our vision for the round up is that our customers and team members can see these donations at work directly in the schools and nonprofit organizations in their backyard.”

Partner Spotlights

The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation has also invested heavily into helping after-school programs like Boys & Girls Clubs to serve more nutritious snacks and meals. 

“We can’t simply get kids excited about eating healthy. We also must help ensure that nourishing food is available when they’re out in the community or at home,” Waugh said.

The foundation has donated $700,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee to create an on-site hot meals program at its teen center. “We’re matching the center with a chef who is going to help design a healthy meals program with input from the teens as part one of our three-year investment,” she said. “Part two will be creating a workforce development program, where the teens will help operate the program.” 

In Orlando, the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation is helping Hebni Nutrition Consultants expand its fresh produce distribution program to serve families in Orlando communities. The Foundation’s grant funding purchased a new Fresh Stop Mobile Market, serving as a pop-up produce stand in food desert communities.

On the opposite coast, in San Diego, the foundation has partnered with Sage Garden Project since 2019 to provide edible education in 30 elementary schools. With a total investment of over $1M, Sprouts funding supports hands-on gardening and cooking lessons for students as they learn how to grow and prepare nourishing food using curriculum lessons involving math, reading and science.

Though the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation staff only consists of three team members including its executive director, it aims for an outsized impact on the communities it serves — and it appears to have succeeded.