Charity Partners FAQs

A charity entry is purchased directly from London Marathon Events (LME) by a charity. The charity manages these entries and sets a fundraising target for participants.Those with a general entry can choose to fundraise for a charity, but they are not required to do so.  

If a charity participant doesn’t meet their fundraising commitments, charities can cancel their entry and reallocate it, so they don’t lose any money. This isn’t possible with a standard general entry, as it belongs to the participant. 

The Charity Partners webpage shows the latest availability across all events, including whether entries are on sale, sold out or not yet available.

To purchase charity entries, charities must be registered in the U.K. and recognised by the Charity Commission. Individuals cannot purchase charity entries.

Unfortunately, international charities based outside the U.K. aren’t currently able to purchase charity entries in our events, with the exception of charities based in the U.S.A. that can get involved in the TCS London Marathon through advertising opportunities where available.

If you are an international charity (based outside of the U.K. and the U.S.A.) looking to get involved in our events, you can complete the interest form here, indicating the country you are based in, and we will be in touch as soon as any relevant opportunities are available. 

We don’t currently have a waiting list for events that are sold out of charity entries. If you missed out on securing entries in an event, you can express your interest in future opportunities by completing this form. 

Charities are not permitted to sell their entries to another charity once purchased as per our Terms and Conditions.

Charity entries do not roll over, with the exception of Gold bond, Silver bond and advertising package entries in the TCS London Marathon, subject to conditions. Please visit this page for more about charity entries in the TCS London Marathon.

Entries cannot be deferred for specific participants. If a participant is unable to take part, the entry remains tied to the charity and should be reallocated to another participant before the relevant registration deadline, otherwise it will expire. All registration deadlines can be found on the Essential Charity Information page.

For more questions about how to reallocate charity entries, please see the ‘Managing your registrations’ section of this page.

Charities are responsible for recruiting their own participants and selecting potential fundraisers. This includes setting expectations around fundraising and managing the relationship with each supporter who takes part on their behalf. 

It’s a privilege to award your charity entries, and we recommend offering them to individuals that are genuinely invested in your cause. Most charities have application processes that include important questions to help you decide who should be selected. Also, be sure to maintain a waiting list in case any participants drop out, allowing you to quickly replace them if necessary.

Charity entries are paid for by the charity, so charity participants are not required by London Marathon Events or Let’s Do This to pay any registration fee. You may choose to charge a fee for participants, which you can do independently as part of the selection process.

Yes, London Marathon Events provides a charity toolkit for each event, which includes a range of marketing materials and assets to support recruitment and promotion.  

These can be found on the Essential Charity Information webpage and must be used in line with the branding guidelines provided.

If you have successfully secured charity entries in an event (except for the TCS London Marathon), your invoice will be sent out within 2 weeks of confirmation of purchase.

We will be in touch once your allocated entries are live on Let’s Do This with instructions about how to access your account and begin registering participants. This is usually within 2 weeks of paying your invoice for all events, apart from the TCS London Marathon.

For essential information about your charity journey once you have secured entries, please see this page of our website.

Let’s Do This is our official registration platform partner, which all of our charity partners are required to use to manage your entries and participant registrations across all of our events.

Charities with existing accounts on Let's Do This can log-in here to view and manage your available entries.

New charities will receive a unique claim link by email to set up their account and access the dashboard for the first time. You can find more helpful information in our Partner Dashboard Guide.

If you can't log in with the password you have, or if you don't know your password, you can reset it by clicking ‘Forgot password’ and enter your account email address. You will then receive a verification code, which will allow you to reset your password. 

We recommend using a shared team email address for your charity account where possible, as this helps prevent access issues if staff members change roles or leave the organisation.

If you are unsure which email address is associated with your account, please contact the Charities Team and we can help identify it.

As a charity partner, you should not be asked for a booking reference when creating your account. Booking references are only required for participants. You will be able to setup your charity account directly through the claim link provided.

If your charity already has access to a Let's Do This Partner Dashboard, an existing user can invite additional users directly from your Partner Dashboard.

To add a new user:

• Log in to Let's Do This using your existing charity account credentials.
• Select Accounts from the menu on the left-hand side.
• Click the blue Invite button.
• Enter the email address of the person you would like to add and send the invitation.

