Charity runners raised more than £18.3 million through realbuzz in FY 2025–2026, a 45% increase on the previous year, according to the charity-running platform’s latest Impact Report.
With major races heavily oversubscribed, charity places have become one of the main routes to the start line and a driving force behind fundraising through events.
The money was raised by 15,884 runners for 3,702 charities across five continents, taking realbuzz’s total facilitated fundraising since 2002 past £1.03 billion. It expects annual facilitated fundraising to reach £25 million in FY 2026–2027.
Race demand outstrips supply
More than 1.13 million people entered the ballot for the 2026 TCS London Marathon. The Irish Life Dublin Marathon received 47,000 applications for 22,500 places, while the Copenhagen Marathon drew more than 80,000 applicants in its first year as a balloted event.
Realbuzz handled more than 40,000 enquiries for charity places during the year.
The GENERALI BERLIN-MARATHON charity programme raised £7.04 million, up 41% year on year. The Irish Life Dublin Marathon raised €5.44 million, up 57.2%, and realbuzz has extended its partnership with Dublin Marathon Group to 2030.
In its first year, the Tokyo Marathon’s international charity programme raised about £3.05 million for more than 100 charities, nearly 25% ahead of projections.
Sport in Mind, the mental health sports charity, has raised more than £76,000 and received more than 820 applications since partnering with realbuzz in September 2024.
Kirsty Angove, Chief Marketing & Operations Officer at realbuzz, said: “The story of this year is demand. Places at the world’s biggest races have never been harder to come by, and more and more runners are choosing to get there by raising money for a cause they care about.”
She added: “Our job is to turn that demand into real impact for charities of every size – whether that’s continuing to build the Irish Life Dublin Marathon into one of Europe’s standout fundraising events or helping a charity build its first international running programme. With more than £25 million projected for next year, there’s a lot more to come.”
During the year, realbuzz also launched realbuzz Rewards, a members’ platform with offers from more than 290 brand partners, and supported The Nation’s 5k movement campaign.
