A marathon run represents a huge personal challenge, but is also a fantastic opportunity to raise money for a charity that's close to your heart. When raising money for charity by running a marathon, you have a range of online and offline ways to do it. Here we offer both options, along with some further advice, in our guide to raising money for a marathon.

Before you start: Things to consider when fundraising for a charity race or marathon

Setting a fundraising goal for your marathon challenge

Before you start fundraising, it's key to set yourself fundraising goals. Having a goal helps you to stay focused and gives you something to work towards. This could be reaching a specific total or securing a certain number of donors with a minimum contribution.

For some marathons, like the London Marathon, you can secure a charity entry where the charity pays for your place in the event in agreement that you raise a pre-determined amount. If you secured a place through the ballot and plan to raise money for charity, the amount you aim to raise is up to you. What is achievable and realistic in the time you have? Think about the race you're running, the charity you want to support and how many potential people you think you can reach with your fundraising efforts.

How do I choose a charity or cause to fundraise for?

It really is up to you. Try and find a charity that resonates with you. Look at your interests. What are you passionate about and what gets you thinking? Have you or someone close to you been affected by the cause the charity supports? If you’re running for a charity that truly means something to you personally it will show in your fundraising story. Plus, it will help keep you going if you hit the wall at mile 20. Here is a handy list showing the London Marathon charities with places available for this year's run!

Online fundraising ideas for a marathon

Let's start with the online options - such methods help you keep funds rolling in year round, especially handy in the early stages of your training, when you have enough to focus on! These are quick to set up, low effort and if promoted well should see the funds roll in!

Raising money via easyfundraising

You can fundraise simply and effectively for your marathon or race through easyfundraising. It's also a great way of promoting your cause to your friends, family and wider community, and generating donations.

It works like this:

Register your marathon challenge via this page, suggested cause name would be 'YOUR NAME - London Marathon for NSPCC'
Collect free cashback donations through online shopping Invite people to join easyfundraising and support you. When they shop with more than 8,000 online retailers, the retailers will then donate a part of their total spend to your marathon efforts as a thank you for shopping with them.
Easily track your progress You'll have your own personal dashboard where you can track your progress, check how many supporters you have and donations you've secured!

Top Tip - We also offer a selection of promotional tools. Including pre-written social media posts, WhatsApp messages and more! Have a look at our ‘Promote my cause’ page once signed up to shout about your marathon fundraising efforts!

Create a Facebook Birthday Fundraiser

Make your birthday even more meaningful by raising money for your charity run with a Facebook fundraiser. On your birthday, Facebook will ask you if you would like to share a post asking people to donate to your chosen charity – use this opportunity to share your fundraising efforts with friends and family!

You should also use your social media channels to keep people updated on your training and fundraising journey. Add pictures to keep your updates exciting. On these updates you can add links to your easyfundraising cause page or your JustGiving page!

Offline fundraising methods: Fundraising events and sponsor appeals

Online fundraising opportunities have changed the game, but you shouldn’t forget the traditional ways. The oldies are still goodies! Offline fundraising should also form a key part of your fundraising strategy.

Hosting events like bake sales, coffee mornings, raffles or car washes are all great ideas. Pick which you think will work for you and the messaging of your charity. You’ll need to plan your event appropriately and put a specific budget behind it – remember it’s about making money rather than spending too much. You’ll also need to promote it. Social media is a great tool again, but you can’t beat a little bit of word of mouth too. If you’re holding a bake sale at a community hub or a pub quiz at your local, create posters and flyers to put up at the venue or hand out during other events.

Bake Sale

A bake sale is a great way to boost your marathon fundraising efforts while bringing people together over delicious or energy boosting treats. Host it at work, a community event, or even after a training run with fellow runners and supporters.

Make sure you have enough bakers and helpers
Keep a cash float handy
Cater for all dietary needs - offer at least one vegan or gluten free option and try to avoid nuts!

