Marathon Fundraising Ideas & Tips for Charity Runners

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I signed up for my first marathon in 2014 with a charity team, and I remember the moment I hit submit on my application. I was thrilled, excited, and also a little scared. I had a fundraising minimum of around $1,800, a hard deadline, and absolutely no plan. I was running the Chicago Marathon for Girls on the Run, an organization I genuinely loved. But loving a cause and knowing how to ask people to donate turned out to be two completely different skills.

I don’t work in sales. The thought of posting about my fundraiser felt like I was standing up at an open mic and asking everyone to open their wallets.

If you are trying to figure out how to fundraise for a marathon and the asking part is the part that scares you, you are in the right place. I have fundraised across eight marathons (and one half marathon) with two charities. I have gone from barely scraping past the minimum to raising over $35,000. Not because I got better at selling. Because I stopped trying to sell.

Why Fundraising Feels So Hard When You Are Not a Salesperson

Fundraising feels hard when you are not a salesperson because it triggers a fear of rejection and feels like begging for money instead of sharing your goals. It can bring up a lot of questions you need answered. Understanding why it feels bad is the first step to making it feel manageable.

The Psychological Barriers

• Fear of rejection. A no on a fundraiser feels like a no to you personally, not to a request that arrived at a bad time. Putting yourself out there is really vulnerable and a no can feel really uncomfortable.
• The beggar mindset. You assume you are being a burden, so you shrink the ask or avoid asking altogether.
• Identity clash. You see yourself as a helper, a mom, a friend, a runner. Not a closer.
• It’s uncomfortable. Urgency and persuasion feel manipulative, so you avoid anything that resembles those behaviors..

The Skill Gap

When it comes to asking friends to donate and closing deals isn’t a natural part of your day, it feels uncomfortable because there are skills you haven’t tapped yet.

• No script. Salespeople practice handling hesitation. Without that, you freeze the second someone says maybe.
• Focus on the transaction. You fixate on the dollar amount instead of the human connection behind it.
• Fear of the silence. The pause after an ask feels unbearable, so you apologize and walk it back.

None of this means you are bad at fundraising. It means you are a human who has been handed a task that looks like sales when it actually is not.

What I Tried First and Why It Did Not Work

In 2014, my entire strategy was this: post a link, say “any amount helps,” and hope for the best. My strategy was basically, “I’m fundraising to run a marathon, AHHHH!” 

I posted a handful of times over several months. Every post sounded like every other charity post on the internet. I softened the ask so there wasn’t meaning behind it; I felt vaguely embarrassed, and I would barely share. I was focused on the fear of the balance hitting my credit card instead of the meaning behind what the donations create. I hit my minimum, barely, and I would not call a single thing I did innovative.

At some point I called a friend who had fundraised for a race before for advice. What she told me stuck with me for years. She said it is not about raising money. It is about asking people to support a really great charity, and asking for support to run the race of your dreams.

That reframe really changed the game for me. It helped me see the donation as a way to support a bigger cause. My messaging went from begging people to donate to encouraging.

Related Post: I’m not the only charity runner who’s made assumptions based on my fear of asking for donations. Here are 10 common mistakes that are holding back your fundraising campaign!

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The Shift That Changed Everything

After vowing to never run a marathon ever again, I decided to run again in 2017. I ran for Girls on the Run again, and this time I decided to set a goal so big that thinking about it made me want to throw up.

I committed to funding 27 scholarships, one for every mile of the marathon plus a full scholarship for the final .2. At $157 per girl, that came out to over $4,200. It was more than double what I had raised the first time, and I had no idea if it was possible.

How I Changed My Approach to Fundraising

Instead of asking for donations, I asked for $157 to send one girl through a Girls on the Run season. That is a completely different sentence. The first one asks someone to give me money. The second one asks someone to do something specific for one young girl.

People responded to this approach. Some gave $157. Some gave $20 toward a scholarship someone else had started. A few covered two. I had a chalkboard with 27 safety pins and $157 I raised; I moved a safety pin over. It took eleven months, and I finished a few weeks before race day. Once I hit my goal, I kept going and raised 32 scholarships.

The last stretch is still my favorite part of the story. I was about $139 away from my goal. I saw a comedian on Twitter offering pep talks to strangers, so I replied and told him I was close to my goal and nervous about finishing it. He shared my link with his followers. Someone I have never met donated the $139, so I hit my goal.

That would never have happened in 2014, because in 2014 I wasn’t confident enough to ask my friends, let alone a stranger. The mindset shift in 2017 made me feel fearless about putting myself out there in a way that 2014 me couldn’t fathom.

How to Fundraise for a Marathon When You Hate Selling

These are the tactics that actually worked for me across multiple fundraisers. None of them require you to be persuasive. They mostly require you to be specific and consistent.

Dedicate Your Miles to Specific People

Assign each of the 26.2 miles to a person, and name them publicly as you go. Donors can claim a mile in honor of someone, or you can dedicate miles to people who have supported you.

This works because it turns a fundraising page into a story with characters in it. It also gives you 26 reasons to post without repeating yourself, which solves the “what do I say now” problem completely.

