Runners in the 2015 London Marathon raised a combined figure of £43.6m for good causes using Virgin Money Giving and JustGiving donation pages, according to updated figures released this week.
The most recent fundraising figures show that Virgin Money Giving runners raised a “record-breaking” £22.1m for charity.
The figures suggest that for the first time, Virgin Money Giving was used to raise more money than JustGiving.
Over 15,000 people created fundraising pages for the marathon using Virgin Money Giving, an increase of 9 per cent from last year. The average amount of money raised by each individual runner using a Virgin Money fundraising page was around £1,600.
Virgin Money Giving called this year’s marathon the “largest in its 35-year history”, with over 37,500 runners crossing the finishing line, nearly 1000 more than last year.
Jo Barnett, executive director at Virgin Money Giving, said that the London Marathon’s continued growth year-on-year is “incredible”.
“In the six London Marathons since Virgin Money Giving was launched, an incredible £117 million has been raised by Virgin Money Giving fundraisers participating in the event, resulting in an estimated £3 million extra reaching charities," she said.
“The record amount raised through this year's event proves just how far we have come and we are delighted that, as Virgin Money Giving is not-for-profit, an extra £625,000 has gone to the charities supported by our fundraisers.”
JustGiving final figures
JustGiving have also released an updated fundraising total.
Donations from people in 117 countries around the world on more than 15,000 JustGiving pages contributed to raise £21.5m for the 2015 London Marathon. This is an increase of £1.8m from the total figure raised by JustGiving for the 2014 marathon, with more donations still expected to come in.
Charles Wells, chief marketing officer for JustGiving, said: “Runners and their fantastic supporters have already raised over £21 million on JustGiving at the 2015 London Marathon, cementing its position as the world’s most important fundraising event.”
Cancer Research UK passes fundraising target
Cancer Research UK, Virgin Money Giving’s official charity for the 2015 marathon, has reportedly passed its fundraising target of £2.5m.
At the time of publication, Cancer Research UK raised £2.9m in the marathon. The charity fielded its largest ever group of runners, with over 2,000 people running on the organisation’s behalf.
The money raised by CRUK runners will be used to fund the Francis Crick Institute, the construction of which is due to be completed in late 2015.