The new user will then receive an email with instructions on how to set up access to your charity's Let's Do This Partner Dashboard. If your charity no longer has access to an existing user account, please contact the Charities Team and we can help restore access.

If you cannot see any London Marathon Events (LME) events in Let’s Do This, first check that you are logged out of any personal accounts or accounts used for other events. Let’s Do This is used by a range of event organisers, so you must log in using the specific log-in details linked to your London Marathon Events account.

For new charity partners, your account must be created using the claim link provided by London Marathon Events, which you should have received shortly after your purchasing your entries. If you created a personal account instead, or did not use the claim link, please contact the Charities Team and we can generate a new one.

Once you have accessed your Partner Dashboard, you can keep an eye on the status of your entries as explained below:

• ‘Invitation sent’ means you have successfully sent a registration invitation email to the participant
• ‘Registered’ means the participant is completely registered
• ‘Allocated’ means an entry has been assigned to a participant but they have not been sent a registration invitation email
• ‘Cancelled’ means the entry has been cancelled 
• ‘Not allocated’ means that the entry has not been used

Select the entry by ticking the box on the left-hand side, open the ‘Modify’ drop-down menu and select ‘Send invitation’.

If a participant can no longer take part, you can cancel their registration on Let's Do This by following these steps:

• Go to your Partner Dashboard and go to your registrations 'Entries' page
• Then, select the registration you wish to cancel by selecting the check box on the left-hand side
• Click the blue 'Modify' button on the right-hand side to open a drop-down menu
• Click 'Cancel' and click ‘Cancel entry’

The entry will still appear on your Dashboard but it will have a status of 'Cancelled' and a new 'Unallocated' entry will automatically appear.

If a participant can't take part, and you have another supporter to replace them, the original entry should be cancelled and the new ‘Unallocated’ entry can be used to register another supporter as new.

All participants, including replacements, must be fully registered on the Dashboard with the green ‘Registered’ status before the relevant event registration deadline otherwise they won’t be able to take part on Event Day. All charity participant registration deadlines can be found on this page of our website.

If a participant's entry does not have the green 'Registered' status on Let’s Do This before the relevant deadline, they will not be allowed to take part in the event, even if you have allocated them the entry on your Dashboard.

Registration cannot be completed, and entries cannot be reassigned after the deadline, so it is essential that participants complete their registrations on time. All charity participant registration deadlines can be found on this page of our website.

Enthuse is our official fundraising partner and is fully integrated with the registration process. When participants complete registration for an event on Let's Do This, a personalised fundraising page is automatically created on Enthuse already linked to your charity, making it easy for them to start fundraising straight away.

Enthuse is the official fundraising platform used across all London Marathon Events. As per the Terms & Conditions, charities should use all reasonable endeavours to promote Enthuse and encourage participants to use their Enthuse pages for fundraising.

London Marathon Events (LME) has partnered with Enthuse to provide the best possible fundraising experience for charities, participants and donors. The long-term partnership, which runs until 2034, builds on a successful relationship that began in 2022 and has already helped raise more than £60 million for charities.

Enthuse is fully integrated with LME's registration process, meaning fundraising pages are automatically created when participants sign up for events. These pages are branded with the charity's logo and colours, helping create a consistent supporter experience.

The platform is also integrated with LME's official event apps, allowing supporters to donate while tracking participants, including on Event Day. In addition, charities benefit from access to real-time fundraising and donation data, insights and analytics through a centralised account across all LME events, helping them manage and grow their fundraising programmes more effectively.

Yes, international participants can use Enthuse to fundraise for your charity.

Yes, Enthuse is an approved HMRC Gift Aid agent, so they can also collect Gift Aid on your behalf.

There are zero set up or subscription costs for charities using Enthuse to fundraise for all events organised by London Marathon Events. However, Enthuse charges 1.9 per cent plus 30p per transaction to cover the cost of the card fee. There is a small additional fee for processing Gift Aid on behalf of the charity. This is 5 per cent of the Gift Aid value only. For every £10 donated with Gift Aid, you will receive £12.15, i.e. 121.5% of the donated amount.

If you haven't worked with Enthuse before, the onboarding team will be in touch with your charity to help you set up an account after you have purchased entries. For help onboarding with Enthuse, please take a look at the onboarding guide.

Each event has its own page, which you can customise with your charity branding. You can view this article for more instructions on how to do so.

