Pioneering Charity Running: Dave's Journey & the Evolution of Endurance Sports Fundraising

n this episode of the Fundraising in 26.2 podcast on Traxamo, I sit down with running legend Dave McGillivray - An entrepreneur (Founder & President of DMSE Sports), philanthropist (Founder of Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation), motivational speaker (~1600 appearances from Ted Talks to corporate & local events), author (written 4 books), and athlete (ran more than 160,000 miles - 167 marathons, including 51 consecutive Boston marathons, 10 Ironman Triathlon World Championships to name a few). He is also the race director of iconic Boston Marathon since 1988. Our discussion focuses on evolution of charity running and his pioneering role. Enjoy the episode! Here are the highlights from our conversation:

Pioneering Charity Running: Dave's 1978 run across the U.S. for the Jimmy Fund was one of the first recorded instances of combining endurance sports with charity fundraising. This event helped establish him as a pioneer in this area.

Evolution of Charity Running: The landscape of charity running changed significantly as races became more popular and started selling out. This led to charities partnering with races to secure bibs for runners who would commit to fundraising.

Impact of Prestigious Events: The prestige and difficulty of events like marathons and Ironman races contribute to higher fundraising amounts. For example, the Boston Marathon collectively raised over $70 million for charities in a recent year.

Growth of Charity Partnerships: Major races now have numerous charity partners. For instance, the New York City Marathon has over 300 charity partners, and the London Marathon sees more than 75% of its runners raising funds.

Personal and Collective Impact: Dave's efforts, both personally and through his business, have helped raise approximately $3.4 billion for various causes. His journey highlights the transformative power of combining endurance sports with philanthropy

Podcast Outline

0:05 Episode Summary

1:06 Introduction

1:56 Dave’s 10th Ironman

4:18 Fascinating story behind running from ~3800 miles across the country and raising $150000 for for Jimmy Fund

10:55 Pioneering Charity Running - running + fundraising for charity

20:36 Why Boston Marathon can not have more charity runners?

23:25 Why a charity want to associate themselves with a race

30:05 How does a charity decides on minimum fundraising goal?

33:17 How does charity choose a charity runner?

37:56 evolution of charities helping charity runners to fundraise

41:25 Raising $300M+ and counting

References

• Dave McGillivray personal website - https://davemcgillivray.com/
• DMSI Sports - https://www.dmsesports.com/
• Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation - https://www.davemcgillivrayfoundation.org/
• Boston Marathon - https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon
• Fallmouth Road Race - https://falmouthroadrace.com/

Episode info:

• Youtube - https://youtu.be/L-uGuniSJSc
• Apple Podcast link -
• Spotify podcast link -

Transcript and Show notes:

Enjoy the episode!