YOUR SPONSORSHIP PLEDGE...
...how it works
As soon as a charity offers you a place, we will ask you to download and return a Pledge Form. This tells you precisely what you are signing up to in terms of fundraising.
Once you sign the Pledge Form, you have made a commitment to run for your chosen charity and must not accept a place from any other charity.
Please note: most charities will also require you to pay a registration fee. This is usually £50 and is always non-refundable; for more info on this, please see FAQs. You will be asked to pay this either when returning the Pledge Form or immediately after, using an e-giving site of the charity's choice. It is also a requirement that you set up an e-giving page before your Marathon place is confirmed. You will be given full details about this process when you return your Pledge Form.
If you applied for a place through the Virgin Money London Marathon Ballot and are successful (results announced in early October), you will not be held to the pledged amount, but you will still be a valued part of the Marathon team and expected to raise funds for the charity as an Own Place runner.
Please do not take this pledge lightly. The charity continues to own the place right up to the starting gun and is absolutely dependent on the income from each of the places it offers. So if you are struggling to raise the required minimum through sponsorship in the lead-up to the race, we will advise you not to proceed on this occasion, but to hold it over until the following year to give you a longer run at the fundraising target.
This system works in your favour too: if you get ill or injured and have to withdraw from the Marathon, your charity will normally offer you the place again the following year - as long as you have taken the necessary steps to obtain sponsorship.
