February 2026

In 2013, the National Lottery Community Fund invested £47 million in a deliberate experiment: to test whether the social energy generated by the London 2012 Games could be translated into long‑term social impact.

Spirit of 2012 was established to focus on the social legacy of events — the harder‑to‑measure ingredients of community connection, inclusion and wellbeing that had defined the success of 2012. This briefing draws on Spirit of 2012’s experiment in developing a new kind of legacy model for major events — one focused on social impact rather than physical infrastructure, delivered independently of event organisers, beyond the host city and built around long‑term outcomes and learning. As the global event ecosystem reconsiders how events can drive social value, Spirit’s model offers timely insight into what legacy looks like in practice when it is planned, resourced and governed differently. To learn more, click here.