Running a marathon for charity works like this. A charity holds a guaranteed race place, you apply to them for it, pay a registration fee (usually £50 to £125) and promise to raise a minimum sum, which for the London Marathon tends to sit between £1,500 and £3,000. There is a second route too: get your own place through the ballot, your running club or a qualifying time, then fundraise with no minimum at all. Most charity guides bury that second option.
Below is how each route works, using the published terms for the 2027 TCS London Marathon.
How do charity places for the London Marathon work?
Charities hold guaranteed entries and pass them on to runners who commit to fundraise. The official site lists more than 300 charities you can apply to for a London Marathon charity place, each with its own form and terms. You will often see them called "Gold Bond" places.
You fill in the charity's application, usually saying why you want to run for them and how you will raise the money. If offered a place, you pay the registration fee within a short window (The Brain Tumour Charity gives 10 days). The charity then passes your details to London Marathon Events, who email you a link to register officially. Miss that official deadline and you cannot run, whatever the charity says.
Places go quickly. For 2027, Save the Children had allocated every charity place by the autumn before the race.
How much do you have to raise for a charity marathon place?
There is no single figure. Each charity sets its own fee and pledge. Three real examples for 2027, from each charity's own terms:
| Charity | Registration fee | Minimum pledge | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Brain Tumour Charity | £80, non-refundable | £3,000, excluding Gift Aid, by May 2027 | Place can be withdrawn if no money has come in by 1 February 2027 |
| Save the Children | £125 | £2,800 | No fee and no minimum for runners with their own place |
| TOFS | £50, counts towards the pledge | £1,500, before Gift Aid | 75% due by race day, the full £1,500 by 30 June 2027 |
Watch the words "excluding Gift Aid". The extra 25% a charity reclaims from HMRC usually does not count towards your total, so a £2,800 pledge means £2,800 from your sponsors.
What happens if you don't hit your fundraising target?
It depends on the charity, so read the terms before you pay the fee. A pledge is a promise you sign up to, and charities handle a shortfall differently.
The Brain Tumour Charity's 2027 terms say that if you fail to raise the £3,000 "with no prior arrangement/agreement", it can tell London Marathon Events, and that "may impact your chances of running in future events". Other charities ask you to make up the gap yourself.
Note the phrase about prior arrangement. If your fundraising stalls in February, ring the charity's events team then, not after the race.
Can you defer a charity place if you get injured?
Sometimes, but it is the charity's decision, not an automatic right. The Brain Tumour Charity assesses deferrals "on a case-by-case basis" and only in exceptional circumstances. If it agrees, the money you have already raised moves with you to the next year. Registration fees are usually non-refundable.
The race has its own deadlines too. The 2027 London Marathon is a one-off two-day event on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April, and the official Double FAQs set the deferral deadline for Saturday runners at 23:59:59 on Friday 23 April, and for Sunday runners at 23:59:59 on Saturday 24 April. Your allocated day is fixed and cannot be swapped.
If you get injured, tell the charity as soon as you know. Do not quietly stop fundraising and hope.
How does Gift Aid work on marathon sponsorship?
Gift Aid lets a charity claim an extra 25p from HMRC for every £1 a UK taxpayer gives, at no extra cost to the donor. Each sponsor makes their own declaration, usually a tick box on your fundraising page, and should only tick it if they have paid enough tax to cover it.
Two rules catch runners out. First, HMRC's guidance on sponsored challenges says the deposit or registration fee you pay upfront is not eligible for Gift Aid. Second, as above, most charities leave Gift Aid out of your pledge total. It is a bonus for the charity, not a shortcut to your target.
London Marathon charity runners get a personalised Enthuse page, as Enthuse is the event's official fundraising partner, and many charities also accept JustGiving pages.
Ballot, charity, club or Good For Age: which route is right?
There are four main ways in, and only one comes with a compulsory fundraising target.
| Route | Cost to you | Fundraising commitment | How you get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public ballot | £79.99 UK entry, or £49.99 if you donated through Double Your Chances | None. You can still run for a charity | Apply in the spring ballot window. 2027 results went out on 9 July 2026 |
| Charity place | Registration fee, typically £50 to £125 | Minimum pledge, typically £1,500 to £3,000 | Apply direct to one of 300+ listed charities |
| Club place | Standard UK entry (£79.99 in 2026) | None | Be a first-claim member of an affiliated club, then win your club's allocation |
| Good For Age | Standard UK entry fee if accepted | None | Run a qualifying time in the window. 6,000 places for 2027, allocated fastest first |
Good For Age is for quick runners. For 2027 the 18 to 39 standards were sub 2:52 for men and sub 3:38 for women, set between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026, and it is open to UK residents only. If you want to fundraise without a fixed pledge, an own place plus a target you choose is often the better deal.
How do running club places for the London Marathon work?
Clubs affiliated to British Athletics, through England Athletics, Scottish Athletics, Welsh Athletics or Athletics Northern Ireland, receive their own London Marathon entries. Under the 2026 rules, published as a reference on the British Athletics club entry page, a club needed at least 10 first-claim members aged over 18. Clubs with 10 to 39 members went into a ballot for 228 entries, clubs with 40 to 189 got one guaranteed entry, and clubs with more than 190 got two. Entry was the standard £79.99.
For 2027, organisers say clubs will get more places, spread across both days, with details due in the autumn. Your club then decides who gets the place, usually through an internal draw. Published club rules commonly ask for a public ballot rejection, first-claim membership for a set period (sometimes 12 months), and some club races or volunteering. A club with a 12-month membership rule will not let a March joiner into that year's draw, so if this route appeals, find a running club near you well ahead of time.
How can a running club help you hit your fundraising target?
Raising £2,500 from one contact list is hard going. A club spreads the load.
Keep it simple. A sponsored club run or a handicap 5k with a small donation to enter. A raffle at the club's Christmas do. A quiz night at the pub or cafe your club already finishes its Saturday run at. Plenty of venues will host one for regulars, but ask first.
If your club wants to go further and put on its own event, our guide on how to plan a charity run for your run club covers the organising side. And if the club already uses RunClub, the fundraiser can go in as a club event like any other, so members RSVP and you know how many people to tell the venue to expect.
Training for a charity marathon: don't do 16 weeks alone
Many marathon plans run for 16 weeks or more. That is a long time to train solo through a British winter, which is when a spring marathon block happens.
Long runs are easier in a group, and so is the Tuesday session when it is dark at 5pm and raining sideways. If you are not in a club yet, our guide on how to find a running club near you in the UK walks through the options.
Set a realistic goal first: put a recent 10k or half marathon time into the RunClub race predictor for a sensible marathon estimate. Our guide to surviving the 16-week marathon block covers the training itself, and the London Marathon race day guide covers getting to Blackheath, the course and the finish on The Mall.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run for charity if I already have a ballot place?
Yes. Many charities welcome runners with their own place and set no minimum pledge. Save the Children charges own-place runners no registration fee and gives them the same support as charity place runners. You set your own target, and every pound raised still goes to the cause.
Can I apply for the ballot and a charity place at the same time?
Yes, and charities encourage it. The Brain Tumour Charity asks applicants to enter the ballot too. If you win a ballot place after accepting a charity place, tell the charity straight away. You can still run for them, and they can give the guaranteed place to someone else.
When do London Marathon charity places become available?
For 2027, charities were taking applications from around the time of the public ballot in April 2026, and the popular ones filled up within months. The Brain Tumour Charity planned to allocate all its 2027 places by October 2026. If your chosen charity is full, register interest with them for the following year.
