Shad Ireland addresses the crowd in San Pedro, Calif., the starting point of his Fresenius-backed cross-country bike ride.
WPI teams raise more than $60K in Relay For Life UMass digitizes W.E.B. Du Bois papers with Verizon grant Firstgiving helps raise $1.9M in the 2009 Boston Marathon
Somerville-based Firstgiving.com, a web-based fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations, helped 96 charities raise $1.94 million through its fundraising efforts for the 113th Boston Marathon. Comprising nearly half of the charity-focused entrants, Firstgiving helped 844 runners raise funds through pledges for running the oldest marathon in the nation.
According to Firstgiving, the preliminary numbers show that the final amount raised is an increase over 2008, making for a fifth record-breaking year.
To run the Boston Marathon, a runner has to either post a qualifying time or raise money for one of the official charities designated by The Boston Athletic Association each year. Charity runners do not need a qualifying time but they do need to raise or donate a minimum amount for their chosen organization.
Preliminary analysis shows that in 2009, almost 28,000 Firstgiving donors gave their friends, co-workers and family an average of about $70 as they ran in the Boston Marathon, $15 more than the standard Firstgiving donation average. Out of the 844 runners, the average amount raised was $2,282, and the top fundraising runner brought in more than $20,000.