London Marathon 2017 raised a record £61.5m for charity
Howard Lake | 13 September 2017 | News
The 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon has raised the largest amount for an annual single day charity fundraising event, raising £61.6 million for a range of charities. This is the eleventh successive year in which it has set this world record.
The 2017 figure, the first time the event has passed the £60m barrier, represented an increase of more than £2m on the previous record total of £59.4m raised at the 2016 event.
The total sum raised by the London Marathon since it was founded in 1981 is now more than £890 million.
In addition, since 1981, the London Marathon Charitable Trust has awarded grants of more than £66.5 million to more than 1,200 projects in London, Surrey and other areas where London Marathon Events Ltd has organised events.
Virgin Money Giving
Virgin Money Giving is the not-for-profit fundraising partner of the London Marathon. This year, despite some problems experienced by would-be donors accessing the site just before and during the event, the platform handled more than £25m, including Gift Aid. In 2015 it handled £22m, and in 2016 handled £23m.
Virgin Money Giving site at 1.02pm on Sunday 23 April 2017
Virgin Money Giving will remain the event’s fundraising partner until 2020.
Race records
The 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon boasted a number of records:
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- 39 Guinness World records were set – which is itself a record!
- Mary Keitany set two world best marks as she won her third London Marathon title
- David Weir won a record seventh wheelchair title
- Maunela Schär set a new course record in the women’s wheelchair race
- a record 39,487 people completed the course
Not surprisingly Event Director Hugh Brasher described the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon as “the greatest in the history of the event”.
He said: “Every year, the Virgin Money London Marathon inspires thousands of runners to take on the challenge of running the famous 26.2 miles and to raise these incredible sums for charity. We salute every runner who has contributed to this amazing world record total of £61.5 million, a staggering sum from a one day event.”
This year’s event had a strong mental health theme due to the promotional work of Heads Together, the Marathon’s Charity of the Year.
2018 London Marathon
The 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon takes place on Sunday 22 April. It has already set a world record after 386,050 people applied for a place via the public ballot, the most applications for any marathon in the world.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.