Runners in the 2015 Boston Marathon who completed the race to raise money for charity amassed a total of $28.3 million for more than 200 nonprofit organizations, published Tuesday on the Boston Athletic Association’s website. The vast majority of funds went to the BAA’s Official Charity Program, which raised $15.6 million, and John Hancock’s Marathon Non-Profit Program, which raised $10.6 million.
“As host to one of the world’s truly special athletic competitions, the BAA and our principal sponsor, John Hancock Financial, acknowledge the tremendous cooperation that we receive in organizing the race each year by annually providing entries that allow participants in the field to raise important funds, most of which stay local,” Tom Grilk, executive director of the BAA, said in the press release.
The year’s fundraising declined from $38.4 million raised in 2014, . Race directors attribute that year’s astonishing showing to the number of people who wished to express their sympathy and support for runners in the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Even with a smaller field, which included 30,000 charity runners versus last year’s 36,000, the amount raised per runner in 2015 remained approximately in line with last year’s average.