As part of the Enthuse onboarding process, you’ll be guided through setting up a Stripe Connect account. Payment processing services for Enthuse are provided by Stripe. You can read more about this in Enthuse’s customer terms here, but if you have further questions, please contact [email protected].

Fundraising targets are set by each individual charity. It is up to you to decide the fundraising requirement for your participants based on your costs, goals and fundraising strategy. 

London Marathon Events and Enthuse do not set or enforce fundraising targets, they provide the platform and tools to support your fundraising, but targets are managed directly by your charity.

Your fundraising target should reflect your fundraising objectives, entry costs and the level of support you provide throughout the event cycle. When setting a target, you may wish to consider:

• Training and Event Day support – providing training plans, expert advice and event-day support can help participants achieve higher fundraising totals.
• Fundraising resources – sharing fundraising tips, templates and promotional materials can make it easier for participants to reach their target.
• Incentives and recognition – rewarding or recognising participants who reach key milestones can help motivate fundraising.
• Personalised engagement – regular communication and encouragement can help keep participants engaged and committed throughout their fundraising journey.

If you're unsure where to set your target, it can be helpful to look at the fundraising commitments used by other charities with entries in the same event. Ultimately, the right fundraising target will depend on your charity's individual goals, costs and participant support programme.

On Enthuse, fundraising pages can stay open indefinitely unless you actively choose to close them. Your participants can continue to receive donations even after the event date has passed, meaning there is no set time limit on how long a page remains active.

Once you have access to your charity's Enthuse account, you can set the fundraising target for your participants via your charity profile. If this hasn’t been set up, the participant can select what their fundraising target is.

For participants who can no longer take part due to injury, they can close their fundraising page if needed. Any funds already collected through the page will have been transferred to your charity as donations were made. 

If participants have been fundraising elsewhere, they can add what they've raised on another platform as an offline donation to their Enthuse page, ensuring their fundraising total accurately reflects their efforts.

Fundraising agreements are between the charity and the participant, and it is the charity's responsibility to set, communicate and manage any fundraising targets or commitments.

If you have concerns about a participant's fundraising progress, we recommend contacting them directly to discuss their plans and provide support where appropriate.

You can cancel a registration and reallocate the entry on Let's Do This if needed before the registration deadline. If you wish to cancel a participant's entry after the registration deadline because fundraising commitments have not been met, please get in touch with the Charities team as soon as possible. While we will do our best to help, the closer it is to Event Day, the less likely it is that we will be able to make changes to an entry.

Once your charity is set up on Enthuse, your ballot entry supporters can easily find your charity through the search wizard. Alternatively, you can share your charity's Enthuse page with them, where they’ll find a button to start fundraising for your cause.

Advertising packages are structured as annual agreements that combine entry allocations with enhanced promotional benefits. Each package includes a set number of guaranteed charity places, alongside a suite of marketing opportunities to showcase your charity to participants before and during the event cycle.

Packages vary by event and level, but typically include:

• Featured listings on official event webpages
• Increased visibility within charity search journeys
• Access to promotional assets and campaigns
• Opportunities to align your brand with one of the world’s most recognised mass participation events

Packages are renewed annually, with existing partners usually invited to renew ahead of each event cycle. Availability is limited, and all packages are subject to demand.

We offer advertising packages for the TCS London Marathon, Brighton Marathon, Big Half and GetPRO Bath Half. We also offer an advertising opportunity for Swim Serpentine where charities can purchase a listing featured on the Swim for Charity web page (this opportunity does not include any entries or additional benefits).

Each event has different packages and benefits, depending on its size and audience. Availability can vary, and not all events will have packages each year. 

Due to high demand, availability is not guaranteed, and opportunities may be limited. If you are interested in future opportunities, you can register your interest by filling out this form and you will be the first to know when more information is available.

While most charity entry opportunities are limited to UK-registered charities, international charities (including those based in the US) may be able to access LME events through advertising packages, where available. 

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, you can register your interest by filling out this form, specifying where your charity is based, and you will be the first to know if availability changes.

Please contact the Charities team with the new contact details/address along with your charity's name and registered charity number for verification. 

Please contact the Charities team with all relevant information, including each charity name and number and official letter on headed paper for confirmation.

We will review your request and be in touch with the next steps and details about how to manage your entries.