For a more exciting and creative fundraising idea you could host a Bake-off style competition, where people pay to sample and vote for the winner.

Quiz night

A quiz night is a social and engaging way to raise. You could partner with a local pub or community centre to host the quiz. Charge teams an entry fee to take part in the quiz and offer a prize or a percentage of the raised money to the winning team. Consider including a raffle or bonus rounds to raise more funds and to keep it entertaining!

Car wash

A car wash is a fun and hands-on way to raise money for your charity race. Team up with a local venue, your own venue or a local carpark, set up a car wash station and charge for cleaning cars.

Advertise locally with leaflets and social media
Set up in a highly popular and visible area
Add some extra fundraising elements - sell raffle tickets, ask for donations, offer a 'pay what you can' option

Raffle

Raffles are a fun and easy way to raise money for your charity run. You can host a raffle at a fundraising event, such as a pub quiz, coffee morning, or post-run gathering. You could also host a raffle at a club you go to or at work.

Raffle prizes can be obtained by asking at local businesses or seeing if friends or family have any raffle prizes they could donate – such as bottles, boxes of chocolates or bath sets.

Sponsorship form

Give out a sponsorship form at your place of work, local pub or extracurricular activity. Having a sponsorship form available with a photo and a short description showcasing your fundraising story will encourage friends, family or colleagues to donate!

Leave the form out at work, in your local pub or share on email. Whoever the charity is that are lucky enough to have you running for them will have a downloadable sponsor form you can use.

Coffee morning

Hosting a coffee morning for friends, family or colleagues is a cheap and social way to raise funds and bring people together. You can host a coffee morning at home or at work and ask attendees to bring a treat each!

How to get sponsors

There are a few things you could do to motivate people to contribute and help you reach your fundraising goal. One of which is to create a compelling fundraising story.

But it’s fairly simple to make your personal journey be one people want to get behind and stand out from the crowd. Engage with your potential donors by creating videos along the way. Show them how hard you’re pushing yourself and don’t shy away from the ups and downs. You’ll be creating a human narrative – people love a story of someone pushing against adversity.

If you give people something they can get behind, they will be much more likely to part with their cash in donations. Let them know about the charity. What is the cause? Why is it so important? What affect will donations have on the charity and its purpose? Why does it mean so much to you?

If you have personal experiences with the charity or someone close to you has been affected, tell the story. If you give people a reason to donate, it will feel like a no-brainer. Also, if you have a fundraising goal that truly inspires its likely people will get behind you too.

Corporate and workplace sponsorship

Can you speak to your boss about the potential for sponsorship? Could you contact local businesses in the area with a sponsorship letter asking them to get behind your cause? Again, your story and the reasons behind your fundraising efforts will be integral to sponsorship. And how do you thank these sponsors? By talking about them on social media or running with their name on your kit? It’s up to you and can be agreed between you and the sponsors.

See if your place of work will assist you in your fundraising efforts. They could sponsor you by hosting workplace events such as a quiz, a bake-off or donating the ‘tuck-shop’ money collected to your cause. Events such as these would boost your funds and spread the word for other potential supporters at work!

Top Tip - Businesses can support your cause even further by making purchases, such as travel, accommodation, and office supplies, through easyfundraising and selecting your Marathon Fundraising as their cause. This allows them to raise for your selected charity at no additional cost!

Ready, steady, get raising!

There you have it! Some essential tips to get you started on your marathon fundraising efforts. Remember to set fundraising goals and create a compelling story that your supporters can truly get behind. Push your cause online but keep it classic with some offline, tradition or creative fundraising ideas too. Don’t forget to create a fundraising page on easyfundraising to give your supporters a simple way to donate to your cause whilst they shop online.

Running a marathon for many people is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and achievement. It’s a great way to challenge yourself and a fantastic opportunity to raise money for a charity that means something to you. And you just might inspire others to do the same.

Register your marathon or running challenge with easyfundraising

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