Legacy Trust UK is an independent charitable trust that has been endowed with £40 million from the Big Lottery Fund, the Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to use the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a catalyst to fund projects which enable communities from across the UK to take part in cultural and sporting activity in the build up to 2012.

The UK School Games (2008-11) is funded by a £6 million grant from Legacy Trust UK. As an event which fully encompasses sport, education and culture, the UK School Games was the first national project to be funded by the Legacy Trust UK. The rest of the £40 million endowment will be allocated to three other specific national initiatives, as well as projects across the three nations and nine English regions of the UK.

The Trust will co-ordinate its work with that of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). It is expected that many of the projects that the Trust funds will be eligible for inclusion in the programme for the Cultural Olympiad, which is a key element of the 2012 Games.