$100 million gift from Ross Stevens to fund landmark athlete awards program debuting at 2026 Winter Olympics

Ross Stevens, a 1991 Wharton graduate and former Penn donor, has pledged $100 million to support U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes through a new long-term financial awards program set to launch with the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina.

With the Milan-Cortina Olympics scheduled to begin on Feb. 6, the gift — made through the Stevens Financial Security Awards — is designed as a post-competition safety net for every American athlete who competes for Team USA.

According to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the commitment is the largest single monetary donation in the organization’s history. Stevens, the founding donor of Wharton’s Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance, has framed the initiative as an effort to remove financial barriers for athletes who often delay careers and income to train at the highest level.

Under the program, each U.S. Olympian and Paralympian will receive a total of $200,000 in benefits for every Games in which they compete, drawn from Stevens’ $100 million anchor gift.

The awards are structured in two parts: $100,000 paid out 20 years after an athlete’s first qualifying Games or upon reaching age 45, whichever comes later, and an additional $100,000 reserved for the athlete’s family or designated beneficiaries as a guaranteed benefit.

Athletes will be eligible each time they represent Team USA, meaning multiple Olympic or Paralympic appearances can translate into several Stevens Awards over the course of a career.

“I do not believe that financial insecurity should stop our nation’s elite athletes from breaking through to new frontiers of excellence,” Stevens said in connection with the launch of the program, adding that admiration for U.S. Olympians and Paralympians “is uniquely bipartisan, uniting all Americans.” U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee chair Gene Sykes called the gift “transformative,” saying it creates not only a financial safety net but also a springboard that can propel athletes into the next chapter of their lives after sport.

The announcement continues Stevens’ broader philanthropic activity, which has included major gifts to academic institutions and initiatives in financial innovation and human rights, and it arrives amid renewed attention to how American Olympians are funded in a system that receives no direct federal government support.