Legacy Endowment Fund

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Winter Games, venues for the events will all be completed well in advance of the Opening Ceremonies and enable Canadian athletes to train on the competition sites. To ensure that this home-field advantage continues to benefit all Canadians long after 2010, organizing partners for the Games, including the Government of Canada, have made investments towards that end.

The Legacy Endowment Fund has been established to ensure operational funding for specific sport venues both before and after the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The venues included in this Fund are the Whistler Sliding Centre, the Whistler Olympic Parkand the Richmond Oval.

The Fund is also intended to provide resources to fund amateur sport and coach development programs at the 2010 Games’ facilities and elsewhere in Canada.

The Legacy Endowment Fund is governed by the Games Operating Trust, agreed to during the bid-phase as part of the Multi-Party Agreement signed in November 2002.

Never before has a Legacy Endowment Fund been created so far in advance of the Games.

The Government of Canada fulfilled its commitment to the Fund by investing $55 million in March 2005. The Province of British Columbia is a major funding partner and has also contributed $55 million to the Legacy Endowment Fund. Interest earned on these investments is used to re-capitalize the Fund, and as of December 2007, the Legacy Endowment Fund had grown to more than $133 million.