Blue Line Charity Program

The Akron Marathon Blue Line Charity Program allows charities from around our community to use the Akron Marathon as a fundraiser. By using the Akron Marathon as a fundraiser, the charity is freed from the time it takes to organize an event to focus its efforts on fundraising and increasing awareness for their organization. With over 12,000 race participants and 1,100 volunteers, the Akron Marathon provides a large audience for non–profit organizations.

Local non–profit organizations can fundraise in conjunction with the Akron Marathon Race Series. Charities must have a 501(c)3 status with the IRS to participate. The Akron Marathon Charitable Corporation reserves the right to review and approve all charity applicants and may decline participation at its discretion to ensure alignment with the values and mission of the Akron Marathon. As part of this program, charities are asked to recruit race participants who will fundraise on their behalf, as well as volunteers to give their time race weekend. All funds raised by individual charities go directly to that charity.

Inclusion in the Blue Line Charity Program does not reflect an endorsement by the Akron Marathon of any participating charity’s mission, beliefs, or values. The program is a platform to support participant-directed fundraising for qualified nonprofit organizations.

In return for these efforts, the Akron Marathon will promote the Blue Line Charity Program Partners on the Akron Marathon’s website, social media, and other marketing materials.

Blue Line Charity Partners will fundraise through the Akron Marathon Race Series registration platform, Race Roster. Once the Charity has filled out the online application and has been approved, they will be listed as a Blue Line Charity Partner option for race participants to fundraise for through their personal fundraising page. Each participant is automatically created a fundraising page when they register.

Getting Started

To sign up to be a Blue Line Charity Partner, the organization will need to fill out a charity application on Race Roster to create their charity profile and fundraising page. Once this form has been completed, it will be reviewed by the Akron Marathon. Once reviewed and approved, your organization will appear in a drop–down list of organizations runners can choose to fundraise for.