As a fundraising event, there is no race in the world that comes close to the London Marathon.

An iconic image of the event is the thousands of runners traipsing the streets to raise money for charity, many in fancy dress, hoping to stand out as a rhino, football mascot, giant tree, or escaped convict.

More than three quarters of competitors now run for a good cause and a third of all entry places are offered by charitable organisations.

Charity involvement in the race

The role of charities in the London Marathon hasn’t always been as prominent as it is today. In the early years, it was the runners who took it upon themselves to raise sponsorship money for their causes.

In 1984, the London Marathon named its first ‘official charity’ and granted the Sports Aid Foundation some entry places to help their fundraising. The London Marathon has had one or two official charities every year since (see below for a full list).

As charity involvement grew, the organisers decided to offer more places to a wider range of charities. In 1993, they introduced the Golden Bond scheme to enable charities to gain places. Under this scheme, hundreds of charities buy guaranteed entries for £300 each, which they then offer to the runners who’ve missed out on a ballot place. Runners who take one of these places commit to raise a four figure sum for their cause, often called a ‘pledge’.

Over the last 15 years, this scheme has grown and now includes more than 750 British charities with a total of 15,000 guaranteed places.

Another 550 charities are involved in a Silver Bond scheme which guarantees one entry place every five years. The growth of charity involvement in the London Marathon has been so great the race has entered the record books. In 2007, £46.5 million was raised for good causes by runners, making the London Marathon a Guinness world record breaker as the largest single annual fundraising event in the world. In 2008, that record was broken again when £46.7 million was raised. In total, it is estimated that more than £500 million has been raised for hundreds of charitable causes by London Marathon runners since 1981.

The London Marathon Charitable Trust

In addition, The London Marathon Ltd – the company that organises the race – has produced a total of more than £28 million for its own charity, The London Marathon Charitable Trust. These funds are distributed to help build community sports facilities and develop recreational projects around London. Over the years it has helped nearly 700 projects. In 1999, the Trust established the London Marathon Playing Fields Scheme to help protect London’s playing fields from development. The trustees put money aside so they could buy playing fields threatened by developers and maintain them for recreational and sporting use. To date, five sites have been saved by the fund. The Trust has also pledged £6m to help manage several Olympic facilities after the 2012 Games have finished.

Official charities of the London Marathon

Back to London Marathon History

London Marathon Sponsor History