New Interview: How Barnardo’s Raised £375,000 in London Marathon

Our new London Marathon Masterclass is bursting with insights, inspiration, and fundraising brilliance!

The masterclass was led by special guests Polly Debnam from Barnardo’s and Sarah Goddard (aka Fundraiser Sarah).

Now we’re excited to share Barnardo’s winning stewardship strategy and how you can apply the same tactics for your charity’s 2026 campaign.

Let’s first look back at the outstanding JustGiving fundraising from London Marathon 2025 (or click here to skip straight to the Barnardo’s strategy).

An excited Barnardo’s fundraiser during London Marathon. Image provided by Barnardo’s.

A look back at London Marathon 2025

It’s clear as to why JustGiving is the first choice for London Marathon fundraisers, with over £40 million raised (so far) for good causes…and donations are still pouring in!

Engagement was through the roof as well, with a punchy 94% activation rate (the percentage of London Marathon page owners who received at least one donation).

Now let’s see how Barnardo’s ran a successful London Marathon campaign as part of their mission to make children feel safer, happier, healthier, and hopeful.

How Barnardo’s Raised £375,000 in London Marathon 2025

Barnardo’s raised a total of £375,000 (including Gift Aid), had 178 JustGiving Fundraising Pages created for them, and saw a 93% activation rate from fundraisers. Phenomenal!

The charity’s Events Fundraising Officer Polly Debnam gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how they turned their London Marathon Campaign Page into a fundraising powerhouse.

Setting meaningful campaign objectives

The charity set objectives that drove a strong focus on personalised communications, sharing their mission, and supporting fundraisers throughout their journey.

Build a human centred journey. Make sure participants feel supported by showing them just how much of a difference they make to the charity.
Keep their mission front and centre. Ensure all comms are reflective of the charity’s values.
Inspire long-term engagement. Create an unforgettable experience to boost loyalty and future fundraising.

Photo of a runner smiling and wearing a Barnardo's singlet with an orange shirt underneath during London Marathon. — Barnardo’s focuses on keeping the brand’s mission front and centre. Image provided by Barnardo’s.

A refined stewardship journey (that starts early)

Barnardo’s gets their team excited and fundraising early with a thoughtful, 15-month stewardship journey that includes four overlapping email streams. Each one is tailored, timely, and packed with value.

Application Journey (End of April – until places are filled)
Fundraisers get these emails when they apply to raise money for Barnardo’s in London Marathon. They capture the excitement right before marathon weekend, plus share the potential impact fundraisers could make.
Ballot Journey (May – April)
This series helps convert successful ballot runners who want to fundraise for Barnardo’s, plus offers charity places to those who missed the official ballot.
Console Journey (September – March)
This journey reminds runners to complete their LM console and stay on track with their fundraising.
Stewardship Journey (June – June)
This is the heart of the campaign’s strategy, guiding and motivating fundraisers from the moment they sign up, all the way through race day.

That’s not all. Polly knows how personal connection drives commitment, so incorporates a few extra touch points to show fundraisers how valued they are:

Two rounds of phone calls (including “good luck” calls)
Handwritten cards for top fundraisers
Personalised thank-you letters and certificates
A letter from the CEO for standout supporters

Make sure all your comms come back around to the charity’s values and what your charity stands for. That will go a long, long way.

POLLY DEBNAM, BARNARDO’S

A thriving online and in-person community

Here’s how the charity supports, motivates, and celebrates its fundraisers.

Facebook Group. A buzzing social media hub of peer support and encouragement.
Fundraiser meetups. Virtual meetups and an in-person training day that connect runners with each other and the charity’s team. They also bring in past runners to share tips and inspire the next group of participants
WhatsApp. Barnardo’s is trialling the use of WhatsApp to make communication even faster and more personal in 2026.

Polly also personally emails runners to offer extra support (segmented by how much they’ve raised), which earns a higher response rate than charity-branded emails. Building one-on-one relationships with your fundraisers helps them feel seen and supported to a whole new degree!

Photo of a group of runners wearing Barnardo's singlets, smiling and standing together behind a collection of Barnardo's banners. — Fundraisers that feel supported are more likely to contribute more to the campaign! Image provided by Barnardo’s.

Milestones that motivate

On top of completing the marathon itself, fundraisers have an even more meaningful goal: reaching their fundraising targets! Barnardo’s helps fundraisers do this with inspiring and achievable milestones:

Raise £500 by Christmas
Reach £1,500 raised by March
Raise 80% of your target by race day (knowing 20% often comes in last-minute!)

Barnardo’s also thanks their fundraisers with social media shoutouts, complimentary running tops, and special hospitality passes.

The reason we have these milestones is because it helps runners break down their target and make it feel a lot more manageable.

POLLY DEBNAM, BARNARDO’S

Photo of a runner smiling, raising her arm to wave to someone in the crowd, and wearing a Barnardo's singlet during London Marathon. — Barnardo’s supports their runners in reaching their fundraising target, every step of the way. Image provided by Barnardo’s.

Follow the proven timeline

Timing is everything, especially for London Marathon success. We’ve spent years analysing how charities raise more in the year ahead and created a timeline for perfect communication planning.

Notice how there’s not a gradual rise in fundraising activity to race day. Instead, page creation and activation ideally start climbing well in advance of the event:

Graphic showing a line graph of JustGiving's optimised event fundraising timeline featuring lines for pages created, pages activated, and total amount raised (with Gift Aid). It shows spikes in July and January ahead of London Marathon in April. — Plan your marketing to encourage fundraising spikes well ahead of race day. Image provided by Barnardo’s.

With a long lead time, your page value will increase, and your total raised will follow suit! Get the JustGiving Guide to London Marathon 2026 for more on how to use our proven timeline in your stewardship journey.

Make your London Marathon 2026 a breeze

If aren’t already, we invite your charity to raise money in the world’s biggest marathon with JustGiving, the first choice for London Marathon fundraisers.

Here’s some of the JustGiving magic you won’t get anywhere else:

Simple, powerful online fundraising tools
Make data-driven decisions
Reach more people
Leverage JustGiving platform data and insights
Exclusive incentives and bonuses
1-1 support from start to finish
Top industry performance
Library of fundraising resources

Inspired? We are too!

Watch the full webinar replay to hear even more from Polly about Barnardo’s winning strategy, Fundraiser Sarah’s expert tips on maximising your marathon, and more.

YOUR FIRST STEP