# Daily Mile joins the London Marathon Foundation - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2026/09/03/daily-mile-joins-the-london-marathon-foundation/ - Published: 2026-09-03T14:55:50+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake **The Daily Mile Foundation has become a subsidiary of the London Marathon Foundation, in a move the two charities say will strengthen efforts to improve children’s physical activity across the UK. The change took effect from 1 August 2026 and follows ten years of INEOS as the programme’s lead partner.** The Daily Mile encourages children to spend 15 minutes each school day walking, running or wheeling outdoors. It has reached 8,000 schools and two million children and young people in England, and has been adopted internationally. The London Marathon Foundation, which funds and scales up physical activity initiatives, will take on stewardship of the programme. ![Schoolchildren running The Daily Mile in a playground.](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads. cloud/2026/09/TheDailyMile-1.jpg) Photo: Daily Mile Foundation ## A first for the Foundation The move is a first for the London Marathon Foundation and builds on its role as an Official Implementation Partner of The Daily Mile in England since 2025. This resulted in the creation of three regional roles covering the West Midlands, the North West, and London and the South East. ## Advertisement The Daily Mile Foundation will continue to operate as a separate charity, keeping its core principles of being free, inclusive and easy for schools to deliver. Founder** Elaine Wyllie MBE** will remain a trustee. She established The Daily Mile when she was a headteacher in Stirling. Concerned by declining fitness levels among children, she created an initiative that was free, inclusive and easy for every school to adopt.  ![A child with arms on hips viewed from behind at a junior parkrun on a sunny morning. He wears a navy blue London Marathon Foundation tshirt.](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads. cloud/2026/09/London-Marathon-Foundation-continues-partnership-with-junior-parkrun- scaled-1.jpg) Image: London Marathon Foundation ## ⏎ Collaboration to tackle inactivity > Nick Bitel, chief executive, London Marathon Foundation, said: > “The Daily Mile is a brilliantly simple idea with proven impact, and our work > together so far has helped millions of school children to become consistently > active. At a time when too many children are not meeting recommended activity > levels, collaboration like this is essential if we are to create lasting change > and reach those who need it most”. > The organisations note that fewer than half of children currently meet the Chief > Medical Officers’ guideline of 60 minutes of daily activity. > ![The Daily Mile logo](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2026/09/the-daily- > mile-logo-2026.jpg) > Image: The Daily Mile Foundation > The collaboration is a notable example of consolidation in the charity sector, > bringing a widely used school programme under a national grantmaking foundation > to help it reach more schools. > ![Children running The Daily Mile at an event hosted in partnership with the Scottish > Government at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow in May 2026.](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads. > cloud/2026/09/the-daily-mile-children-run-at-scotsoun-stadium-scaled.jpeg) > Children running The Daily Mile at an event hosted in partnership with the Scottish > Government at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow in May 2026. * **[London Marathon Charitable Trust rebrands as London Marathon Foundation](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/02/21/london-marathon-charitable-trust-rebrands-as-london-marathon-foundation/)( 21 February 2023) * **[London Marathon Charity Ballot returns](https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/11/28/london-marathon-charity-ballot-returns/)( 28 November 2025) * **[From night walks to sleep outs – seven fundraising events](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/10/01/from-night-walks-to-sleep-outs-7-fundraising-events/)( 1 October 2021)**