London Marathon Charitable Trust Limited

London Marathon Charitable Trust Limited, operating as the London Marathon Foundation and founded in 1981 by marathon co-founders, champions the life-changing power of sport and physical activity to inspire active healthy lives for all ages, abilities, backgrounds, and communities. Core values of accessibility, inclusion, sustainability, diversity, and community engagement drive its high-trust grantmaking philosophy, prioritizing equity in access for least active groups through evidence-based interventions that foster systemic change alongside grassroots empowerment. It believes lasting impact arises from community-led opportunities reducing inactivity barriers, enhancing wellbeing, social cohesion, and empowerment via strategic partnerships and innovative practice.

Thematic priorities center on physical activity and sport interventions, funding capital grants for developing or modernizing accessible spaces like playgrounds, multi-use games areas, sports facilities, safe walking and cycling routes, and community amenities in deprived areas with low activity rates. It supports outreach programs targeting least active populations including children and young people outside school hours via after-school clubs and junior parkrun-style activities, women and girls building confidence through inclusive sports, ethnically diverse groups overcoming cultural barriers, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds accessing free recreation, disabled individuals via adaptive sports clubs and equipment, and older adults tackling loneliness and isolation through gentle exercise groups. Interventions emphasize community-led inclusive activities, therapeutic outdoor pursuits, peer-led sports sessions, and preventative programs promoting mental health, emotional wellbeing, physical fitness, and social connections, with flexible support for grassroots sports clubs delivering sustained engagement and measurable reductions in inactivity.

Exclusions encompass projects promoting religion or conversion, facilities inaccessible to wider communities, and duplicative applications to partner funds. Distinctive priorities favor deprived communities with limited usable spaces, high deprivation, and inactivity hotspots, supporting not-for-profits like charities, community groups, sports clubs, schools beyond curriculum, and social enterprises with strong local ties, lived experience leadership, and innovative approaches to inclusion. Uniquely positioned by marathon legacy reinvestment, it influences policy and best practice for nationwide equity in physical activity access.