New York City Marathon Runners Raise More Than $100 Million for Charity Before Race Day

Charity runners in the New York City Marathon have raised more than $100 million for nonprofits, a record for the race’s charity program, with four days still to go before the start. New York Road Runners announced Wednesday that it had cleared the target it set back in February, ahead of a race that will send some 60,000 runners off Staten Island on Sunday.

Last year’s race had set the previous high. More than 14,000 charity runners brought in $80 million for over 600 organizations in 2025, itself 14 percent more than in 2024. Passing $100 million puts this year’s total up by at least a quarter in a single year. NYRR did not give an exact figure on Wednesday, only that the goal had been beaten.

NYRR also widened the program. It signed up more than 670 official charity partners for 2026, the largest group it has ever had, and tilted the list toward home: six in 10 are now New York City organizations, against 52 percent in 2025.

New York’s milestone lands in a year built around anniversaries. Sunday’s race comes 50 years after the marathon first left Central Park in 1976, and finishers will get a medal designed around that date. The Official Charity Partner Program turns 20. By NYRR’s count in February, it had raised nearly $700 million for more than 1,000 nonprofits since it began in 2006.

How a Charity Bib Works

A charity place is one of the few guaranteed ways onto the start line that does not depend on the drawing, the 9+1 program or a qualifying time. Each charity sets its own fundraising target. The Innocence Project, one of this year’s partners, asks every member of its team to raise at least $3,500 by race day (its team is already full), and its runners still pay the regular entry fee on top of that, $255 for NYRR members and $315 for everyone else.

Rob Simmelkjaer, NYRR’s chief executive, credited the runners and the charities that recruited them. “Surpassing our $100 million fundraising goal is a remarkable testament to the generosity and dedication of our runners, charity partners, and supporters,” he said in the announcement.

Alongside the partner program, NYRR raises money for itself. Team for Kids, which supports NYRR’s free programs for young runners and local communities, has brought in more than $138 million since 2002, including nearly $11.4 million around last year’s marathon. Team for Climate, launched in 2024, has 200 runners in Sunday’s field. It has collected more than $1.9 million so far, and this year’s money will go toward carbon insetting and offsetting.

How New York Compares

London remains the sport’s biggest fundraiser. Runners in April’s London Marathon had raised £87.5 million by May, according to London Marathon Events, already past the race’s own world record of £87.3 million from 2025, and organizers expected the final count to go beyond £90 million. In the U.S., the Chicago Marathon’s charity program reported $47.1 million from its 2025 race, and Boston has accepted a record 215 charities for 2027. Sydney, the newest of the majors, raised A$15.2 million at its Aug. 30 race, an Australian record for a single day.

NYRR has not said when it will release a final fundraising total for the 2026 race.