$10 million gift from Ed Hall and his family creates a regional business and entrepreneurship college
A Kelowna’s Hall family has made a record-setting $10 million gift to Okanagan College, creating the Hall School of Business and Entrepreneurship and placing a local entrepreneurial family at the heart of a new regional business hub.
The Hall Family Foundation, led by Ed Hall and his family, is a Kelowna-based philanthropic vehicle built on a fortune made through Canadian Adult Communities and Regency Retirement Resorts, which developed innovative retirement living options across the Okanagan.
Ed Hall has a long association with Okanagan College, including serving as Entrepreneur-in-Residence in 2014, and says that getting to know its faculty, students, alumni, and community ties convinced the family this was the right institution for such a landmark gift.
Speaking at the announcement, Ed Hall framed the donation as an investment in unlocking entrepreneurial potential among young people who might not otherwise see themselves as founders, emphasizing that the family wants the Hall School to be defined by classroom excellence and real-world impact.
He described the gift as a way to help the college’s already strong business programs “soar to new heights” and spoke personally about his hope to see his grandson graduate from the school that will now bear the family name, underlining the multi-generational intent behind the philanthropy.
Ed’s son, Fraser Hall, brings a high-growth startup and venture capital lens to the family’s giving, having co-founded Recon Instruments, direct-to-consumer brand Article, and Vancouver-based venture firm Rhino Ventures.
Fraser characterized the family’s philanthropy as an effort to “light a spark” in more young people so they can experience the rewards and challenges of building their own ventures, signaling that the Hall School will have strong ties to contemporary startup culture and founder-to-founder mentorship.
The $10 million commitment is the largest donation ever made to a public college in British Columbia and elevates Okanagan College into the company of Canadian institutions with named business schools, with the Hall family using their philanthropy to shape a distinctly applied, entrepreneur-led model of business education.
Their funding will also establish the Hall Entrepreneurship Incubator, providing seed capital, access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, and enhanced programming for students and local founders, reinforcing the family’s broader pattern of regional philanthropy that includes major support for youth, health, and social services in the Okanagan.