Ross Stevens, the founder and chief executive officer of Stone Ridge Asset Management, pledged $100 million to the US Olympic & Paralympic Foundation to provide a level of financial security to Team USA athletes after they hang up their red, white and blue uniforms.
The program, dubbed the Stevens Financial Security Awards, will begin with Olympians and Paralympians representing the US at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and continue through at least the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, said the USOPF, the fundraising arm of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Stevens’ gift is the largest in the USOPF’s history.
Eligible athletes will receive $200,000 for each Olympic Games in which they compete. The payments will come in two: $100,000 paid at the latter of their 45th birthday or the 20th anniversary of their Olympic Games appearance, and $100,000 to their families or chosen beneficiaries upon their death.
Athletes who earn above $1 million per year will not be eligible for the award, according to a spokesman for USOPC. That may include some of Team USA’s basketball, golf and tennis representatives, many of whom earn multiples of that figure.
“Admiration of US Olympians and Paralympians is uniquely bipartisan, uniting all Americans, and reminding us of our shared humanity,” Stevens said in a statement. His firm Stone Ridge will match its employee contributions to this program dollar for dollar.
“Ross’ gift is extremely innovative in its design,” Ted Mathas, a senior adviser to Stone Ridge and the former CEO and chairman of New York Life, said in an emailed statement. Guaranteed benefits are made possible by life insurance, the USOPF said.
An estimated 60% of US Olympic and Paralympic medals are won by past participants, and the Stevens Awards aims to create longevity and repeat success among Team USA athletes.
The USOPC chair Gene Sykes, one of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s most senior mergers and acquisitions bankers, said Stevens’ gift will buoy athletes who have spurned traditional career paths and financial savings in pursuit of their specific sports.
Stevens’ prior philanthropic efforts include establishing the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which focuses on research and thought leadership in financial technology, and bolstering the PhD program at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business with a $100 million gift.
Fundraising through LA 2028
Team USA, the largest delegation at both summer and winter Olympic Games, relies substantially on donations in part because it doesn’t receive government funding, USOPF Chair Geoff Yang said in an interview.
The foundation raised $230 million in the four years through 2024, representing roughly 11% of the USOPC’s budget, Yang said, an increase on the $125 million it gathered in the four years through 2020.
Most Olympians and Paralympians earn less than $50,000 annually, he said, a figure that USOPF is looking to boost through an effort to raise $500 million by the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Including Stevens’ pledge, the USOPF is more than halfway to that figure and remains eager to secure further support from regular American households in addition to philanthropists, he said.
“We aim to provide resources to athletes who have the honor of wearing our flag on their back and being the best in the world,” Yang said, noting that the USOPF’s efforts prevent athletes from having to work three or four jobs for supplemental income. “There’s much more that can be done.”
Separately, the nonprofit is raising $200 million so medalists can take home more than the $37,500, $22,500 and $15,000 they earned for securing gold, silver and bronze, respectively, at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Morgan Stanley’s Dan Simkowitz, Citadel’s Ken Griffin and S-Cubed Capital’s Mark Stevens are among Wall Street and Silicon Valley executives who have made donations to USOPF, Bloomberg News has reported.