Ask a Small Circle Directly Instead of Broadcasting

A direct message to a small group will almost always outperform a public post seen by five hundred. A feed post is easy to scroll past. A message with someone’s name in it is not.

You do not need a script. Two sentences about why you are running and one clear ask is enough. The awkwardness lasts about ten seconds and then it is over.

Related Post: Need help writing your donation email? Here’s a guide with prompts to write your donation email in ChatGPT.

Ask About Employer Matching Gift Programs

This is the single most underused fundraising tool and the highest return for the time you put in. Many companies will match employee donations dollar for dollar (or sometimes more).

Ten minutes on your HR portal can turn $500 into $1,000. Ask your donors to check their own employers as well, ideally right in your thank you message when the donation is still fresh. 

Post Milestone Updates Throughout Training, Not Just at Launch

This is the lesson I learned in 2020, and it changed how I fundraise permanently.

I signed up for the 2020 NYC Marathon about two weeks before the pandemic shut everything down and I was planning on running for Imerman Angels. Because of the pandemic, the race was eventually canceled and I could not host any of the events I’d planned on, so I got a little creative with how I raised the money. One of my ideas was to post about my long run every single week.

Not polished posts or funny videos. Just a selfie (usually with a mural I found along the way) and my total mileage. No individual post raised a significant amount. It was just consistent, simple fundraising posts to make sure my intention was front-and-center. But the consistency of sharing my goal every week moved the needle in a way my posts in 2014 never did.

Make Non-Monetary Asks That Widen Your Reach

Not everyone can donate, and asking only for money means most of your audience has nothing to say yes to.

Ask people to share your link, introduce you to someone who might care about the cause, or post on your behalf during a specific week. A friend sharing your fundraiser to their network reaches people you could never reach yourself, and it costs them nothing.

Related Post: Looking for ways to support a charity runner? Get ideas for how to help your charity runner’s cause with this support guide!

Host a Low-Effort Event, In Person or Virtual

The word event makes most of us picture a venue and a caterer. It does not have to be that! In 2020, I hosted two run streaks and invited friends to help me run a DIY marathon. It is still my favorite race I have ever done, and I say that about a race that technically did not exist. We ran the distance together, we raised money for Imerman Angels, and the whole thing cost nothing to put on.

A run streak, a virtual group long run, a bring-your-dog mile. Low cost, low effort, and people show up because it sounds fun rather than because they feel obligated. Connection is what the running community is all about!

Plan a Race Week Final Push

Save something for the last seven to ten days. Race week is the one time your entire network is already thinking about you, and the urgency is real rather than manufactured.

Say exactly how much money you have left to raise and exactly what would close it. My 2017 fundraiser finished because I told people I was $139 short. That is the whole tactic. It showed me that anyone can donate, regardless if they know you or not. Your peers want you to succeed!

Related Post: Fundraising through race week is a great way to build momentum going into your race! Get inspired with these last-minute fundraising ideas!

Setting Up Your Fundraising Page So the Asks Land

Your page is where every one of these tactics eventually sends people, so it is worth thirty minutes of real attention. Tell the actual reason you chose this charity, not a paraphrase of their mission statement. Keep it short and scannable, because nobody reads a wall of text on their phone. Use your own photos rather than stock images. And set donation tiers that connect each amount to a tangible outcome, the way $157 meant one girl in my case.

Related Post: Set up a meaningful fundraising donation page with these donation page tips!

How to Reframe Your Donation Ask

If you take one thing from this post, take this. Three small shifts change how the whole thing feels.

• Share a story instead of selling a goal. Talk about who needs help and why, not about the number you are chasing.
• Invite instead of begging. You are giving someone a chance to join something they already care about, not pressuring them into something they do not.
• Focus on impact instead of dollars. Name the specific change their money makes in the real world.

It is not oversharing. The reason you are running is the reason people give.

What I Would Do Differently Next Time

Looking back across all three fundraisers, the arc is pretty clear. In 2014 I was too quiet. In 2017 I was specific and ambitious, but I hadn’t mastered my strategy. In 2020 I was finally consistent, and consistency turned out to matter more than any single clever idea.

The things I would change:

• Start the week I sign up. Every month I waited was a month of momentum I did not get back.
• Ask about employer matching with every donation. It’s basically free money and not asking means you’re leaving money on the table.
• Stop treating a quiet week as failure. Some weeks nothing comes in. Post anyway.

Both Girls on the Run and Imerman Angels taught me the same thing from different directions, which is that you can share a fundraiser gently and still be effective. Gentle and invisible are not the same thing.

Marathon Fundraising FAQs

Pro Tip: For questions about missed goals, deadlines, and what happens if you fall short, reach out to your charity coordinator to understand how these aspects are handled.

You Do Not Need to Become a Salesperson

Learning how to fundraise for a marathon has almost nothing to do with getting comfortable selling. It has to do with getting comfortable telling the truth about why you are running, out loud, more than once.

I went from raising $1,700 and a knot in my stomach to $4,239 and a stranger on the internet closing the gap. Nothing about my personality changed in between. I just got specific, and I stopped disappearing between posts.

Your story is the ask. You already have it.

Not sure which charity is the right fit yet? Grab my free charity checklist and walk through the whole process, from picking an organization to setting a goal you can actually hit.